Monday, June 9, 2008

What Can You Do With An Old Window.


Here's an old window that I took from my home in New Jersey. We replaced it many years ago and I kept the old window in hopes that some day I would find something to do with it. I finally pulled it out of the basement a few weeks ago.

I have a long, narrow screened in porch with the perfect place to hang it. The idea is that if you have a mirror hanging on one side of a wall across from another window, it will reflect the light and give the illusion that the room is bigger. This really works! I had a friend many years ago that had a very long, narrow kitchen with one large window and a wall right across from it. She hung 6 small farm windows on the opposite wall and her room actually looked larger.

I took out the glass and replaced it with mirror. I actually found a cheap mirror in Lowe's for $9.95 (the kind you hang on a door) and cut it into squares. The window was then sanded and painted. I used small squares of some great decorative tissue and Mod Podged them onto the perimeter frame. The centers of the frame were painted green using acrylic paint. I brushed on a clear coat sealer to protect it.
When you look at this window, you see the reflection of the opposite screened in area. When you now enter this porch, it really looks bigger!
Here is a closer photo of the Mod Podge/tissue on the frame.
These old windows seem to be very popular these days, available in thrift stores and sometimes garage sales. Sometimes you can get them very cheap and other times I've seen them marked up way too high. They are "old", used windows after all.
Originally I was thinking about creating a photo table or even a piece of wall art. Both these ideas appealed to me, but I decided this would suit my current needs.
Fortunately, I have a few more hidden downstairs. 01 02 03
04 05 06
07 08 11 12

4 comments:

  1. Christy,

    I love your window! It really does the job of magnifying the area, plus it's very cute. I love the green paint and the tissue paper you selected to apply.

    It reminds me of something I saw on the BHG website. They took a plain wooden door and mounted a full length mirror on the front. Then they applied molding completely around the mirror and then criss-crossing across the mirror itself, forming panes. The end effect was that the door became a faux french door.

    A faux french door and your windows would really open up a closed area!

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  2. Oh that's beautiful! How did you take out the glass and how did you cut the mirror to fit? I have a couple old windows waiting to be remodelled. :) Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Blue Castle:
    I smashed out the glass with a hammer (with a towel placed over the glass). I used a glass cutter (costs about $3.00) to cut out the individual mirror squares. Cutting mirror or glass isn't difficult, but you need to practive first on old window glass. You mark it, score it with the glass cutter and break it placing one hand on either side. You do this carefully, of coarse! I used silicone to glue the glass panes into each square.
    I hope this helps you. Let me know if you need any help.

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  4. Christy,
    Thanks for answering my question. I will definitely have to give this a try. This is such a great idea. :)

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