It was the perfect spot. Our California ranch style house had a large picture window in the front room. The window extended from a few inches above the floor to only a few inches below the cathedral ceiling. The walls and ceiling were redwood stained knotty pine and the floor was a matching hardwood. The window looked out over a flower bed, shrubs and the expanse of front lawn. It was the perfect window to be replaced with a bay window.
The window was nearly square. It was 72 X 72 inches. We considered a bow window, but elected to install a bay window instead. We just felt that our particular house looked better with three panel bay window rather than the multiple panel bow windows. Our intent was to fill the seat board of the bay with potted plants we had sitting in front of the current picture window. The new arrangement would give us a little more space in the room and improve the overall appearance of the house. It was time to go shopping.
Scratch vs. Pre-built
When we first got the idea of installing the new window, I began gathering plans for building a bay window. Thumbing through books and magazines, and the Internet search engines, I found several...