Anyway, how easy would it be to take some 14mm (ish) chromed pipe and
bend it into a strange shape with a pipe bender ?? Would the result
look OK, or would there be alsorts of nasty marks on the pipe ??

It should look OK. However, on a tight bend, the bender seems to reduce the
pipe radius a bit, so it isn't entirely smooth. I've never actually tried to
bend chromed pipe myself, but my parent's house has some bent chrome for
some surface mounted pipe in the bathroom which obviously had been bent just
fine. I assume the plumber used a bender.

I'm thinking of doing the same for some bay window curtain poles. A 3m
copper pipe bent to fit exactly the outline of the window, but painted matt
black rather than chromed. Cost? 3 quid, instead of about 60 using "proper"
poles and bay corner piece, and you get a continuous rod, rather than 3
sections with two nasty looking angle pieces.

Christian.