diff --git a/IPython/html/widgets/widget_float.py b/IPython/html/widgets/widget_float.py
index cc55d9d..0c68f44 100644
--- a/IPython/html/widgets/widget_float.py
+++ b/IPython/html/widgets/widget_float.py
@@ -70,8 +70,12 @@ class _BoundedFloatRangeWidget(_FloatRangeWidget):
     min = CFloat(0.0, help="Min value", sync=True)
 
     def __init__(self, *pargs, **kwargs):
-        """Constructor"""
+        set_value = 'value' not in kwargs
         DOMWidget.__init__(self, *pargs, **kwargs)
+        if set_value:
+            # if no value is set, use 25-75% to avoid the handles overlapping
+            self.value = (0.75*self.min + 0.25*self.max,
+                          0.25*self.min + 0.75*self.max)
         self.on_trait_change(self._validate, ['value', 'min', 'max'])
 
     def _validate(self, name, old, new):
diff --git a/IPython/html/widgets/widget_int.py b/IPython/html/widgets/widget_int.py
index ec8648f..cb2a712 100644
--- a/IPython/html/widgets/widget_int.py
+++ b/IPython/html/widgets/widget_int.py
@@ -69,8 +69,12 @@ class _BoundedIntRangeWidget(_IntRangeWidget):
     min = CInt(0, help="Min value", sync=True)
 
     def __init__(self, *pargs, **kwargs):
-        """Constructor"""
+        set_value = 'value' not in kwargs
         DOMWidget.__init__(self, *pargs, **kwargs)
+        if set_value:
+            # if no value is set, use 25-75% to avoid the handles overlapping
+            self.value = (0.75*self.min + 0.25*self.max,
+                          0.25*self.min + 0.75*self.max)
         self.on_trait_change(self._validate, ['value', 'min', 'max'])
 
     def _validate(self, name, old, new):