Design
Guest Cottage: What Are Doing With The Broken Vintage Windows And Doors??
Here’s what I know: Windows, doors, flooring, and tile are the things that I take pretty seriously. They are very important architectural elements, what makes or breaks a home long term (and are the most expensive to change or replace). This isn’t where I’ve ever taken big risks or gone cheap (well, maybe ’til now?), and the vintage windows and doors of the guest cottage are all busted, but charming as hell. They are original wood, single pane, from varying decades in the 1800s and early 1900s (depending on the room, it was added on to many times). So my plan was to take it case by case, to keep what we could, fix what we could, and replace what we needed. It would be an investment for sure. Fine. But as I started getting quotes, my “only high-quality doors and windows” mantra loosened. So here is what the plan is, room by room, door by door, window by window, and dollar by dollar.
Now, real quick: while this is super aesthetically important to me, Brian is more focused on not having janky doors and windows and keeping the warm air in and the hot air out. I get that, but I don’t want to spend $50k on new doors and windows when I love what they look like right now.
The Big Kitchen Window
The main kitchen window is huge, almost 74″ wide by 58″ tall. It’s a 4 over 3 grid pattern, fixed (does not open), single pane, true divided lite (meaning the glass is only between the wood and not like SDL – simulated divided lites – that is more common for contemporary, double paned, gridded patterns). It’s so pretty, but…
The glass is in bad shape with one broken pane, one cracked pane, and the rest so thin (and wavy) that they feel like they could be broken by a stray ping pong ball.
Here’s what happened: we first had the restoration company quote to fix the frame, replace the broken glass, and then add the storm window for added energy efficiency during the winters. That quote came in at $2,700 for just this one window, and we were really scared that we were going to spend almost $3k on something that would be so thin and be so cold in the winter. So this compelled us to get the quote to completely rebuild a brand new custom window (Marvin), hoping that it would be around the same cost, but for a brand new, likely better product.
So when the $5,520 quote for the new wood window came in, we responded with an immediate, “oof”. While I don’t think that it is overpriced, it is too much to spend on one window.
We then decided to fix the window, add thicker glass than it has now, and not do the storm window. I’m pushing for this more than Brian; he’s scared that it’s going to be super cold in the winter. But I have to remind him of the following:
- The new glass, even though it’s single pane, will be much thicker than the vintage, thin single pane.
- We had single pane glass in LA in our English Tudor house, and with the right temperature control, window treatments, and with our Quilt system, we’ll be fine. Single pane doesn’t always mean super drafty if it’s high quality and thicker glass.
- Portland isn’t crazy hot or cold. We will have heat/ac in each room, and even on the hottest days, this room doesn’t get hot because by the time the sun hits this room, it’s behind trees. Some rooms are natural saunas (like the upstairs bedroom); this one isn’t.
FUN FACT: It’s actually a vertical window that they installed horizontally, which I guess was not atypical for the 1800s and is actually really charming (we didn’t know this until we were told by one of the restoration companies that pointed out the wider frame on one of the sides).
Decision: completely restore the original window, with new, thicker glass for $1800 – $2k.
The Living Room Interior Window
This was a harder decision. This window was charming in theory. They clearly added on to the room behind it later. It’s blocked by a chimney that we might remove at some point, but aren’t just yet, because it sets off a domino effect of problems to solve that we would like to put off. Once we found the reclaimed wood that matched the walls, we decided to salvage the window, frame out the hole, and clad it to match the walls. It will be a bit patchy, but there are patchy parts all over the walls, so we are just accepting the quirks. We think this wall might be good for a larger TV, so having the window gone is a good thing (and no, that hutch isn’t there anymore, it’s still in the living room where I debate every day whether I want it to stay or go, lol).
The Interior Doors
All the interior doors are so charming, if not a bit janky. Some of our subs will immediately say they need to be replaced, while others understand the charm. Here you can see a little bit of the door to the prop room (left), the speakeasy (center), and the door to upstairs (right). There is also the door from the speakeasy to the bathroom and various doors upstairs. They are all different in style – some paneled, some with windows, some with knobs really high, and some with knobs really low.
None of them really shut, close, and lock perfectly right now, and if we lived here full-time with our kids, I could see that being annoying, but for our purposes, these are pretty great. I could see us stripping, painting, fixing as needed, but right now it’s not something I’m even thinking about.
The Prop Room
This room has three windows, all wood-framed and all different. Two of them (seen here from the outside) are fine (not great, but fine). But the third one is so busted and off kilter that it is beyond repair (said even the restoration folks). So we are looking for a vintage fixed (or operable) window that would need to be bigger, so we don’t have to deal with more re-siding or matching the beadboard.
Here’s the jankiest one in question. I got a quote to build a new wood window for here, which the window guy suggested as an awning, as the other two are a slider and a double hung, so it would be a picture window that would open from the top. The quote for this was $3,270. That felt like too much to us, so I’ve been on the hunt for a vintage one to put here instead, with the hope that it would be under $500 (not including install).
As I’m writing this, I’m realizing that the interior window from the living room could likely fit here! They just salvaged it, and I’m not sure what shape it’s in (and to be fair, it’s just a picture window, so it’s so simple), but in the name of keeping anything original, I’m going to explore just putting it here. I was planning on going to Aurora next weekend to see if they have anything special (which they tend to). So we’ll see.
The Speakeasy
The speakeasy had two windows – a double hung on the east wall and a big non-operable grid window on the south wall. The double-hung one was broken. Now the function of this room is still TBD, but it’s leaning rec room. Charlie’s drum set, our ping pong table that is in the garage, and maybe where the tweens/teens can hang. We call it the speakeasy because it’s fun and dark. So we took out that broken window and decided to put in a door instead, which connects directly to our prop garage. The door will have a panel and then six lites (so mostly glass).
They already framed it out, and it actually brings a lot of natural light in. We didn’t want to add more windows because we want to have wall space for now for games (and to not spend money), but I was nervous about not having any light, so the door was our compromise and gives great access. This room will also have two huge skylights with blackout shades, BTW.
But What About The Big Window?
Here’s where you might be shocked…
We got rid of that window. Now, before you cry or yell, you should know that it looked out to a chain link fence, 3′ away, that was covered in shrubs with really tall trees, all on our neighbors’ property. So it was a fence view and didn’t bring in very much natural light. We figured skylights would help. Besides… we had plans for that window (keep reading).
The New Bathroom
On to the bathroom, where we got rid of this window as well. It also had a terrible view that we couldn’t control (dark, chain link fence covered in shrubs), but getting rid of it also allowed us to put the shower and vanity over here, so it opens up the function of the room more. This room will also get two skylights to bring in a ton of natural light and to highlight the awesome, vaulted ceilings.
When we framed the floor of the bathroom, we had to build it up 18″ (unless we wanted to pour a concrete slab, which we didn’t do for a myriad of reasons). Doing this actually raised the height of the bathroom floor to that of the speakeasy (win), but it also required us to fix a few things, like the exterior door. The original door was rough and just didn’t make sense to salvage. Instead, we are putting in the same six-lite exterior door as we are in the speakeasy and reframing it to sit level with the new floor. We’ll have to add some sort of step-up outside, too.
Those extra 18″ also made it so the window was oddly low (starting at my knees with the view below my eyeline). So we were just going to raise it, which at first I thought would be expensive, but y’all, re-framing is pretty affordable (a day’s work for two dudes). But THEN I HAD THE BEST IDEA…
That’s right. We are taking the big, old speakeasy window, restoring it, and installing it in the bathroom. It will be bigger, prettier, and make the exterior of the house look prettier, too!
While I have you on the topic of exterior…what do you think I should do about that upstairs window?
The Upstairs Windows
Right now, it’s shoved a bit awkwardly to the right because the bathroom and shower stall forced it to be there. But since we don’t need the bathroom up there, we could demo those stalls out and easily move the window over so it’s centered in the peak of the roof.
The case for moving it is clear – it would look better, more balanced, be almost centered over the kitchen window, and not be so shoved. The case for keeping it where it was originally placed is just that – sometimes vintage charm is awkward and odd, but it keeps a house from looking cookie-cutter or basic.
Now upstairs is pretty simple otherwise. We are repairing any panes that are broken or cracked, but keeping all windows the same. They are in good enough shape and don’t need to move, plus we like the vintage wood vibes.
Wait… But What About The Huge Sliding Barn Door???
Ok, a huge thanks to you. Some of you suggested that we do a door within a door so that the sliding door becomes almost a bit like a shutter. The rolling door will still function, but when you open it, you’ll see a separate door/window situation that you can access to get inside.
The current opening is 90″ by 90″. I got two quotes. The first quote was for a 36″ door with two side lites, like this:
I had asked for a dutch door for general adorableness, and wanted as much natural light as possible. The quote came back around $15k with the dutch door being $2,300 of that (so could be less without it). But that didn’t include install.
The second quote we tweaked to add more light (so less panel on the bottom, more of a 3/4 light door rather than a 1/2 light). This one came back at $13k, including install. Neither of them included painting or staining.
This is the benefit of getting more than one quote – you can get a clearer picture of what something really costs in today’s market, rather than thinking that one company is just really expensive. So then the question becomes, what are our options, and what do they cost?
- Custom 90″ by 90″ wood door with side lites. 12 -16 week lead time. Between $13 to $15k.
- Readymade doors, but smaller, 72″ wide by 80″ tall, French doors. I found a few different options ranging from $700 to $5k.
The only things that aren’t an option are that we want it paintable (or stainable), ideally to look like wood (or at least not look cheap), and with a lot of glass (not a solid door). We also want the reviews to be good. Oh, and ideally pre-hung because framers hate when you just order a door (framing doors is famously hard).
So we are taking a risk and going with this one. I read the reviews, and we think and hope that once it’s all painted out and styled, it will look good enough. Our framers are going to center it and build around it with some nice-looking trim work so that it looks like a more fully milled French door system. The inside surround will be covered with the matching wood paneling. It should be noted that doing this will ALSO cost money. Retrofitting something readymade might cause its own costs and create its own problems. But we are willing to take the risk to save that much money and time.
WISH US LUCK :))
*Photos by Kaitlin Green
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