Laundry Cabinets

When the kitchen project unexpectedly left us with two spare cabinets ready for glass inserts, we installed them in our laundry, an unlikely site for glass (and fancy cherry cabinets!). My goal was to design something simple to make and impossible to see through. Color selection was more challenging than anticipated, coupled with an unfortunate accident in bringing home 8 square feet of glass.  After the first set was completed, I made a minor adjustment to the river running through the right hand panel, to end it at the outer border instead of at the 'grass'. There was also a grand debate about whether they would look better with the outer border as the lighter or darker color, so I made one set of each. My husband and I each have our favorite version -- not the same ones! The two color design options are below and the end results on the right. The bottom right photo shows the whole cabinet build-out on one wall. Our builder used some other left-over doors from the kitchen project to create a hanging area over the washer.

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Value: $1000 per pair
Sizes: 15" x 35" and 14" x 32"

Kitchen Cabinets 1

A client replaced their kitchen cabinets and added a peninsula with a cabinet and appliance garage. The cabinets are white, and the counter and backsplash  are mid-tone neutral taupe tile. They did not want the interior of the cabinet to be visible and didn't intend to back light. They initially had wanted the panels to be only neutral colors (Left pattern below). After looking at a full-sized printout of the first design, they went back to the drawing board. We intended to add only a bit of color, but got more bold (Center pattern below). They are very pleased with the results (Right side photo below). They also like how the panels look with some light coming through them, and may change their minds about backlighting. Glass was chosen for its appearance in reflected light, but a bit of backlighting would emphasize some of the glass choices.

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Above: Panel in progress

Left: Original design, colors added, end results.

Value: $800 for the pair
Size: 8" x 32" each

Kitchen Cabinets 2

When we replaced our kitchen, I planned to make stained glass inserts for 2 cabinets (3 doors) but was convinced by the kitchen designer that 2 more cabinets (4 more doors) with glass would be better. While doing seven of the same design seemed a bit overwhelming, it went much faster than anticipated. Given the nature of the design, I did it in lead came instead of my usual foil process. I found this to be a good exercise to improve my skills with these materials, as each panel was a bit quicker and better than its predecessor. The design and first finished panel are below. The largest pair is shown at the right.

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Approximate sizes: 11" x 35, 15.5" x 35, 12" x 35", 12.4" x 36

Value for all 7: $2800-$3500

Nursery Project

I completed and hung a panel for our new granddaughter's nursery in January, 2008. Her mom is a marine biologist and her nursery decorating theme is "Oceans"... I researched fish on the internet and found several interesting ones. The challenge is the level of detail needed to represent the fish and the desire to keep the panel from being too detailed and scientific. Some elements, like the seaweeds and parts of the clownfish (center one, looking at you) were done freehand.

This was a very time-consuming piece to do -- lots of very small pieces and many really strange and challenging shapes to cut and coordinate. Interestingly, the only glass I had to buy was for the background -- all the other elements were created with glass I had either bought speculatively or glass remnants from other projects over the last 5 years. I KNEW there was a reason to keep all those scraps!

I also changed my mind in flight on the border -- I had planned a clear glass, but used an iridized piece I bought a couple years ago for just such an eventuality. You might also notice that the clown fish's tail changed shape. I had started with a trace of another type of fish head on and just AFTER I cut the tail fin, I noticed my clown fish reference photos showed a non-indented fin, so I redrew and cut another. I thought that since she has a marine biologist for a mother, our granddaughter deserves some level of accuracy in her fish depictions! Her mother was very pleased with my fish designs.

All these are real fish -- even the weird looking one on the left - he is a unicorn fish, a relative of a surgeon fish (lower right). The only thing that I ignored is the relative sizes of the fish. The blue ones can be big - 12 inches or more, but the orange clown fish should only be 3 inches long. So much for accuracy! Maybe the blue ones are still babies....

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Above: Completed panel

Below: hanging in the nursery

Below: final design

Size: 21.5" x 17"

Value $700

Master Bath Shower

Our shower contains a window that overlooks our side yard and a neighbor's home. Until we both started trimming trees a couple years ago, privacy was never an issue. Now, however, there is a clearer view to his deck than we would like.

Stained glass seemed the obvious solution to this problem, though there were a number of questions to resolve. First, the room's exposure on the bottom level of our home is toward the north northeast, making it pretty dark, so I was reluctant to reduce the natural lighting significantly. That meant I needed a design that was busy on the ends and open in the middle with a lot of clear glass.

The second challenge was how to install it. It seemed clear that installation outside would be preferable, due to the tile inside and the probable contamination of the window with soap, shampoo, and mildly hard water. I also considered creating an insulated glass unit with the panel sandwiched between two others or having a single piece of glass outside.

In the end, simplicity led me to install it outside without additional glass protection. I framed it in zinc and wood and it fit PERFECTLY into the opening of the existing aluminum window. By adding trim to the outside of the window, which it had not had before, we were able to hold the panel in place without having to nail into its wood frame. We are hoping that having it recessed into the aluminum frame on the side of the house that is less impacted by storms will reduce the chances that rain will encroach between the panel and the exterior window. (It would NOT be fun to de-install to clean the window!) So far, our plan is working. Our very worst winter storm this year (3 days without power) came from the northeast and pummeled the window and nothing leaked!

Design overlaid on shower photo

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Panel in progress

Finished panel in shower from inside.

Installation from outside. Similar aluminum window at left.

Size: 69" x 21"

Value: $2,500 - $3,000 plus installation