Grand designs in glass: eight ideas for very different windows

Mighty mullions

This grand Victorian home, 133 Gloucester Road, in London's Kensington was home to novelist JM Barrie in the late 19th century and it is said that he used its top floor balcony as inspiration for writing Peter Pan. This large double reception room on the ground floor of this six-bedroom property has ceilings in excess of 3m and large grand stone mullion windows looking onto the communal garden of Hereford Square. Agents Pastor Real Estate are asking £8.5million (€9.7 million). To execute something of the scale pictured, a circa 3m by 2m window surround with natural cut stone window head, window cill, cambered quoins, cambered mullions and transoms installed will cost from about €12,000 says stonemason and sculptor Ruairi Dennison.
pastor-realestate.com; igs.ie

Small, slim squares

For a room with a view check into Hotel Ottilia in Copenhagen, located on the grounds of the old Carlsberg Brewery site about a 20 minute journey from the city centre. Ask for room on the Bryggernes Plads side of the hotel, where you get round windows offering a built-in seat and giving you probably one of the most perfect perches from where to watch the world go by. Its window has a super smart slim frame that includes small square openings at its centre for ventilation and is finished in a Nordic noir shade of grey. Gorey-based K&K Windows can make something similar in either uPVC or alu-clad. Prices for the former in 53mm frame with an approximate diameter of 1.5m will cost upwards of €1,500. The same design in a slimmer, alu-clad frame will cost from €2,950. These prices are for any RAL colour and exclude VAT.
brochner-hotels.com/hotel-ottilia/; kkwindows.ie

Elegant sound proofing

These elegant Georgian-style, casement windows are double-glazed with acoustic glass which helps to defract sound down as much as 40 per cent, according to manufacturer Fairco's MD Jim Toal, handy if you live on a busy road. Made of accoya timber, the windows in the large room, as pictured, will cost €15,000, ex VAT. Currently the firm is offering the equivalent of a VAT rebate by "giving customers a cheque for 13.5 per cent of the total purchase value when they order from Fairco," Toal says. Pictured in Wimborne White the design also comes in cream, anthracite, agate or pebble grey, black, or balmoral external colours, and is also available in any RAL or Pantone colour for an additional cost.
fairco.ie

Add personality

Arched openings add personality to a space and can be used to create a repetitive pattern. An arched steel screen with double doors similar to those pictured and finished in any RAL colour will cost in the region of €12,900 to €13,900, ex VAT, to supply and install from Lambstongue, who recently installed something similar in the coach house at Rathurles House in Co Tipperary, in association with Tierney Haines Architects. You can buy this Fat Face Oriental Crane print duvet set at Home Focus at Hickeys. A double costs €56.25, down from €75.00 while a king-size set costs €63.75, down from €85.00.
homefocus.ie; lambstongue.ie

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Sleek fibreglass

Patrick Geraghty and Ted Cronin bought Wright Windows from Grafton Plc in 2012 and while they work with some developers, most notably the Cosgrove Group and O'Malley Construction, most of their work is on domestic projects – new builds and refurbishments. Pictured is one of its new Residence 9 range, fenestrations made from fibreglass that give a sleek, flush finish on the exterior, while following the original arched line of the opening. This size, which works really well on two-up, two-down red bricks, and was installed in a house in Stoneybatter, measures about 140cm by 170cm, and will cost from €1800, plus VAT.
wrightwindows.ie

Let in the light

Fabricated in Co Donegal, these Vindr VS windows from its slim-line aluminium range have been finished in Ral colour 7016, an anthracite grey that works well with red-brick period properties. This D14 room, by Joe Fallon Design Architecture, includes clever clerestory windows to help bring in light at different times of the day. The large fixed window to the right of the fireplace, about 249cm by 169cm will cost from €1,000, while the smaller fixed screen above, 242cm by 45cm, costs from €500. The long window above the sliding door, about 327cm by 45cm, costs from €650. All prices are ex VAT. Other architectural practices the firm works with includes Brennan Furlong; M Architecture; Buckley Partnership Architects; OC Architects & Design; Dublin Design Studio and Tyler Owens.
vindrvs.com; joefallon.com    

Wooden frames

Rathmines and Dunlavin-based Signature Windows specialise in premium wood and aluclad wood designs and sliding patio doors, with the latter on show here in this seaside abode in Co Cork. These start from €7,000 for a style 500cm by 240cm. It can also fabricate smart period-style designs including an aluminium-clad wood round-top sliding sash window. Prices for a large, rounded-top Georgian-style design, 120cm by 260cm, like this bedroom window, will start from €2,500. Non-round top prices start from around €1,500.
signaturewindows.ie

Wallpaper windows

If you're looking for an affordable way to break up a large room into a more broken plan layout you could use this Gustave Eiffel-inspired industrial windows wallpaper by Behangfabriek, which is available from UK-based retailer Lime Lace and costs from about E410 per minimum 5 sq m order.
limelace.co.uk