For most people, the idea of stained glass invokes images of the ornate and colorful windows in churches, temples, and cathedrals. While stained glass certainly does have a deep history in this religious setting, it also serves a purpose in modern residential architecture. Residential stained glass is as beautiful as it is functional. It can provide privacy for the rooms of your home where you need it the most, say your bathroom for example. In many new neighborhoods, the homes are built closely together with not much space between them except for small side yards. If your house has a bathroom that’s located on the side of your home, the ability to retain privacy from your neighbors may cause concern. Bathroom stained glass windows offer a practical solution for this type of situation. They can prevent outsiders from seeing into your home without blocking out the natural sunlight. Take a look at this bathroom stained glass window. Notice how you don’t have a clear view of what’s on the other side, yet the sunlight can still come through the window. This is a great example of how stained glass can provide privacy in your bathroom.

Another benefit of bathroom stained glass is its versatility. Curtains, blinds, and other window coverings come in premade designs. But stained glass is a custom window treatment. It can be created with any color, style, texture, or appearance. And because it is a custom renovation, stained glass adds buyer appeal, competitive edge, and value to your home. Some people are concerned about the functioning capabilities of stained glass windows. They like appearance of stained glass, but they still want to be able to open their windows. But the reality is that stained glass can just as easily be created for sliding windows as you can see here. If you’re looking to add privacy to your bathroom and also want to enhance its aesthetic appearance, then stained glass could offer the perfect solution. Or if there’s another area of your home that you’re considering remodeling, you could add stained glass to this area as well. Scottish Stained Glass makes beautiful custom windows for home entryways, bathrooms, kitchens, basements, hallways, and more.

These are photos of a Victorian tiled floor we renovated at the new Scottish head office of the Peoples Postcode Lottery in the centre of Edinburgh City where the building was going through a multi million pound refurbishment. Edinburgh has a lot of Georgian and Victorian architecture, much of which is listed and as a result many still have original Victorian tiled flooring. I’ve not really looked at the Postcode Lottery until now but put simply you give the lottery £10 a month and your postcode is your winning ticket number, there are prize draws every day and if your postcode comes up every one in the system with that postcode wins; they also give 31% to charity which is impressive. You can see from the photograph that the floor was in good physical condition but was looking tired and dull. This is not unusual for Victorian tiles as once the sealer wears down dirt can penetrate into the pores of the tile causing it to lose its appearance. On the first day we set about stripping the floor of what remained of the old sealant using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is an industrial strength alkaline tile and grout cleaning product that is safe to use on Tile and Stone. The product is applied to the floor, left to soak in for ten minutes and the scrubbed into the tile using a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary bonnet machine. The floor was then rinsed and the now soiled cleaning solution extracted using a wet vacuum. The process was repeated several times until we were happy the floor was clean and free of sealer and then given a final rinse with water. Before leaving for the day the floor was dried as much as possible using the wet vacuum to extract as much moisture as possible. On the second day our first task was to check the floor with a damp meter in several places to ensure the tiles had dried off overnight. All was well and we began the process of sealing the floor with a Tile Doctor Seal and Go. This is a topical sealer which provides a high-quality low-sheen finish and protection against ingrained dirt and stains. Victorian tiles are quite porous and five coats were needed to fully seal the floor. This took some time to complete as you have to wait until the first coat is dry before applying the next however it was well worth the effort as the floor looked fantastic afterwards. Thomas Wilson Edinburgh Tile Doctor