Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Divided Light Decisions

It amazes me how ignorant we can be of our surroundings. I thought I paid attention to the details in my own home, until I had to order new windows (58 in total for my house). I knew what I wanted, or so I thought.
1.) Divided lights not the fake ones between the glass, but dividers that had depth created shadows.
2.) Wood windows with an extruded aluminun cover on the outside and primed wood on the inside.
3.) No unattractive exposed drywall, instead wood casings connecting groups of windows
4.) Casement windows on the part of the house with cement board and double hung everywhere else
5.) Wood french doors on the L shaped front porch
6.) White windows

Done deal piece of cake. Then I started paying attention to the window grills in magazines and high end neighborhoods. Guess what, the number of divided lights was way less than my current windows and they were painted the same color as the trim not white.

Less is more with divided lights.

Traditional Home July/August 2011


Traditional Home July/August 2011

Selecting the number of divided lights per window was a daunting task. I currently have 29 different sizes of divided lights on my 58 windows. Who knew? 

In the family room alone, a total of 10 windows and one door I have the following:  9.5 wide x 12 tall, 9.5 wide x 13.5 tall, 10.25 wide x 12 tall, 10.25 wide x 13.5 tall,6 wide x 12.5 tall (door), and 11 wide x 12 tall, and 11 wide x 13.5 tall.

The reverse cottage double hung windows. (Translates to a window that the operable bottom section is not as tall as the upper section) Why are my windows not equally divided in half, you ask? Building code limits the number of square feet of glass that can be in one section without being tempered.

The easiest way to show you how the number of divided lights affects a space is with pictures.


Open Oversized Traditional

House and Home

Horizontal Divided Lights

House and Home

Simply Split

House and Home

Mix and Match

House and Home


Oversized in Black
House and Home



Martha Style Traditional

House and Home


Four by Four
.
House and Home


Sophisticated

Unknown source


Dated Squished

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Once my new windows are in and trimmed out, I will be viewing my bluestone surrounded pool
not through a cage like grid but an open and sophisticated frame.



Love,
Melinda

1 comment:

  1. Man alive! Who knew there were so many options?! Good luck with your decision...glad it's not mine:)

    ReplyDelete