If you’ve ever searched for blinds in Toronto for a skylight or an arched window and found nothing useful, you already know the problem: most guides — and most companies — are built for standard rectangular windows. Anything beyond that gets quietly declined, or treated as an afterthought.
At Starlight Shutter, non-standard windows are a specialty. Some of our most satisfying work has been for exactly the windows that stumped everyone else — the gable window under a vaulted ceiling, the curved bay wrapping around a corner, the basement hoppers in a finished Etobicoke rec room. This guide covers all of them: what each window type is called, what it needs, and why the treatment we recommend works better than the alternatives. Every photo is from a real Toronto or GTA installation we’ve done.
Jump to the section that matches your window, or read all eight. Either way, you’ll finish with a clear sense of what’s possible — and what to ask for when you reach out.
- 01 — Skylights
- 02 — Curved Bay Windows
- 03 — Tall Staircase & Floor-to-Ceiling Windows
- 04 — Arched, Palladian & Gable Windows
- 05 — Corner Windows
- 06 — Transom Windows Above Doors
- 07 — Basement Hopper Windows
- 08 — Floor-to-Ceiling Walls of Windows
01 — Skylights
Our recommendation: Motorized cellular shades
Skylights are one of the most requested — and most underserved — window types when it comes to window treatments in Toronto. The appeal is obvious: overhead natural light, dramatic architectural presence, and an openness no wall window can match. The problems are just as obvious. You can’t reach a skylight easily. Afternoon sun can turn a room into a greenhouse. And in a Toronto winter, an uncovered skylight is a real and steady source of heat loss.
Motorized cellular shades — also called honeycomb shades — address all three issues at once. The honeycomb cell structure traps a layer of still air between fabric layers, creating a thermal buffer that works in both directions: cooler in summer, warmer in winter. Because they’re motorized, you never need a ladder — operation is by remote, wall switch, smartphone app, or a scheduled automation tied to your smart home system.
“The first time a client operates their skylight shade from the couch with a remote, there’s always a pause — and then a laugh. They can’t believe they lived without it.”
As a Somfy-authorized dealer and certified Control4 partner, Starlight Shutter installs motorized skylight blinds that integrate with the systems already running your home. If your shades don’t need to be smart today, they can be made smart later — the hardware is the same either way.
What to know:
- Remote, app, or smart-home control — no ladder, no cord, no reaching required
- Honeycomb structure insulates against Toronto’s heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter
- Available in blackout, light-filtering, and sheer fabric options
- Custom-manufactured to fit any skylight shape, including non-rectangular profiles
- Compatible with Somfy, Control4, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa
02 — Curved Bay Windows
Our recommendation: Sheer & curtain on a custom curved track
A curved bay window is one of the finest architectural features a Toronto home can have — and one of the most commonly undertaken poorly. The standard mistake is placing a flat curtain panel across the front of the bay. It’s fast, it’s inexpensive, and it collapses the bay’s geometry entirely. It turns an expansive, three-dimensional feature into a flat wall.
The right approach starts with the track. We custom-bend or source a ceiling-mounted track that maps the bay’s exact geometry — not a straight rod placed somewhere in front of the window, but a track that follows every angle of the bay precisely. On that track we hang floor-to-ceiling fabric: sheer drapery for daytime light diffusion and openness, with an outer curtain layer available for full privacy when needed. The result celebrates the bay rather than hiding it. The window reads as larger, the ceiling as taller, and the light throughout the day as warmer and more deliberate.
“A bay window is not a problem to solve. It’s a gift. Our job is to dress it in a way that makes it even more of one.”
Fabric selection is critical, and it’s something we guide every client through in person — with real samples in the actual light of the room. A sheer that’s too opaque defeats the purpose. A curtain that’s too heavy overwhelms the bay. Getting it right is a conversation, not a catalogue choice.
What to know:
- Custom curved ceiling-mounted track follows the exact bay profile — no straight-rod shortcut
- Floor-to-ceiling panels elongate the window and the room simultaneously
- Sheer layer preserves daylight and view; outer curtain provides full privacy
- Fabric selected in your home with real samples in your actual light
- Motorization available for curved ceiling track systems
03 — Tall Staircase & Floor-to-Ceiling Windows
Our recommendation: Sheer & curtain
A tall window beside a staircase stops people mid-sentence when they first walk into a home. The cascade of light through multiple floors, the way the outside world becomes part of the vertical journey — it’s genuinely dramatic. And yet, these windows are among the most frequently left bare in Toronto homes, because their height makes them feel intimidating to address.
The solution is simpler than most people expect. A well-chosen sheer, hung from as close to the ceiling as possible and allowed to fall the full height of the window, doesn’t interrupt the drama — it amplifies it. It softens light into something luminous and warm, handles glare without blocking the view, and signals that the window was treated deliberately rather than forgotten. For staircase windows specifically, where the view matters enormously and daily access is limited, floor-to-ceiling custom curtains in sheer fabric are almost always the first and best answer.
“Tall windows are not a problem to solve. They’re a gift. Our only job is not to ruin them.”
For windows that also need blackout capability — a bedroom-adjacent stairwell, or a window that faces directly into a bedroom — a blackout lining layers behind the sheer without changing the daytime look. Motorized tracks are available for any window beyond comfortable manual reach, which at six-plus feet is most of them.
What to know:
- Custom-cut panels sized to the exact window height — no hemming shortcuts
- High ceiling-mount rod creates the illusion of even greater height
- Blackout lining available as a second layer for bedrooms or media-adjacent stairwells
- Motorized track systems for windows beyond comfortable manual reach
- Fabric selected in your home with real samples in your actual light and room tone
04 — Arched, Palladian & Gable Windows
Our recommendation: Custom shutters or fan-arch cellular shades
Arched windows. Triple palladian windows. Triangular gable windows under a vaulted ceiling. These are the windows people fall in love with when they buy a Toronto home, and then spend years not knowing how to treat. They’re beautiful precisely because they don’t follow standard geometry — and that’s exactly what makes them difficult for most window treatment providers in the city.
Two solutions work reliably here, and the right one depends on the window. For arched and palladian configurations, custom plantation shutters are the most architectural answer — built-to-order millwork that follows any curve exactly. A palladian arch gets a fixed fan section at the top with fully operable louver panels below, giving practical light control where you need it and a shape-respecting fixed treatment in the arch. For gable and triangular windows, cellular shades custom-cut to the triangle or trapezoid shape fill the frame completely — no gaps, no approximation, nothing that almost fits.
“Every unusual window we’ve treated has made us say the same thing afterward: ‘That looks like it was always supposed to be there.’ That’s exactly what we’re aiming for.”
The common thread: both solutions are made for the specific window, not adapted from something close. The result looks intentional — which is the entire point when you’re working with a window this distinctive.
What to know:
- Custom plantation shutters follow any arch precisely — built to order, not approximated from standard sizes
- Fan-arch cellular shades: fixed in the arch, fully operable panels below
- Triangle and trapezoid cellular shades custom-cut for gable windows under vaulted ceilings
- Shutters available in premium hardwood and composite with a full range of paint and stain finishes
- Motorized cellular shades available for hard-to-reach arch and gable installations
05 — Corner Windows
Our recommendation: Motorized roller or cellular shades
Corner windows — two windows meeting at a 90-degree angle with little or no post between them — create a wraparound view that is one of the most compelling features in contemporary Toronto architecture. They’re also where standard window treatment hardware quietly breaks down. Rods can’t turn corners. Curtain panels placed on two separate rods in the same corner always look like exactly what they are: two separate decisions that don’t know about each other.
The cleanest solution is independent inside-mount treatments on each window — motorized roller shades or cellular shades — sized and programmed to lower together so the fabrics meet at the corner without gap or overlap. Motorization isn’t a luxury here: when two windows need to be coordinated and the reach is awkward, it becomes the practical answer. One remote or one automation rule handles both sides at once, every time.
“The one thing we always tell clients with corner windows: don’t let anyone put a curtain rod in the corner. The result always reads as a compromise, because it is one.”
For a more architectural finish, custom plantation shutters on bifold hinges fold completely clear of each window — preserving the full corner view when open, presenting a clean white frame when closed.
What to know:
- Independent inside-mount shades on each panel, sized to meet cleanly at the corner
- Motorized coordination — both sides operate together with a single command
- Bifold plantation shutter option folds fully clear for an unobstructed wraparound view
- Blackout and light-filtering fabric options for bedrooms and media rooms
- Smart home integration via Somfy and Control4
06 — Transom Windows Above Doors
Our recommendation: Fixed sheer shade, solar shade, or fan-arch treatment
Transom windows are the horizontal or arched strips of glass positioned above a door — sometimes a front entry, sometimes an interior passage, sometimes above a set of French doors. They add light and architectural elegance to a space. And they are almost universally ignored when it comes to window treatments. In most cases, that’s a mistake.
A transom facing west funnels direct afternoon sun into your foyer every day. A transom above interior French doors creates a privacy gap that the doors themselves are supposed to close. And a bare transom in an otherwise deliberately treated room is the small inconsistency that keeps the space from feeling fully finished — hard to name, easy to feel.
“Transoms don’t need to do much. They just can’t be ignored. The difference between a finished room and an almost-finished one is often one transom nobody dealt with.”
The right solution depends on the transom’s shape. For rectangular transoms, a sheer or solar shade mounted inside the frame controls light while remaining nearly invisible at full transparency. For arched transoms — the fan-shaped opening common in Toronto’s heritage and traditional homes — a custom fan-pleated shade follows the arch exactly, adding both function and architectural presence. Motorization is available for any transom too high to reach comfortably, which above a two-story foyer is essentially all of them.
What to know:
- Custom fan-pleated shades for arched transoms — follow the arch exactly, no gaps
- Solar shades for rectangular transoms: slim profile, adjustable opacity, nearly invisible at full transparency
- Fixed sheer shades for a soft, layered look that complements the door below
- Motorized options for high transoms above two-story entry foyers
- Finish and colour coordinated with door hardware and surrounding millwork
07 — Basement Hopper Windows
Our recommendation: Inside-mount cellular shades or plantation shutters
Basement windows are the most neglected windows in most Toronto homes. They’re small, positioned low or near the ceiling of the basement wall, and the assumption is that they’re too minor to treat properly. A tension rod with a clip-on panel gets shoved in, or they’re left bare entirely, and nobody thinks about it again until the basement is being used as something more than storage.
Here’s why that’s worth reconsidering. Basement hopper windows — the small, inward-opening windows along the top of the basement exterior wall — contribute meaningfully to the basement’s light quality, privacy, and thermal performance. Left bare, they expose the space to direct street-level sightlines. Left with poor treatments, the installation itself is an eyesore. Treated properly, they make the basement read as a finished, intentional room rather than an afterthought below the house.
“The difference between a basement that feels renovated and one that feels like a room is almost always in the details. The windows are usually the last detail anyone gets to — and they shouldn’t be.”
Inside-mount cellular shades are our most consistent recommendation. The honeycomb structure insulates along what is typically the coldest exterior wall surface in a Toronto home. The inside-mount keeps the treatment flush within the frame — tidy and deliberate. One important technical note: because hopper windows tilt inward from the bottom, the shade must be positioned high enough in the frame to clear the window’s swing path. This is exactly the kind of measurement detail that separates a proper installation from one that damages the shade the first time someone opens the window. For finished basements used as home offices, gyms, or media rooms, plantation shutters add a clean, built-in look that reads as an extension of the architecture.
What to know:
- Inside-mount cellular shades insulate the coldest basement wall in Toronto homes
- Mounting position accounts for the inward hopper swing — professionally measured to clear
- Plantation shutters available for finished basements where the aesthetic matters
- Blackout fabric for basements used as bedrooms, home offices, or media rooms
- Privacy maintained without sacrificing what natural light the window provides
08 — Floor-to-Ceiling Walls of Windows
Our recommendation: Motorized Cellular or Roller Shades
A full wall of windows is the defining feature of Toronto’s most architecturally ambitious homes — the modern build with a great room that opens to the backyard, the vaulted cottage with a cathedral of glass facing the water, the new condo with floor-to-ceiling glass on two sides. It’s also one of the most technically demanding window treatment installations we do, and among the most satisfying to get right.
The challenge at this scale is coherence. A single floor-to-ceiling window needs one shade. A wall of eight panels — triangular gable sections at the top, rectangular panels across the middle, angled pieces at the sides, all at different heights — requires a coordinated system where every panel is individually measured, individually manufactured, and yet reads as one unified treatment from across the room. A close-enough approach is immediately visible. The goal is a wall of light, not a patchwork of attempts.
We accomplish this with motorized cellular or roller shades. Every panel is manufactured to its exact dimensions. The fabric runs consistent across every shape — rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal — so the diffused light reads as one even glow. The irregular shapes common in vaulted and cathedral ceiling configurations are custom-cut, not approximated from standard rectangles. When motorized, shades operate in groups: lower panels for morning privacy, upper panels for afternoon glare control, all from one remote or a timed automation that runs without you thinking about it.
“At this scale, motorization stops being a convenience and becomes the only sensible answer. The alternative is managing eight separate cords every morning. That’s not living in a beautiful room — that’s maintaining one.”
What to know:
- Every panel individually measured and manufactured — no standard sizes, no approximation
- Fabric consistent across all panels including triangular and gable sections for unified light diffusion
- Motorized group control — different sections operated simultaneously with a single command
- Custom-fabricated triangular and trapezoidal shapes — not adapted from rectangular products
- Compatible with Control4, Crestron, Savant, Somfy, Apple HomeKit, and Google Home
Bonus: Patio Doors
Patio doors aren’t a special window type — but they’re one of the most commonly undertreated openings in a Toronto home. Vertical blinds are the default, and they haven’t been the right answer since 1987.
Dream Shades — panel track shades — are the modern solution. Large fabric panels glide on a ceiling-mounted track, stack completely clear of the door when open, and present a seamless wall of fabric when closed. They’re available in sheer, light-filtering, and blackout weights, and motorization integrates cleanly with Somfy and Control4. See more options in our full range of window treatments for Toronto homes.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best window treatment for a skylight in Toronto?
Motorized cellular (honeycomb) shades. They insulate against heat gain and heat loss, control light, and operate entirely hands-free — essential when the window is overhead and out of reach. As a Somfy-authorized dealer, Starlight Shutter installs motorized skylight blinds that integrate with Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Control4, and Alexa.
Can you put blinds on an arched window in Toronto?
Yes — and it can look exceptional when done properly. The two approaches that work best are custom plantation shutters built to follow the arch precisely, and fan-pleated cellular shades for the arch portion above operable panels below. Both are manufactured to order for your window’s exact dimensions.
What are the best curtains for a curved bay window?
A custom curved ceiling-mounted track that maps the bay’s exact geometry, with floor-to-ceiling sheer or layered curtains hanging from it. This celebrates the window’s shape rather than hiding it behind a flat panel. We custom-bend tracks to fit any bay profile and bring fabric samples to your home for selection in your actual light.
What window treatments work for floor-to-ceiling windows in Toronto?
Motorized cellular or roller shades, individually manufactured for each panel. Fabric consistency across all panels — rectangular, triangular, and gable — ensures the light reads as one unified glow rather than a patchwork. At this scale, motorized group control is the practical solution.
Do you install custom curtains and blinds in Toronto condos and new builds?
Yes — it’s one of our most common project types. Toronto condos and new builds regularly feature floor-to-ceiling glass, non-standard proportions, and hard-to-reach windows that off-the-shelf products can’t accommodate. Every product is custom-measured and manufactured for the specific space. See examples in our project gallery.
Does Starlight Shutter offer free consultations for special window types?
Yes. Every project starts with a free in-home consultation — no commitment, no pressure. A design consultant visits your home anywhere in Toronto and the GTA with fabric samples and hardware options, measures your windows properly, and provides an accurate quote. We serve North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough, Mississauga, Richmond Hill, Markham, and beyond. Most orders are ready in two to three weeks from consultation to completed installation.
Ready to treat your windows properly?
The best way to figure out what works for your specific windows is to see it in your own space, in your own light. We’ll come to you — fabric samples, hardware options, and an honest conversation about what actually makes sense for your home.
Book your free in-home consultation or explore our full range of custom drapes and curtains in Toronto, plantation shutters, and motorized window treatments.
