The 8' sounds perfect to me if you have the room on either end. It's only a foot on either end which is what you will need to stack back the curtains so they clear the door. I can't imagine anything smaller would work very well.

Romy, I'd have to agree with the shops opinions that you need at least a 1 3/8" rod for a 10' rod. While I seriously dislike big for the sake of Big, and have never liked the oversize furniture trends put forth by the PotteryBarn type places, I believe that you do need to keep your rod in proportion to the size of the room and the length of the rod. Honestly I'd probably be looking at a 2" rod for your room. a 10' rod is a long rod, and you don't want it to look like a pencil. How wide is your trim? Remember that with a round rod you're not seeing 2", or 1 3/8", you're seeing whatever the face is that is visible, and if my math skills were a lot better I'd be able to tell you. I do love the Titanium finish, and I like the Amboise finial better than the pine cone one. Your panels are fixed right, you don't intend to open and close them? When you buy the rings make sure to buy the rings that have another little eye ring screwed into the bottom of the ring, as that is necessary to put the hook into and allow the decorative ring to still hang vertically, not go crooked. You can buy wood rings and paint them yourself then screw in those eyelets, but I'd really recommend buying the ones that go with the rod you choose. Then how much of the ring shows is totally dependent on where you put the pin in the pleat. If you put the pin half way up the pleat so that the turn of the hook is just below the top edge of your drapery you'll get the look in your inspiration pic. You don't need to hire someone to hang them for you. **Make sure to put the pin in the pleat, then measure from the inside of the curve on the hook to the hem to determine how high to hang the rod. Then measure from the screweye on the bottom of the ring to the floor. You'd be surprised how many people who hang their own forget about the height of the pins and the length of the drop of the ring.** Thanks for the link to ParisTexas rods. I'm not finding any provision for curved pieces for bay windows. I'll give them a call after the first of the year.

Oh I hadn't thought of that. That is definitely another good option! So why do you suggest an outside mount instead of inside mount? I guess one thing to mention is that the top of the window sill sits about 2-2.5' from the ceiling, and I would be hanging the curtains high. So when they get tied back during the day, you would see a bit of the wall above the window. Which I'm fine with. I suppose an outside mount could be more visually appealing because I could hang it high enough to hide the wall and give the illusion of taller windows. But, I just wonder if the shade contraption (I don't know much about shades) would protrude from the wall and interfere with the curtain (again, I suppose I could just ensure my curtain rod leaves enough clearance from the wall).

HI, I know i am late commenting on this one, but we are spreading the word about a new bay curtain pole that doesn't have brackets at the corner so you can have eyelet curtains which i think would be perfect for what you are looking for. The pole can hold utp 30kg and is amazing. Your eyelet curtain poles can go around the corners without being obstructed by brackets, this means that you can have a pair of curtains working around the window and then drawing back out of the way. This pole is only suitable for 3 sided bay window. Eyelet Bay Curtain Pole You can purchase the eyelet bay curtain pole below. Please see the video below and the image