I like C

Thank you all so far. I don't have a favorite yet which is why I asked. I think all three have merit. Please keep adding your vote and your thoughts.

So far the vote is

A - 12

B - 5

C - 16

Your stained glass guy delivers what and how promised, right? It's the contractor who gives the headaches?

My stained glass guy is fabulous. He got so excited when I first talked to him about doing something arts and crafts/art nouveau in feel. We played around with several motifs for the window. His original thought was something more elaborate but I wanted to keep it a bit more simple like the other stained glass windows in the house.

We try not to discuss my contractor. :(

I thought I'd post the completed windows from the other rooms here in case someone missed them. This stairwell window is the last (and largest one) to be completed. For reference the stairwell window will be 36" x 60".

DH's office (colors are way off as the leaves are dark green). Each window is 20" x 20":

C

Another vote for C.

Took me a while to figure out the difference. C

C. I like the green as a frame next to the white window molding.

I like C, Green border makes it richer in colors.

By the way, the house is looking good!

C

Beautiful windows! I have missed many of your threads. Are all these SG windows replacing original stained glass that were broken or missing?

No nhb22, this is a new build so brand new stained glass windows created just for this house. :)

The only one I really love is C

Gorgeous windows throughout! A is my first choice with c a close second

C as well! Can't wait to see it installed!

Another vote for C. The green makes me happy for some reason.

cp - Your stained glass windows are FABULOUS!!

CP I love all your stained glass window, just beautiful! You must be so thrilled to finally be in your home.

I like all of them but I like C probably the best. I think it will pull the green from the leaves with the border.

I prefer A. For me, A is a little more simple and allows you to "see" the flower pattern. B and C are a bit too cluttery for me and it is harder for my eyes to see the flower design. I think the green border is trying too hard to pull the wall color into the design.

A. It looks clean and simple. I agree with B Carey, it brings out the flowers and vase, which is the main part of the pattern and what a viewer should be noticing first. The other two are pretty, but too cluttered. Sometimes more is not better.

I like C - the edges look more finished to me with the light green border. (and your square windows have a thin border too)

Any will be lovely, like your other windows!

C

C gets my vote.

None of the above. I think what bothers me about all 3 is the intrusion of the clear glass into the picture frame effect. I’d prefer a Modified C, with larger (wider) border strips, and no clear glass in that mix. Just the clear around the rose.

C.

Sometimes, one little line makes something "done." This is one of those times. It anchors the green corner squares to the frame, so they aren't floating in space (A) or attached to the "wrong" element (B).

None of the above. I think what bothers me about all 3 is the intrusion of the clear glass into the picture frame effect. I’d prefer a Modified C, with larger (wider) border strips, and no clear glass in that mix. Just the clear around the rose.

Thanks Sophie. I do value your opinion. This is what I had originally and my glass guy felt it would be too heavy which is why we came up with the other versions.

Thoughts?

I think that’s close, but the large green is a bit too large, and the small strips are still a bit narrow to my eye.

Its a large window, so a larger scale of each piece seems more appropriate.

I know the colors aren’t accurate, but the dark green color is coming off a bit cartooney and primary in color compared to the more yellow green. If it’s a darker forest, that’s more pleasing to my eye to coordinate with the greens in your house.

Thank you. I'm going to see what my glass guy says too since with his help, I think he nailed the other pieces in the house. Maybe the border can be that large but needs more of a slag glass similar to the background slag glass in my bedroom roses?

It's all amazing. Catch me up, are these your craftsmanship or are you having them made from your designs? It's TO DIE FOR. Thanks for sharing.

cp, can you try this last design with the same green from B and C, rather than the more aqua/turquoise green shown?

This one might be harder because it's a larger, more complex design/window than the others.

I'm not an artist or professional design person, but to me this last version looks like the border is squashing the central element.

Catch me up, are these your craftsmanship or are you having them made from your designs? It's TO DIE FOR. Thanks for sharing.

Not my craftsmanship. I had a fabulous stained glass guy make them. He and I did collaborate on the actual designs for each though.

cp, can you try this last design with the same green from B and C, rather than the more aqua/turquoise green shown?

Becky, that is the same color. :)

Becky, that is the same color. :)

Very strange. On my laptop they look very, very different. Hmm...

Edited to add: The green in B and C on my laptop is more similar to the wall color. In the last version, it's more of a blue-green.

I used the eyedropper tool in photoshop to pick the color so I know it's an exact match. :)

Honestly, you won't go wrong with any of them. I do prefer C over the others though. I like that green border to tie everything together.

A, second choice is C.

Thank you all. I'm still up in the air but am meeting with the glass person tomorrow and he and I will decide together. I trust his judgement. (After all, he didn't steer me wrong on the other windows!)

I like C best. But A is close.

Green is my favorite color, so of course C is my preference. The border seems to set it off better as well. Or a Modified C, with more green. :)

I love the rest of the glass choices, and it’s great to see someone employing local craftsmen to produce it.

Can you post A,C, and Sophie's idea close together so we can see them? I'm torn: Sophie's adds so much depth to the window and is lovely, but I also like the lightness of A and how the roses look like a vase set on the sill (and let the red squares echo the red squares of the light fixture).

So I spent time today at the glass place. After we all looked at the large cartoon and where in the house the window was going, it was decided to go back to our original idea (and Sophie's choice) with the green border. The border color is a little closer to this color. I also made some other changes and am happy with what we picked today. The green in this border is a bit closer to the actual color but the glass has some "pattern" to it. The red flowers will not be the mottled red/orange in the picture below, but will be the same red glass that is in the roses in my bedroom.

Oh and here are 2 better pics of the glass already installed. Here the colors are accurate.

This is DH's office.

This is the master bedroom windows.

That’s perfect. The stylization of the floral elements is consistent across all of the windows, and the use of a colored border is as well. The textured glass is a significant element, and allows for more light on the landing, but it doesn’t intrude into the focus being the rose.

CP, your stained glass windows are wonderful. Just exquisite, and they fit into your house perfectly.

Would you tell us about the process of having them created? I am definitely using stained glass in my house -- already have some light fixtures -- and I've been reading, but I'm somewhat confused about the process. You installed a plain window ... then laid the stained glass over that plain window? Did you coordinate with the glass artist ahead of time on sizes?

Would you tell us about the process of having them created?

Yes, please, do!!!

Okay, FWIW, before I opened this thread I thought "absolutely none". And I don't like red so I still didn't like the idea when I first opened the thread.

THEN I saw the mockup in the stair, and I love it. Then I saw your DH's office ,the BR, the K. One more lovely than the next. Perfect.

Just shows what I know!

Your house is just gorgeous. Hope you are enjoying it!

Thank you Sophie. Goes to show you I should just trust my first instinct. :) Thanks for the push back to my first instinct.

CP, your stained glass windows are wonderful. Just exquisite, and they fit into your house perfectly.

Thank you. I'm very happy with them.

Would you tell us about the process of having them created? I am definitely using stained glass in my house -- already have some light fixtures -- and I've been reading, but I'm somewhat confused about the process.

Are you asking about the process of how they were designed?

The first thing I did was determine where in the house I wanted the windows. Those windows were then installed with plain fixed glass windows.

You installed a plain window ... then laid the stained glass over that plain window?

The stained glass is installed on top of the lip so it's not directly touching the glass behind it. On top of the glass my handyman installed wood pieces to "frame" around the glass and make it look like it's part of the window frame. This "frame" then covered over the second lip (yellow arrow). I'm not sure it the glass was epoxied or siliconed in, but I do know the wood was nailed into the side frames so none of the glass window was compromised.

Did you coordinate with the glass artist ahead of time on sizes?

I designed the sizes of the windows with the draftsman and only after the windows had been installed did I finally find a glass craftsman I was happy with. I had worked with one other before and was unhappy with him because he had the attitude he was doing me a favor and I wasn't happy with the designs.

The bedroom window and DH's study windows are adapted from what he first gave me but with lots of changes to the design to make them better.

I finally found a fabulous craftsman who understood what I was looking for when I said I wanted it to have a craftsman feel. He mostly designed the gingko leaf kitchen window and I made some small changes in terms of scale and placement of the center gingko leaf.

The stairwell window was a true collaboration. The craftsman created the background and I did a very rough sketch of the leaves, flowers and vase based on the lines and background he had created. He then refined it, and I then refined it further. He then came back with the final you see here.

I then played in photoshop with color and in reality the first color version had the blue border as all blue. Way too heavy. So when he suggested getting rid of the green border, I also changed the center of the blue inner border to the gold and that's how we wound up with what you now see.

Below on the left is the original coloring of the vase and flower and on the right is what we are actually using. Before there was too much dark blue. Now the dark blue acts to pull your eye up to the red flowers, so the flowers become the focal point of the window.

Are you asking about the process of how they were designed?

I was really most interested in the physical installation, and your pictures made perfect sense.

These are inoperable windows, right? So they're more simple than, say, double hung windows, which include mechanisms for opening /closing.

You were in complete control of what size windows you installed, right? I assume they're just a standard size?

On top of the glass my handyman installed wood pieces to "frame" around the glass and make it look like it's part of the window frame. This "frame" then covered over the second lip (yellow arrow). I'm not sure it the glass was epoxied or siliconed in, but I do know the wood was nailed into the side frames so none of the glass window was compromised.

So you could remove the wood /remove the stained glass ... say, if you wanted to move the decorative glass to a different location, or if your exterior window were broken?

One concern I have ... and maybe it's dumb. One of my fellow teachers got into BIG TROUBLE over a window a few years ago: His cheap plastic blinds were broken, and his window faces the hot-hot west. His room was roasting and his afternoon students were complaining about the glare, so -- with no help in sight from maintenance -- he took several huge pieces of thick off-the-roll bulletin board paper, and he blocked off the window, sealing it with tape on all four sides. Unfortunately, he chose black paper. A few days later his class heard a boom ... gunshot? fireworks? car backfiring? No. It was his window breaking. He had inadvertently created a greenhouse (the windows are deep set ... you can sit in them) ... and the heat built up to the point that one of his windows broke. He was in BIG TROUBLE for breaking the window and for blocking off his class' emergency exit.

So, my concern ... by placing glass-over-glass, you couldn't be setting yourself up for the same situation, could you? I think no. I think the stained glass wouldn't be caulked in /it wouldn't be tight /the wood would allow for expansion or ventilation. Did this topic ever come up with either the artist who made the glass or the handiman who installed it? I'd hate to think that such a lovely (and I'm sure expensive) item could break. In this case, I wouldn't think the exterior window could break ... not from heat.

He mostly designed the gingko leaf kitchen window and I made some small changes in terms of scale and placement of the center gingko leaf.

That is my favorite!

I've visited two stained glass places ... one focuses mainly on doors, and the door to their shop is absolutely gorgeous: Dark wood door with a full-length glass oval ... in the oval, a pink dogwood tree in full bloom. Coupled with pier glass and overhead transom ... also with dogwoods. Note: I love dogwoods. I just had to stand on the porch a while. It was the most gorgeous piece of stained glass I'd ever seen. I wish I'd asked the price, but I strongly suspect I wouldn't be willing to pay it. Nope, dumb me, I just talked about cabinet insets.

Thanks for this information.

These are inoperable windows, right? So they're more simple than, say, double hung windows, which include mechanisms for opening /closing.

Exactly. :)

You were in complete control of what size windows you installed, right? I assume they're just a standard size?

The kitchen and stairwell window sizes were custom but the bedroom and office ones were standard. Custom wasn't really much more since it was an inoperable window.

So you could remove the wood /remove the stained glass ... say, if you wanted to move the decorative glass to a different location, or if your exterior window were broken?

Yes.

So, my concern ... by placing glass-over-glass, you couldn't be setting yourself up for the same situation, could you? I think no. I think the stained glass wouldn't be caulked in /it wouldn't be tight /the wood would allow for expansion or ventilation. Did this topic ever come up with either the artist who made the glass or the handiman who installed it? I'd hate to think that such a lovely (and I'm sure expensive) item could break. In this case, I wouldn't think the exterior window could break ... not from heat.

I believe this is a different situation. 1, the windows are Low-E glass and double pane with some sort of gas between them. 2, the window isn't right up against the other window, so it allows for airflow between them? Honestly my regular windows do not get warm even.

I've visited two stained glass places ... one focuses mainly on doors, and the door to their shop is absolutely gorgeous: Dark wood door with a full-length glass oval ... in the oval, a pink dogwood tree in full bloom. Coupled with pier glass and overhead transom ... also with dogwoods. Note: I love dogwoods. I just had to stand on the porch a while. It was the most gorgeous piece of stained glass I'd ever seen. I wish I'd asked the price, but I strongly suspect I wouldn't be willing to pay it. Nope, dumb me, I just talked about cabinet insets.

The price for all my windows is not inexpensive, but in reality it's quite reasonable for what I got and every time I come into the room, it's a piece of art that stops me and makes me smile.

I'm an artist and I find it always amazing how people refuse to pay for original art. I can't tell you how many times people have loved one of my drawings, was dressed in all expensive designer clothing (including Manolo's on their feet), yet balked at the price of my drawing. Never mind those shoes will wear out, but my drawing will be able to be sold or passed down to the next generation.

Thanks again for this information! I feel much better informed.

I believe this is a different situation. 1, the windows are Low-E glass and double pane with some sort of gas between them. 2, the window isn't right up against the other window, so it allows for airflow between them? Honestly my regular windows do not get warm even.

My story had to do with the windows in our classrooms, and I have no idea what type of windows they are. They're thick; I know that. They don't "get warm" either, and people sitting near the windows never complain about heat /cold ... but the seals are terribly "leaky". They're casement windows, which I've never had at home; perhaps they're just worse that way.

As I said, it was a stupid concern.

The price for all my windows is not inexpensive, but in reality it's quite reasonable for what I got and every time I come into the room, it's a piece of art that stops me and makes me smile.

I understand what you mean. I'm quite tight with a dollar, but I will spend on what matters to me. In this situation, I'd pay for a piece of custom stained glass that I'd see it every day ... but I wouldn't pay for it to be installed in a guest bedroom, where it'd be enjoyed only occasionally.

My husband knows me; he says I can spend whatever I want. He knows that if I have a budget, I'll spend it, whereas if I don't, I'll weigh and judge every cost according to its value.

For what it's worth, I had to google Manolos. I wouldn't know them if I saw them on someone's feet, and I would probably insult them by failing to be impressed. I'm just a farm girl who wears Chacos, Jambus, Sketchers, Tevas, and Vasque boots.