I’m obsessing about the…

I'm obsessing about the kitchen window, perhaps as a way of not obsessing about my sick kid. He's better, I think. But really better, or only relatively better? I don't know. We'll take him in to the doctor tomorrow, and maybe she can tell us something conclusive. I hate uncertainty. And now Kavi has a fever (just 99.9), so she's probably caught whatever he has. Which is okay, as long as she doesn't also start all the vomiting and not-breathing.

So, window. Pam really likes the Moroccan design too, and I admit, it would be super-cool to design a window for our house based on a design from 1300 -- now that's historic! It's an pattern I love, but I'm worried that it'll be too ornate. An alternative we'd been leaning towards is the much simpler diamond pattern style.

It's funny, but I think my main concern with doing something ornate at the kitchen window is that it'll clash with the RH pulley lighting over the island. That's such an industrial look, and an attention-grabbing shape. I'm worried that a window full of stars, for example, will just fight with those lights. Whereas a simpler geometric might work better with it? We don't want to have too many focal points, right?

I know it seems a little ridiculous to design a window (hopefully permanent) around a light fixture (probably temporary), but, y'know, they were expensive light fixtures, and it's too late to return them, sadly. I did think that Kevin could take the two pulleys and use them in his office if he likes them (he hasn't picked lighting for that yet), and we could get something simpler for the island. They'd totally go with his chalkboard. But they might hang too low for functionality; they'd need to be high enough not to bump heads. And I still kind of think a schoolhouse light or some such might suit him better -- the pulleys cast light down, which is great for an island, but maybe not so great for lighting a room. I don't know.

If we give up the pulleys, that's definitely going to change the feel of the kitchen -- tilting more towards pretty and/or Moroccan and less towards industrial. I'm okay with that if Kevin is, but I'm also fine staying with the industrial vibe. I like both. And up 'til now, I'd mostly been keeping the Moroccan / Indian style elements on the second floor, so there's an argument for cohesion. Hmmm...

I do think using blue, and/or silver, and/or mercury glass in the window might work well, regardless of the design. I love mercury glass, and Kevin is pro-blue. :-) I think we'd need to decide whether to leave the leading silver-tone or patinate it to black. I can see arguments either way.

As a reference, here is some of the other stained glass in the house:

Existing (historic?) library window, 2nd floor

Dining room window I built & foyer window in progress

Honestly, I'm kind of frustrated with both of the ones I've done -- I can see scale problems in them both now that are bugging me. (The central motif is a little too large in the dining room window, and the star is a little too fat in the foyer window -- should have been divided into more segments, so each piece would be thinner.) And even though my teacher suggested it, I'm not sure I like the darker colors popping out of the paler ones in the dining room piece. I may well redo that piece at some point. But probably along similar lines, just with the proportions adjusted. I suspect I have to expect that my first few projects will have flaws. I just wish they weren't so obvious.

4 thoughts on “I’m obsessing about the…”

  1. I think the lines of the pulley lighting and the stained glass work together quite well, given the triangular and circular elements in each.

  2. nova bhattacharya

    I think if you did the moroccan design in blue it would blend with the cabinetry and the industrial fixture would be a functional counterpoint.

  3. I think the Egyptian design would look very nice with the lights. 🙂 They do a lot of that mixing in modern buildings with elements of the old with the very new, and it looks nice…

  4. Can you mock up the Moroccan design (or a variation on it) in blue?

    I continue to lean toward the diamonds, but on the other hand the diamond pattern looks specifically Tudor to me, which I’m not sure goes with the industrial light fixture any better than the Moroccan pattern would.

    Another thing to consider if you’re still feeling your way through stained-glass stuff: the ornateness of the Moroccan pattern looks to me like it might take a lot of skill and careful patience to get right. Would it make sense to save that for a later project and build up to it? Then again, I could be totally wrong about the difficulty; I know nothing about stained glass.

    And you might well be able to design a simpler variation of the Moroccan pattern anyway, which might also address your concern about being too attention-grabbing.

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