Lynn Morgan paints her Garage Windows

Lynn Morgan is a happy girl--because she has just installed her most recent window project. You may remember the bathroom window that she and her husband, Richard, created as their first Gallery Glass window project? If not, you can read the story in the Window Makeover category. The short story is--it was a huge success. In fact, ever since tax season was over, Lynn has been looking for a design to adapt for three windows in her garage. Since the windows are on the front of the house --close to the bathroom window that they had done, they felt like it needed to be compatible with the first window--both color-wise and design-wise. So they came to my home workshop and started looking for a design that would fit two long skinny windows and one short squatty one. We eventually found what Richard believed was the perfect design. It was too long for the skinny windows--and looked impossible to adapt for the double-hung one, but we all decided that it was THE ONE. So, with the aid of my miracle Canon copier, I was able to adjust the x-y measurements to fit one of them by just removing the top and bottom border. Then I extended it wider and shortened it to fit the small double-hung window. Here is what the line design looked like.

As you can see, the design is distorted somewhat in the shorter version, but it would be a lot more noticeable, if the two sets of windows were NOT the same design.So we were ready to begin. Lynn has a client who customizes acrylic sheets and he was generous enough to cut some panels to fit all 3 of her windows, so that she would be able to do the designs at her craft table rather than having to stand in front of the windows in the (hot) garage to paint them.
So let's see the Before shots of the nice windows that we are working with and go from there. Lynn has a beautiful front yard but that wasn't the problem. Even though it's a garage, privacy is a bit of an an issue. Sometimes you just like to hide the stuff that is stored along with your automobile. The other problem was heat--very hot in the afternoon with no window covering. Blinds get dusty and curtains are impossible, so Gallery Glass is likely to be the most practical window treatment.

We started with the long windows because there are two of them and you can duplicate-- faster than you can create new--an important factor to remember when you are working on a large project with several parts. The finished size of the panels is 23.5"x 58.75". Most of the colors were used in the bathroom window, but that window is a different design. However, there is a considerable span of native stone between the bathroom and the garage windows, and they are both geometric designs, so the style of the windows works well together. She worked through the color scheme and decided what colors from the bathroom window she was planning to repeat, then added Cameo Ivory as a marbleizing background color with Cocoa Brown so that it will blend with the dark brown walls in the garage.

After making sure that we had enough paint to do all three windows with the same color scheme, she was ready to begin. The panels were leaded with a good thick application of Liquid Leading and allowed to cure for several days. This is a good idea if you are doing a lot of marbleizing colors together. It took Lynn many weeks to do the 2 panels in her bathroom. It was her first big project and she was very careful to make every section--perfect. But she did all four of these panels in a week. We let them cure a few days to make sure the paint around the edges was cured enough to move and on Saturday before a big pool party, we cleaned the windows thoroughly--inside and out, then used the point gun to hold the panels in place. The smaller window blends with the larger panels and matches very well, even though we had to manipulate (widen) the line design in order to incorporate all the same elements. The star in the center of the design had to be split because this is a double-hung window that has a sash in the middle. But you really don't notice that when you are standing in the garage looking at all three.

Because there is a lot of the translucent colored paint in the panels, they also can be seen during the daytime from the outside. Color schemes with only transparent colors, often don't show up at all in the daytime, from the outside. But remember, what you see from the inside in the daytime--is what your neighbors see when they drive by your home at night. So everyone gets to enjoy the full effect!

Congratulations, Lynn and Richard, you have done a fabulous job--once again.