Leadlight Window

We decided that a beautiful finish to the front of the house would be a gorgeous window above the front door, fancily called a 'transom window'.  Similar houses showed that a leadlight design would be appropriate for the period of the house. Leadlights tend to be unique to each building, so we needed to find someone who could help us to both design the window and to make it.

We found Carrie Westcott at Arcadia Leadlight who was absolutely amazing to work with.

The process had 4 steps:

1. Creating a design 
2. Drawing up the design
3. Crafting the window
4. Fitting the window 

Creating a design

We had decided that somewhere on the front of the house we wanted to show the year the house was made. This is usually on a parapet, but we are sadly lacking in parapets, so we decided that the leadlight could feature 1888 as the main design. It was also a good way to be able to avoid those horrific kookaburra and gumtree designs that Australiana enthusiasts seem to treasure. 

When I first went to speak to Carrie she had a folio of designs to look at, and I had been Pinterested in a few other designs, so she and I talked through the ideas I had and she got a great idea of the style and design I was looking for. Carrie very, very patiently talked me through the bits I didn't understand or wasn't realistic about and gently led me out of the wilderness of over-thinking things. She mocked up a sketch on the spot and kindly sent me away when I was starting to panic about exactly how wobbly I wanted the glass in each pane, and whether the pipe between each pane should be 5mm or 6mm.

The original sketch

Drawing up the design

After the initial visit (and a second one where I continued to overthink, this time about the colours of glass), Carrie drew up a beautiful plan to size and I checked it out in the shop. She listened and made some changes on the spot, and checked with me about details she thought I would be worried about. The drawing stage took about three weeks. 

The actual design, drawn to size

Crafting the window

We provided the window frame, which we had custom made by Steptoes Renovation to ensure it was the right size, and to include a rebate for double glazing. This window, which faces a main road, needed to be double glazed for sound reduction and extra insulation. 

Carrie passed the window on to a colleague to actually create once she had designed it. This process took three weeks, which included creating the leadlight window, fitting it to our window frame, and fitting the second pane of glass. We asked for the second pane not to be glued in so we have the option of removing it for cleaning if we ever need to (this seems like exactly the kind of job I would never ever dream of doing, but Gary was adamant that cleaning in between panes of glass was an activity that future-Emily and future-Gary would eventually want to spend time doing). 

The finished window, without the frame

Fitting the window

Fitting the window was a fairly easy task. We made this window an opening window so that we can use it for ventilation and heating and cooling. It is hinged at the top and opens out at the bottom, into the house, with a classy little brass latch on the back to lock it.

Fitting the window required attaching a friction hinge to the top of each side, then screwing those hinges into the timber window surround.

We also fitted a latch on the inside of the window to make it secure when it is closed.

The friction hinges

The final product

Cost: a gift from Grandparents, which is just the most lovely thing ever 

Time taken: about 3 months from first meeting to fitting the final window

-Emily