Our 1908 Edwardian house was stripped of its stained glass in the hall and all the windows by its previous owners. It was important to us to add these features back to bring some original character to the house. We asked a normal window company to change our windows to have a stained glass like effect which looks good but we wanted actual stained glass for the door and its surrounds.
Below were the steps we took to add stained glass back to our door
Step 1 - Get quotes
Don't hesitate to ask your local community for advice! We created a post on our local Facebook group asking for recommendations of good and reliable stained glass companies. After many suggestions and looking online at all the companies recommended, we picked 3 to come give us a quote.
Our brief was to create the design, the stained glass, encapsulate it and install it in the door and its surrounds. A company came back to us saying that unfortunately he couldn't encapsulate and the two others were quite similar in price so we went with the company we had the best feeling with.
Step 2 - Find design examples and colours you like
We spent many hours on Pinterest, Google images and Insta trying to find halls similar to ours with stained glass in the door and surrounding frames. It was difficult to find a similar hall/doors layout to ours and when we did, we were not agreeing on what we liked. So we decided to go around the neighbourhood to find inspiration and ended up agreeing on the below idea, which was not at all something I would have considered originally.
We were then asked by the company to let them know what colours we liked and which ones we disliked. We said we didn't want red, pink and green but due to our recently installed windows having these colours, it made sense to have touches of it.
Step 3 - Review the design on paper and in person
The company sent us a scaled drawing of our door and surrounds with a couple of options of colours and designs on the surrounds. We could comment and feedback on the size of certain elements and colours which was great.
After agreeing the colours on paper, we were still unsure about the colour of the border so we asked to visit the workshop to review the colours and we are glad we did. The blue border selected on paper didn't suit us so alternatives were provided by the stained glass company and we agreed on a pinkish red and yellow border instead.
Step 4 - Installation day
The day of the installation is also the day you will discover the stained glass created. The design in the centre of the glass door was slightly different to what was agreed on paper which was fine to us and we were happy with all the glass. However, it could have been a different outcome, so ensure the design on paper is fully agreed and confirmed by the company that no changes to the design will be done once signed off by both parties to avoid disappointment.
It took one man two days for the job to be completed.
Step 5 - Finishing touches
You will have to touch up a little bit on paint once the installation is done and this is not done by the stained glass company. We like DYI so this was fine to us but it is a point to bear in mind for your perfect finish.
Good to know
Communication is key. We were impressed with the chosen company (starlight stained glass) and their communication style helped us get stained glass we are very happy about
The process can be slow. We were slow at making decisions in our household such as selecting a design and the colours which obviously created delays. I would recommend knowing what you want before contacting companies, it will make the process much faster
Be patient, a date estimation about when the installation could take place is provided but this can be delayed as no one job is the same and the company has a list of clients to go through.
How much did it cost and how long did it take?
From receiving the quote to getting the stained glass fitted, the process took 7 months
The cost incl. VAT was just short of £5K (price in 2022)
We would love to have a view of your own experience so please don't hesitate to comment or ask us any questions should you need more information.
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