It’s one of those interior design puzzles that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. You’re ready to dress your windows, fabric samples in hand, and then it dawns on you: the two windows in your living room are completely different sizes. One is a generous full-length sash, the other a smaller, squarer opening on the adjacent wall. How on earth do you make them look cohesive?

The good news is that mismatched windows are incredibly common in UK homes, particularly in older and period properties where extensions, renovations, and centuries of architectural change have left their mark. And with the right approach, you can absolutely make them work together beautifully.

Why Mismatched Windows Happen

In Victorian and Edwardian terraces, it’s common to find a large bay or sash window on the front elevation and much smaller windows elsewhere in the same room. Converted properties and homes that have been extended over the years often have an even wider variety of window shapes and sizes sitting side by side. The challenge is creating a sense of visual harmony across windows that have very different proportions.

The single most helpful tool for achieving this? Made-to-measure window coverings. When each window treatment is cut precisely for its individual window, you have far more control over how the overall scheme comes together.

Use The Same Fabric Throughout

The most straightforward way to unite different-sized windows in the same room is to use the same fabric across all of them, regardless of the window dressing style or size. The eye reads the repeated colour, pattern, or texture and registers the space as intentional and considered, even if the windows themselves are quite different in proportion.

This works especially well with made-to-measure Roman blinds, where you can have each blind cut to its own exact width and drop while keeping the fabric consistent throughout. The result looks deliberately designed rather than mismatched.

Match The Style, Vary The Size

Another approach that works brilliantly is to keep the window treatment style the same across all windows, letting the sizing simply follow each individual window naturally. A set of made-to-measure roller blinds in the same fabric, each fitted flush within its own recess, creates a clean and unified look across a room even when the windows themselves are noticeably different in size.

The same principle applies to curtains. Hanging made-to-measure curtains with the same heading style and drop from the same height across all windows in a room creates a visual consistency that pulls the whole space together. The width of each pair will naturally differ, but that reads as intentional rather than accidental.

When To Treat Windows Independently

Occasionally, two windows in the same room are so different in size, position, or function that trying to match them too closely actually draws more attention to the difference. A large living room window and a small side window set into a deep recess, for example, can be dressed quite differently as long as the colours and tones sit within the same palette.

In this situation, wooden blinds on the smaller window and full-length curtains on the larger one can complement each other very successfully, particularly in a room with natural materials and a warm, earthy colour scheme.

Getting The Visual Balance Right

One practical trick that interior designers use regularly is to hang all curtain poles or blind fixings at the same height across a room, even when the windows sit at different levels. This creates a consistent horizontal line that the eye follows around the space, making the room feel more balanced and the windows feel more deliberately placed.

Mismatched windows are a quirk worth embracing. Buy your made-to-measure curtains, Roman blinds, roller blinds, and wooden blinds from The Sewing House, and create a cohesive, stylish scheme no matter what your windows are doing.