Crafting light, colour and story in glass.
Coastal light is glorious and unforgiving in equal measure. A practical guide to specifying stained glass that survives salt, gales and condensation — from a Cornish porch transom to a Northumberland bathroom panel — without turning your home into a souvenir shop.
Coloured light over water is a lovely idea, but a narrowboat asks different questions of stained glass than a bricks-and-mortar home. Here is a practical, design-led guide to commissioning panels and portholes that can cope with movement, damp, tight frames and life afloat.
Rooflights, stair lightwells and glazed porches ask stained glass to do a different job: light falls from above, and you mostly see the glass from underneath. Here’s how to design for safety, British weather and the view from the sofa.
Advent window trails turn ordinary streets into a December treasure hunt. Here’s how to plan a sequence of small stained-glass panels, weatherproof them for a British winter and reveal each night without touching the original glazing.
Sunburst fanlights, leaded stair windows and Crittall steel frames give the 1930s semi its quiet sparkle. This is a practical guide to spotting original interwar glass, knowing when to repair it, and commissioning a new panel that belongs without turning the place into a period pastiche.
A dark hallway doesn’t need a skylight to feel brighter. This guide looks at how stained glass in internal doors, fanlights and room screens can move daylight around a UK home, keep privacy intact and still behave properly when it comes to safety, sound and period detail.
A home library needs light that flatters the page, not fights it. Here’s how to brief a stained-glass panel that adds colour and character while keeping shelves, seating and screens in comfortable balance.
A stained-glass commission can be a small cabinet panel or a whole window, and the quote can vary just as wildly. Here’s a plain-English look at what actually drives the price in 2026, from design time and glass choice to access, installation and heritage requirements.
Not every dark corner can take a window commission — but a stained glass lampshade can carry the same colour and craft into a hallway, alcove or north-facing room. Here's how pattern scale, copper foil versus lead, bulb heat and frame strength work together, plus how to brief a maker or plan a first shade in 2026.
A garden room, studio or potting shed can carry stained glass beautifully — provided you plan for damp, draughts and the odd opportunist with a crowbar. Here is how to brief, design and fix a panel that earns its place among the growbags.
Abstract leading patterns can bring rhythm, colour and privacy to contemporary British homes without a single figure in sight. Here is how to choose a geometric panel that sits comfortably beside plaster, timber and steel – and why it often suits modern interiors better than a pictorial design.
A stained-glass splashback has to survive steam, grease and the occasional chip-pan incident — and still look good under cupboard lights. Here’s how to brief a studio so the panel fits your worktop, sockets and extractor before the first cut.
Sealed double-glazed units and secondary glazing both promise to protect a stained-glass panel, but they solve different problems. Here’s how to weigh condensation risk, lead fatigue, ventilation, heritage consent and realistic 2026 UK costs before you commit.
Bathroom windows have to balance privacy, daylight and a daily dose of steam. Here is how pattern, texture and construction choices can give you a stained-glass window that looks good and copes with real life.
The tall, narrow stair window in a British terrace is easy to ignore — until you realise it is one of the best opportunities in the house for colour and character. Here is how to design stained glass for that awkward vertical slot without turning the hallway into a cave.
Names, dates, house numbers and dedications ask a lot of stained glass: they must be readable, beautiful and durable. This practical guide looks at painted, etched, laminated and appliqué lettering, with UK consent, cost and weathering notes for homes and churches.
Stained glass in a listed building is rarely just a window. It is part of the fabric, part of the story and often part of the planning conversation. Here is how to work out when listed building consent is needed, how conservation officers assess proposals and how to record historic glass before anyone touches a pane.
Turning a much-loved photograph into a stained-glass panel is one of the most personal commissions a maker can take on — and one of the easiest to get wrong. Here's how to choose the picture, talk sensibly about abstraction, pick glass that holds up in British daylight, and budget for a memorial panel that feels like a window rather than a photocopy.
South-facing stained glass gives glorious colour, but hotter UK summers are putting panels under real strain. Here’s how to design, specify and look after sun-heavy windows so the glass stays beautiful without baking its lead.
A stained-glass shopfront has to be more than a pretty window: it must read from the pavement, survive British weather and still work after dark. This guide covers planning and listed-building checks, lighting, security, weatherproofing and how to brief a maker so the finished piece earns its keep for an independent shop, studio or café.