C.5 · The fit
Reveal fit or face fit
Every interior covering on the schedule carries one more decision after style and fabric: does it live inside the window recess, or on the wall in front of it? Small words on a spec sheet, visible every day for the next decade. Here is what each one buys, and what it costs.
The two fits, plainly
Reveal fit (you will also hear "recess fit") mounts the covering inside the window opening, between the reveals. The blind sits flush with the wall, the architrave stays on show, and the whole thing reads built-in rather than added-on. It is the tidier, more architectural look, and the reason display homes are full of it.
Face fit mounts the covering on the wall or architrave, in front of the opening, usually oversized so it lands past the window's edges. The window disappears behind the covering rather than framing it.
What each costs you
| Reveal fit | Face fit | |
|---|---|---|
| Looks | Flush, built-in, architrave on show | Covering dominates; hides an ugly frame just as happily |
| Light seal | A light gap at each side is unavoidable; operating clearance is real | Overlap past the edges kills most edge glow; the darker option |
| Depth needed | Needs enough reveal depth to swallow the bracket and roll | Needs none; sits proud of shallow or crowded frames |
| Obstructions | Handles, winders and locks can foul the drop | Clears them all by sitting in front |
| Sills | Finishes neatly at the sill | Can run past the sill for a longer line |
How the job decides it
- Real darkness wants overlap. A bedroom or media room specced for true dark nearly always face-fits, or reveal-fits with side channels; the light gap of a plain reveal fit is exactly where morning arrives. The schedule's fabric and fit lines work together here; see the fabric guide.
- Show rooms want reveal. Where the covering is part of the joinery story, kitchens, living areas, anywhere with good architraves, the flush fit earns its keep.
- Shallow modern reveals often decide for you. A lot of new-estate windows carry barely more depth than a bracket needs, and a winder handle in the arc settles the argument. This is the single most common on-site correction to a homeowner's plan, and it is a two-minute fix at the measure rather than a surprise at the install.
- Old houses hold surprises. Period reveals in Lorn or Morpeth are deep and generous but rarely square; a covering made to the actual opening, corner by corner, is the difference between scribed-in and wedged-in.
Why we decide it at the tape
The fit call needs three numbers a photo cannot give: the true depth of the reveal, the projection of whatever hardware lives in it, and how far out of square the opening runs. That is why the schedule you build with our planning tool carries fit as a direction ("reveal fit" where the style implies it) and the measure visit confirms or flips it window by window. It is a routine correction, not a redesign, and it costs you nothing to have been wrong on paper.
Free measure & quote
One visit. Every opening. A written quote.
Send an enquiry and we will arrange your free measure, inside and out, with a recommendation per opening and no obligation.