Designing a Stained Glass Window

When we started thinking about building our desert house we looked through numerous design books from the local library and all over the internet for images and ideas to help guide us. One image we really loved was this one using colored glass in a kitchen.

As we drew up our plans we added something like this in the kitchen, then elsewhere throughout the house. By the time we were finalizing our window order and getting ready to start framing (just within the past few weeks), we changed our minds. The idea was becoming very expensive as it required so many small individual windows; we didn't need the extra glass in the kitchen/great room; and we worried about so much color clashing with other planned colors in the room. However we did not give up on the idea of having some stained glass in the house. We felt that we needed something to add some uniqueness to the Pella windows, which although really great windows, are still just your usual kinds of windows.

So we decided to create a stained glass window to go by the front door and then one at the top of the stairs that will lead up to our roof deck and cabana type room on the roof (which will be a second guest bedroom and bath). Both windows will be 7.5 feet high and just under 2 feet wide. We will have the glass all in one window instead of separated windows as we had originally envisioned, to keep costs down.

Near our house in Salt Lake City we had seen a glass company called Beehive Glass. So we checked it out, liked what we saw, and proceeded to work with them to create our windows. Its a small shop with friendly staff and they seem to be very busy. During our first meeting we told them what we wanted to do, talked about colors, and mapped out some sizes and costs. They gave us about 15 samples (they cut off a small shard of large glass panels) to take home and work on the colors and to finalize the design.

My husband and I decided this would be my project to finalize the design and the colors. So I spent about 2 weeks playing around with it. Its hard to imagine how colors will look next to each other when you are looking at tiny shards. Plus each glass looks different in direct light vs diffused light or when placed on a piece of white paper. It was a challenge, but a very fun one. I never thought I would get to design my own stained glass window!

Last week we submitted the final design and color selection and then the Beehive Glass crew got to work drawing a large mock up of what we wanted. We went in again on Friday to see the final results, made some last minute color changes and....here you have our final design! I can't wait to see the final product - to see the colors in full size. Stay tuned...we hope to have them done in two weeks to take with us on our move. It has been good working with Beehive Glass and I would recommend them to anyone in the area wanting some glass work done.

Me and my creation :)

The one on the left will be by the front door - the one on the right at the top of the stairs.