It’s easy to forget they’re there—after all, you can see right through them. But make no mistake: There aren’t many parts of your house more important than the windows. They affect the way it feels to be inside and the way the place appears from outside—so keeping them looking sharp is a must. They’re a crucial point where heat escapes—so minimizing that heat loss is obviously smart. And windows are a prime opportunity for visual pop, what with the range of ways you can dress them and the nifty elements, like stained glass, you can add.
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That’s a lot to keep up with! Which is why we put together this collection of how-tos all having to do with windows. Read on! (You might want to clean your glasses first.)
Stained panes
Browse a local antique store, and you’re likely to find plenty of old stained glass windows—salvaged from churches and other buildings—tempting you from amidst the wooden chairs and beat-up bookcases. They’re certainly eye-catching, but what can you do with them? Penny Latham, owner of Penny Lane Antiques on Ridge Street, has a few bright ideas:
 They look so sharp, but how to place them in your house? We got some suggestions from the owner of Penny Lane; these windows are at Circa. |
• The basic move is to hang the stained glass window in front of an existing window. Latham recommends brackets made for hanging swags—she’s both found them at www.countrycurtains.com and made her own—which extend about 4" beyond the window frame. Or, she says, "Use eye hooks and suspend it on chains, or fishing line if you don’t want the line to show." You get the colorful look of stained glass without having to actually install the window.
• Double your pleasure. By using a double swag bracket, you can hang two stained glass windows, one over the top half of the window and slightly forward of the other, which would cover the bottom half. "It gives a feeling of dimension," says Latham.
• Backlight a stained glass window with a small electric candle or a stick-on light. This boosts color at night, of course, but Latham says, "I tend to leave them on all day."
• Hang one stained glass window—or several—from the ceiling of a hallway or other area with plenty of overhead clearance and natural light.
• Go horizontal. Define a smaller zone within a larger great room or common area—and get "an artsy effect," says Latham—by hanging the stained glass window flat under a ceiling light.
• Table it. Latham’s never seen it done, but she says you could make a window into a tabletop by adding legs and lighting from below.—Erika Howsare
Smart shopping
What’s that you hear? That’s not just the whirring of air leaving your house via the windows. It’s also the sound of money flushing down the toilet—that is, if you don’t have energy-efficient windows.
Choosing high-performance windows for your home can be a fairly simple process, if you know what to ask for. Here’s a checklist:
1. Select either single- or double-pane.
Double-pane windows are more energy-efficient than single-pane, says Rodney Locklear of Charlottesville Glass & Mirror. The second pane of glass acts as an additional layer of insulation between the outside and inside. But it’s the air space between the two panes that, interestingly, creates a third layer of protection.
2. Ask about glazing and coating options.
Tinted glazing, reflective coatings and films, and argon or krypton, which minimizes heat loss between the panes, are all options. Make sure to ask about the benefits of low-emittance, or low-E, coating, which is recommended in window-selling circles. Locklear says the low-E coating "holds everything on the outside to the outside, and everything on the inside to the inside. In the summertime, it’s rejecting the heat, and allowing your cool air to stay on the inside."
3. Choose wood or insulated vinyl frames.
The difference in efficiency between wood and vinyl frames is minimal, Locklear says. The major sticking point is maintenance, he says, with wood requiring more upkeep.
4. Consider caulking.
"Caulking around the [window’s] edges helps to protect from air and moisture coming in," Locklear explains. It also helps to finish the seal off because not every window frame is perfectly square, after all.
High performance windows offer other bonuses too.
"It reduces sound and noise, because again, you are having to penetrate through two pieces of glass versus one piece of glass." Locklear says. Shades and blinds also help because they deflect or invite in the sun’s heat, depending on if you have them open or closed.
Once you’ve installed your new energy-efficient windows, sit back and watch the savings roll in. Locklear says on average, homeowners will see about a 30 percent decrease in their electric bill because less heat or cool air is escaping.—Jennifer Pullinger
Cleaning the outsides of the windows may require some acrobatics.
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Clean and clear
Got an older house? Very likely you have windows whose design approaches the complexity of a da Vinci drawing: two sashes, plus an array of extras that slide up and down in a series of metal tracks. Old houses tend to be dusty too, which means sooner or later you’ll be standing in front of those tricky windows, holding a roll of paper towels and wondering where to start. Never fear: We have your step-by-step guide to getting your dusty, complicated windows looking shiny once again.
1. Close the window and clean the insides of the panes.
Spray and wipe everything you can reach from here. Elizabeth Dance of Eco Clean, a local cleaning company, says you can use vinegar rather than the standard blue cleaners. She even recommends—no kidding—"a gust of warm breath."
2. Open the window and remove the triple-track components.
Triple tracks are made of metal and attached to the outside of your window frame; standard ones have one screen on the innermost track, then two storm windows on the outer ones. Remove the pieces working from the inside out; squeeze the tabs, pull the bottom of the screen or storm out and tilt to free the top.
3. Clean the storms and screen.
The key to getting all the parts of an old window clean? Take out the storms and screens and clean them separately.
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Dance says that for a grimy screen, borax and baking soda are both good bets—or, for less serious cases, just water and a good brush. "Don’t forget the elbow grease," she adds.
4. Clean the outsides of the windows.
You may need a ladder for this step. Say hello to your bushes.
5. Put the triple-track components back in.
Congratulations on what feels like a brand new house.—E.H.
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Sew easy
Making curtains is even easier than making horrible puns on "sew." Thus sayeth Carla Quenneville, owner of local fabric store Les Fabriques, who walked us through the steps for ultra-simple window dressings that you, yes you, can make—with the most minimal sewing skills.
1. Choose fabric.
"Start with great fabric—the best you can afford," says Quenneville.
2. Take measurements and choose hardware for hanging.
How will your curtains hang? "I recommend a tension rod on the inside [of the window frame], especially for apartment dwellers who don’t want to screw into wood," says Quenneville. The rods come in different sizes and strengths to suit different types of fabric.
To figure the width of fabric you’ll need, measure on the inside of the window frame, then multiply for the fullness of the finished curtains. "The general rule of thumb is 2 to 2 1/2 times the width of window for fullness," Quenneville says. You can stretch this to triple-width for a thin fabric, or go down to 1 1/2 times the width for bulky fabric. "You don’t ever want to do it the flat width of the window," Quenneville warns. "Gravity pulls it down and narrows it," leaving gaps at the outsides of the curtains.
Length depends on the look you want; figure where you want the curtains to hang to, then add length for the header (top) and hem (bottom). See below for details on how much to add.
3. Hem the sides.
Les Fabriques’ Carla Quenneville put our minds at ease about sewing curtains.
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If you’re like me, you need a definition of selvage edge: "That’s the woven finished edge as the fabric comes off the bolt," explains Quenneville. If it’s in good shape, with no pinholes, you can use the selvage to make your hem, folding once and sewing. Otherwise, fold twice, press, and sew. Quenneville says a 1" hem is plenty, so your two folds would each be 1/2".
4. Make the header.
Quenneville swears that a ruffled top is no big thang. Fold down the raw edge 1/4" and stitch straight across. Then measure your curtain road to see how much room it’ll need. "Take a tape measure around the rod," says Quenneville; "Even a skinny rod needs an inch or so to go around it." Fold the fabric again to accommodate the rod, then stitch. "Once you’ve run your rod through that pocket, the ruffle will form above it," Quenneville says. We believe her!
5. Hem the bottom.
First hang and measure, then hem, says Quenneville—this way you can’t go wrong on length. For thinner fabric, an inch or two should be enough.—E.H.
