Commissioning a stained glass window porthole

[BrowncoatWaffles]

Buying our forever house. It's a definite fixer upper and we're going to be spending ages doing lots on it - I foresee a lot of scrubbing, painting and DIY in our future.

Before all that though first job is double glazing throughout. There is a feature port hole window (around 55cm in diameter so not massive) at the front of the house. I'm a bit in love with the idea of commissioning a piece of stained glass to be double glazed into that window.

Has anyone done this? Did you do it through your window company or commission the stained glass from somewhere and then have your company install it with all the other bits. Also, roughly how expensive/how big was it please?

Once the sale goes through we won't have lots of money for fripperies and most of our spending on the house will be practical for the first few years but since we're getting the windows done anyway I'd love to get it done if I can make it affordable - I have a specific image in mind that might be a bit fiddly (landscape). DH is fearful at costs and I'm not ready for asking for specific quotes yet in case they bring on a heart attack.

All help gratefully received!

There are a couple of places near me that do stained glass to order (S/SW London if you need the details).

You can commission whatever you’d like but they’re able to advise on appropriate designs too. The costs vary greatly depending on the level of detail, shapes etc so I think a very intricate design could cost double of a more basic one.

We have a Victorian semi and are looking at getting a stained glass front door and semi circle above. There are people that advertised on eBay and we found a few companies more local to us - reclaimed door places usually have details. For two cricket bat panels was quoted around £325 to give you an idea of price

Ok this is all really helpful! I kind of assumed that finding someone local might be more expensive but £325 (or even a bit more for the level of detail) is better than I anticipated.

I wouldn't have thought to check Ebay... will look into it. I found Leadbitter Glass online who look great, but as they did Paddington's front door (!) I imagine they're expensive though. Also, SW London is where my parents live - so an explore next time we visit might be in order!

I know a place in Kendal Cumbria that do it, I'm sure it would be simple to find someone you like. I haven't had it done but gather you have the piece made and then the window company as it to the window which is then installed as usual. But there are probably several ways of doing it (retrofit like secondary glazing for instance)

In the East Midlands we have Claire Williamson. Her work is fab!
clairewilliamsonglass.co.uk/