Custom stained glass windows and cabinet doors add a wonderfully unique touch to any house. Until lately stained glass has been considered a rich man's luxury, out of the reach of the rest of us. But with careful planning and an eye to the bottom line, you can beautify your house and stay within your budget.
All windows and inserts are handmade with a fine eye toward astethics and durability.
Remember, the end result is only limited by your imagination.
The least costly alternative is to choose a simple
standard design (these are only a few examples) and
implement it in clear glass, or clear with highlights
of solid-color glass.
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The simpler the design, the less costly it is to make. Fewer individual pieces means the faster the design can be scaled to your dimensions, the faster the pattern can be cut, fewer glass cuts, fewer joints to solder, and fewer nooks and crannies to clean.
Clear glass costs significantly less than most colored glasses. The additives required to color the glass are often very expensive, and the process required to make the swirl or pattern can significantly increase the price of the glass.
Don't think that clear glass can't be beautiful. Clear glass comes in many interesting textures, that can be used alone or combined to make very unique and wonderful windows and cabinet door inserts.
And, a huge advantage of clear glass is that you can see into or out of it. Let the sun shine into your windows, or display your dishes behind doors that are designed for that purpose.
The next option is to choose a standard design, then to customize your windows or cabinet doors by carefully choosing a color scheme that's perfect for you. See how the color choice effects the look of the window.
As with anything, life is a choice...
Colored glass adds immensely to the design possibilities, but it is more expensive than clear glass. It can range from $5/sq.ft. to $45/sq.ft. for just the raw sheet of glass. Not only is the sheet of glass itself more expensive, but swirled or patterned glass often requires more square footage of glass than solid colors. Each sheet of swirled/patterned glass is unique and each spot on that sheet is different from every other because colors blend differently. So, some parts of the sheet of glass may not match your specifications, requiring more layout time and using only portions of the sheet of glass.
But the end result makes it all very worthwhile.
For the more adventurous, the next alternative is to combine elements of various designs into your own custom design. The first step is find a base design.
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| 1) This is the base design. You like most of the elements but want to change a few things. | 2) The next step is to find elements of other designs that you like | 3) Combine the elements and approve the new design. Can you find the elements that were chosen? | 4) Color the design for the greatest effect. | |
The most costly, but potentially the most satisfying is to create your own unique design. You can gain inspiration from a family motif, a special picture, match a wall paper design or let the artist do their own thing.
Expect an up-front design deposit, with the total design fee based on length of customer consultation and design time.
As with anything you can add-on to your window:
