Windows and Cake

Windows. You see through them...they keep out the rain and wind...what else is there to know? I had a similar experience of my own ignorance when Nick said, "We're going to need to choose what color roof we want." I looked at him and said, "Roofs have different colors??!" My world is a crayola box of 16 colors as drawn by a second grader. All houses had gray roofs to me (except my mom and dad's farmhouse, which has a green tin roof and you'd have to be pretty blind not to notice). I can now see all the different colored roofs AND the different types of shingles. Along the same lines, I can also carry at least a four minute conversation in windows.

Old Windows.	These are bad!

Our goal with the house has been to modernize and restore in the spirit of its original era. The house still sported its ORIGINAL leaded single pane windows. While leaded windows can be a real novelty, these were in sad, sorry shape. They had not been maintained and the weather and sun had stripped away the protective paint causing them to sustain water damage and rot. It was so bad that some of the panes pulled away from the sash entirely.

Neat old casement stay (plated steel).	New stay - solid brass.

It was important to us to retain the leaded glass look, but we thought it wise to go with a double pane solution. What many window manufacturers offer is the leaded effect either on the inside or the outside of the window. Which would you prefer? Would you want it to look most authentic from the outside or the inside? Hmmmm....we would like to have that cake and eat it, too, please.

Ooh la laaa!	See the divider?

Luckily, we found a local custom wood window manufacturer that offered a unique solution where the leaded effect is on both the inside AND the outside. The windows also have a divider between the panes exactly where the leaded grid is applied so that the overall effect is more authentic. Without the divider between the panes, you would get a double lined effect if looking at an angle. For hardware, we thought the old casement stays were really cool, but they were plated steel, some were missing the knobby deal and they were pitted and flaking. So, we got new casement stays that make us happy, too.