Idea for decorating those awkward foyer and staircase windows

Those high windows above staircases or above entry doors in a foyer may let in a lot of light, but they can pose a decorating dilemma. They look bare on their own, yet are not candidates for traditional window treatments such as blinds, curtains or drapes.

I had exactly that problem. I have an odd window. It is 12 feet above the staircase turn landing between my first and second floor and it is a double-hung window. It was there before we bought the house; windows were in and framing was done, that's about it. So we couldn't do much about the window and frankly, truth be told, we missed it amid all the other decisions we had to make.

So, now we have this enormous double-hung window 12 feet above our stair landing and we didn't know what to do with it. We were stumped. We'd never open this window. To put some kind of window treatment on it seemed odd. Moreover, fabrics, blinds or even shades would get dusty and dirty there and I didn't want to clean them and watch the cobwebs grow.

Our home is done in the American Bungalow style, which was prevalent from the 1890s to the 1930s and 1940s, so it was was built then, chances are it would have included some stained glass windows. Because we love stained glass anyway, this became an easy decision.

We went to Sheri Law Art Glass in Homer Glen, Ill. We were already using Sheri to create some privacy in our master bathroom window (see that story and how it turned out here). We presented our dilemma and showed her photos of her our home so she could get a feel for our style and the color palette. She paid particular attention to our wall color, the colors in the stained glass fixture already hanging in the staircase and even wanted photos of our carpet. 

From there, she created some sketches and we chose one we especially liked. Then, came the fun part. We sat down at a table in her office and got to select colors from an enormous collection of stained glass in all shades and opacities. 

Here is a photo of the sketch we approved after selecting colors and finalizing the drawing.

A few weeks later, the windows were ready to be installed. They are installed right over your existing windows, so if you ever needed or wanted to remove them, you could.

Below, windows are installed over the existing lower double-hung windows.

Next, eight separate pieces of the design are installed in the upper portion of the double-hung windows.

When it is completed, the result is everything we hoped it. It really finishes off the window perfectly and still keeps with the style of the house.

Do you have one of those strange windows? Let me know and tell us how you dealt with it.