Tag Archives: windows

Windows and Shutters

24 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by in Design, General

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Not that we actually need to make this decision yet, but it’s never too early to fantasize. This week’s fantasy is finished windows to go in those lovely holes that are waiting for them. The question is window colour and – even further down the road – shutter colour.

We have some restrictions on our house due to its age and the area we’re in, but that’s fine by me. The choices for the windows are essentially white or wood. The shutters can be green, wood, or brown.

Here are a few pics to help you help me:

This is Debra’s chestnut window (from http://bagnidilucca.wordpress.com/). I love this look from an inside perspective.

White windows can look nice and fresh against a mass of stone – although I think the brown shutters distract from that effect. I’m not a big fan of brown shutters.

Classic wood window with green shutters. The green does seem to balance all that natural tone quite nicely.

But then – even with a house that’s shut up – wood shutters are so subtle against stone. This is why I flip-flop about it so much.

This is a terrible shot, but you get to see wood versus green shutters together.

And I throw this in only to show the practicality of having shutters of classic Ligurian construction; they open in multiple partial configurations, like transformers, so you always get just the right mix of breeze and light. Ingenious.

Window Details

13 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Structure

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Up until we started working on our beloved ruin, I hadn’t given that much thought to the small details that make a big difference to the overall look of a finished home. I’d noticed them – a little obsessively in fact – but hadn’t appreciated the complex choices behind the things I’d admired. This is presumably why architects study for years and then have to apprentice for more before they can claim to know what they’re doing.

Unfortunately I am not an architect but I’m still making decisions about the villa. Some of them have turned out great. Then there are the others, to which we will turn a blind eye forevermore. I put the exterior window framing (sills and lintels) into a B+ category. They were a decision we made before taking a really close look at all the options and what made them work. Some examples:

Primitive Sill: Window openings at their most basic. A beautiful example of a simple but charming stone arch and rough sill.

He-man Sill: This no-nonsense approach has great presence on a larger building, but has a bit of a penitentiary whiff about it (not helped by the bars of course).

He-man in a Skirt: Same grey, thick stone, but that bit of curve softens the look completely, even without the flowers.

Refined Sill: A city-slicker. This sill would know to wear a dress to the opera even when it’s held outdoors on plastic chairs.

Our Sill: Gives off a farm-house vibe, which I think is appropriate. Thick stone with a hand-chiseled face, but the sides of the opening are simply plastered. When I look at them beside the other photos, I worry that the opening as a whole is too weakly defined.

But when I look at them in the context of the whole house, I’m pretty pleased with their simplicity. With shutters and actual windows in them – those are two other, complicated decisions to make – I think they’ll actually suit our un-fancy house just fine.

Fortunately for me, I now have all of YOU to help me make these decisions. Thanks for sharing the glory and the blame! In the next couple of weeks we’re going to look at shutters, the windows themselves, doors and door frames. And we haven’t even gotten to the indoors…

Which Lintels?

19 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by in Structure

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The next step in construction is to reinforce the lintels above many of the windows and doors. In Wonky Versus Perfect I railed against having to make everything plumb, but of course now that I’m looking at the existing windows and door lintels I realize there are too many variations. And while there are bigger issues for Godzillavilla than whether or not her window headers all match,  I also discovered that few of the ones she currently sports are actually attractive.

So Angelo is going to get his wish and will be able to take them all apart, bung in some steel, and plaster them over again.

Now we have the problem of choice, to wit, the selections below:

The ones that don't physically need work, having already been rebuilt with mattone and concrete, are - naturally - dead ugly.

It requires a bit of imagination to see the beauty in this, but there's a nice hint of a curve - though it obviously needs help from steel to carry the beam above.

Of course the prettiest (and structurally most sound) lintel is the one that's slated for destruction because the opening is supposed to be widened for French doors leading to the garden. Now I'm rethinking this widening idea!

Then we have the Tuscan classic wood lintel, a look I love but which I'm coming to realize doesn't fit the Ligurian aesthetic. You've probably realized this is NOT a photograph of Godzillavilla...

So what do you think? This will be on the agenda for talking to Angelo in a couple of weeks, so all opinions welcome!