Great Glazing Ideas to Transform Your Home

Glass is incredibly versatile, allowing you to open up your home, bring in light, zone or connect rooms.

The Sash Window Workshop

Style & substance

How your windows look impacts both the exterior and the interior of your home. And the wrong choice of windows can not only devalue your property when you come to sell but also leave you with either dark claustrophobic rooms or wide open expanses where you always feel on view. When considering any kind of glazing project, consider both aspects.  

Look at the architectural style of your home. Advises Richard Dollar, managing director at The Sash Window Workshop: “Having windows that are period appropriate can make a big difference to the appearance of your home, improving kerb appeal and the value of the property. For example, Victorian properties will normally look best with wooden sash windows that do not have many glazing bars. In contrast, Georgian properties will often have wooden sash windows with several glazing bars on them.”

Windows on the world

You can still get creative while ensuring it is in-keeping with the property. Dual aspect feature windows can really open up a room, meanwhile extending the window outwards with an oriel window can give you an incredible bird’s eye view. 

Adds Lucy Thompson of IQ Glass: “Oriel box windows add a unique sense of personality and space to a home renovation. They create a fun pop-out window design when viewed from the outside, and can be styled as a cosy nook for reading and relaxing while taking in views of the garden from the inside.”

Skylight and bright

Mitchell + Corti: Image, Luke Weller

Skylights are a popular way to bring light into a property. But a loft conversion project by Mitchell + Corti really took this to another level, carefully considering how light moves through the spaces throughout the day. Explains Ester Corti: “We believe skylights should never be placed arbitrarily in the middle of a room, but that they should be carefully considered so they relate to windows and the use of the spaces beneath.” 

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“The skylights in this project are carefully placed so they bear a strong relationship to the floor plan. The largest skylight is over the staircase and follows the edge of the roof, accentuating the corner shape of the plot. This allows light to filter down through the house and adds a special dynamic to the home, with playful shadows cast by the timber balustrade.”

Spiral

On the rise

Glass staircases are a fabulous way to give your home the wow factor and also bring in extra light into typically dark stairwells. Notes Katie Chown at Spiral: “Glass stairs let light filter from floor to floor, they don’t impose on a room or view and can create a dramatic statement. Do keep in mind though that glass can show sticky handprints if you have a young family!”

“Currently the trend with glass staircases seems to be topping them with stainless steel handrails as the naked edge of the glass, although safe, is not a natural thing to want to grip! Glass can also be used for the treads that you step on, creating a striking impression, particular in a spiral stair.”

Go large

Oversized glazing can really add drama and light. Notes IQ Glass’ Lucy: “Replacing old uPVC patio doors with large, minimally framed elevations of glass is one way to really transform a home. Homeowners can take this one step further by creating an oversized, double height sliding glazed façade, as was done to create a light-filled kitchen space at Kingston Road and to maximise kerb appeal at Portland Road.”

IQ Glass 

Divide and conquer

Internal glazing is perfect for dividing an open-plan space, allowing you to create a sense of privacy, while also allowing the light to filter through.

Choosing a sliding glass door rather than wall will give you versatility for opening up the space again for entertaining.