5 Creative Uses of Custom Glass in Your Home

If you are a homeowner looking to brighten your home or a new builder hoping to impart a sense of openness in a living space, then we have two words for you: custom glass.

Glass adds a classy, modern look to any home. More than that, however, it fits seamlessly in almost any room and context. It mixes well with nearly any décor you can imagine. Whether it’s your bathroom, living room, or outdoor area, glass can make it look that much more beautiful.

If you are aiming to create a new look for your home, then check out these 5 ways that custom glass can contribute to your design plans.

 

Shower Doors

Perhaps the most common use of custom glass in the residential market is the custom shower door.

Custom showers are a beautiful part of any bathroom, especially those built with higher-quality materials, such as marble or tile. It follows that there should be an equally beautiful shower door to close off the fixture. That’s where custom glass comes in.

Since custom showers aren’t a one-size-fits-all proposition, custom shower doors let you have a lot of control over what kind of shower enclosure you can create. And, these shower doors come in a variety of styles.

• More and more, customers are installing frameless shower doors. These doors don’t have much, if any, visible hardware, such as railings or hinges, providing a seamless and clean look. Paired with a marble shower, these doors can give your bathroom a sense of brightness and elegance.
• Semi-frameless shower doors do much of the same, but with more hardware. You still get the sense of floating glass, but the frame is typically visible (albeit light and constructed of an attractive metal or metallic finish). These are a beautiful counter-option to frameless doors, and typically cost less overall.

To get the door you want, you should consult with your local glass service provider to see what options they have available. These outfits will typically build out doors to your specifications (within reason), and they will also have a showroom of ready-made doors so you can see what kind of work they do.

 

Custom Glass Fixtures for Lights

Custom lighting fixtures are coming back in a big way. Once seen as useful for commercial boardrooms or the show homes of the rich and famous, custom glass lighting fixtures are now making their way back into the homes of ordinary homeowners.

The exclusivity of these fixtures basically derived the time and cost that went into making them. Unlike shower doors, for example, you would need someone to blow the glass and shape it over time. This includes multiple fixtures. So, if you wanted, say, multiples of the same light fixture coverings, you’d have to add that to your time and cost.

That being said, if you want to give your home that really unique look, the custom-blown light fixtures can be a great way to do so. If there is a local glass blower or glass retailer in your area, then they might be able to work with you on developing exactly what you want. Or, if you are more open to having “pre-made” custom covers, then you might find beautiful items in a local antique store.

 

Custom Mirrors

Custom mirrors are those household items that many of us don’t think about as “custom” until we notice them somewhere. This is a shame because custom mirrors are fantastic in living spaces, hallways, and other areas that need an extra splash of light and color.

 

I did say color. When looking at custom mirrors, a huge part of your choice is going to boil down to shape and frame. And custom mirror frames come in all shapes and sizes as well as colors. So, you could have a rustic oak frame shaped like a traditional rectangle or square or a funky colored frame in odd or oval shapes.

The trick here is to be open to where you find your frames. There are some standard mirror sizes that frames will follow, but there are also several non-traditional options you can investigate as well. And, if you want something really unique, you can visit a local woodworker and glass cutter (which will most likely be two different people) to see what kind of awesome design you can actually put into action.

 

Glass for Tables and Tabletops

Glass tabletops are quickly becoming a staple for homes looking to keep their décor light and modern. These tabletops go equally well with indoor furniture (for example, as a single tabletop) or on top of outdoor tables.

There are glass tables that already exist pre-cut. But many homeowners are turning to custom glass companies to provide them with glass tables that fit specific shape sizes and specifications. With that kind of control, you can bring your own vision to the typical modern home with a table that fits the look you want.

 

Outdoor Work and Living Spaces

We mentioned custom glass for your patio furniture in the last section, but there are several other ways that custom glass can fit into your outdoor living plans.

More homes are building glass enclosures for their patios, much like a fully-functional sunroom. These rooms might build off the main house and share utilities like heating, cooling, and electricity—all while having amazing access to the outside world through walls of clear glass.

More recently, homeowners have also started building small greenhouses on their properties to facilitate growth in all seasons. Growing plants in greenhouses make them less susceptible to weather fluctuations, and greenhouses allow gardeners to grow plants that don’t thrive in local climates.

In either case, there are obviously several pre-planned options. But if you want something truly unique to your home, then most likely a custom glass cutter is going to be involved. And with a combination of outdoor and indoor glass greenhouses (built directly off your home), you can essentially grow whatever plants you’d like with a clear, controlled environment.

 

Use Glass to Brighten Your Home

The greatest thing about custom glass, no matter where you put it, is that it can brighten your home. Windows, mirrors, glass fixtures, and indoor glass doors for your shower allow light to travel more freely, and they remove sources of dark or heavy colors. The free play of light is something that makes any living space seem fresh and airy, which is great no matter what the season.

In order to get the best out of your custom glass needs, find a trusted local glass dealer. Many times, these businesses will deal in multiple kinds of glass, like shower and auto glass repair, or commercial and home glass repair. But many of these services will offer custom glass for a variety of applications and will be more than willing to work with you to help you find the custom glass you need.