At the Front Door

The onion lantern is installed.   I wasn't sure about it but now that it's in, I love it.

In the last photo on my recent "before and after" post, I added a photo of the front door just after painting it.  As I was adding the photo and finishing up the post, I saw a young lady walk past my front windows (on the porch!) and down the side steps.  What nerve, I thought!  I hope that isn't going to be a problem or I'll have to consider changing something to stop it.

It turned out the little darling saw the tape I had put across the door and invited herself up my front steps to write her initial--"A"--in the damp paint.

Her mother was with her but mom was texting and was paying no attention to what her little "A" was doing.

So I've been sanding down the door (wear a dust mask!) so I can put a new coat on.  I sanded down right into the gray primer and although it's not a look I want for my house, it did look pretty cool.  It reminded me of the pieces that Lori of Frugal Farmhouse Design does for her shop.

This is probably more sanding than you'd want to do for that "aged" look, but this is what the door looked like before I put on a new coat.

I taped plastic over the front door opening from the outside so I could leave the door open while it dried without having to worry about the cats.  This worked beautifully.

After a light sanding on the first coat, I put on a thin second coat.  I think it needs one more coat to bring up the shine but I'm happy with the finish.

THE SIDELIGHTS

My sidelights are done but I haven't made a decision on the glass so the ball is in my court.  With sidelights that go to the floor  like this...

...passersby have a view into the house.  One solution could be curtains and I found a great vendor, Cooper's Cottage Lace, that makes lace curtains perfect for old houses in styles such as Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, Victorian and even Greek Revival.  They even make a curtain specifically for sidelights.

This Grecian pattern would be perfect for a Greek Revival and was designed by the owner of Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers.

This is the Eastlake pattern, I'm assuming for a Victorian era home.

This pattern called Glen's Edge seems perfectly suited to an Arts and Crafts home.  The company also does custom sizing and offers loaner panels so you can try them out in your home.  

While the Grecian pattern would be suitable to my house, I felt lace is too delicate and feminine for my house, so I thought I could find glass that will offer some privacy.

I visited several glass places and no one had glass that looked "historical"; you know, wavy or seedy.  I saw a lot of things that be great for cabinets or shower doors, but the closest thing anyone could come up with that was "historical" was this Florentine glass.  It's been made since 1890 but, at least to me, it feels a little bathroom-in-an-old-building glass.

Finally someone suggested I call a stained glass company.  I never would have thought of it on my own.

But there at Burnham & Laroche in Medford, Mass. (who maintain the leaded glass windows for Harvard University) I found this handblown glass made by LambertsGlas in Germany.  It comes in sheets (how do they do that?) about 24 by 36 inches, although none of them are exactly the same, and the thickness is about 1/8 inch which also varies.  This sample is "normal seedy" but they also have "medium seedy" and "heavy seedy." I think it obscures the view enough and although it's not historically accurate, I think it's perfect.  I don't think it needs to be accurate.  It's art glass.   So it's not much different than stained glass, just in simple single panes.  And not so much more expensive than shower door glass.

And I think it will look great with the light.