Top 10 Awesome Glass Designs for Internal Doors

Glass doors are an elegant alternative to plain wooden doors that will lend your home an immediate continental, ‘luxury’ vibe that should make you the envy of your friends and relatives. There is of course no need to negate wood completely though, it is in the combination of wood and glass, function and beauty, that a perfect middle ground between durability and glamor is ascertained. The potential for using glass designs on your internal doors reaches from full length, glass room dividers to closets, patio doors and even smaller glass panels in your front and rear doors. Implementing glass into your internal doors is beneficial for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the fact they can make small rooms seem larger and more ‘open’ by letting more natural light in. They can also reduce your homes overall energy costs as the increased natural light means that you won’t need to have any artificial light on during the day, especially handy during the summer when the days are longer.

Below we’ll be examining 10 popular glass designs that you might want to consider using on your internal doors when renovating your current home or outfitting a brand new one. Any of these designs will enhance their surroundings in a subtle but unmistakable fashion and there should be a design fit for all tastes and budgets.

‘Sandblasted’ Pattern Glass – Delicate, opaque, sandblasted designs can be hewn directly into your glass door panels to create potentially any pattern that your heart desires. The potential for customization here is rife, but there are hundreds of existing designs, which have been specifically engineered to reflect the styles of certain rooms and certain furnishings. For example, why not a use a leaf or tree design on your patio doors and something more contemporary for your living room and kitchen dividers?

Hand Painted/Stained Glass – Stained glass windows will be familiar to anyone who’s ever stepped foot in a church, but there is no reason why such ornate designs should only be available to places of worship. Hand painted, stained glass designs will lend a stylish, art deco vibe to your home, perfect for artistic types or those who fancy something a little bit unconventional. These designs echo the glamor of traditional stained glass designs, but due to advanced modern techniques, much finer detail is possible.

Highlighted Color – For a more immediate, vibrant effect than the comparative subtlety of stained glass, a color highlight for glass inserts will make a solid, bold statement in your glass door panels. The majority of color highlighted glass panels will follow modern art style designs but it is possible for the entire panels to be coloured if you really want to make an impression.

Frosted Glass – Simple, frosted glass designs are engineered specifically to maximize the amount of light that’s let in through the glass, whilst also offering a pleasing, unique and subtle pattern. Frosted glass is the most common and affordable form of glass patterning.

Colourglaze – The colourglaze effect (as seen in the gorgeous swirls of the ‘Maschera 04’ design) can transform your glass paralleled doors into works of art. These textured, hand-painted designs use a specially formulated paint that creates a rich, deep texture which will really wow your guests. Be warned though, due to the thick nature of the paint it will rob the glass of a little of its opacity.

Handles & Hinges – Whilst not technically a part of the design, the way your doors handles and hinges relate to the designs on your glass panels is important if you want your room to feel cohesive. Thankfully, most firms specializing in glass for internal doors will supply a range of handles and hinges that perfectly compliment their designs.

Digital Printing – Glass doors are perfect canvases for computer generated, digital screen printing. A far more convenient process that allows anything from bespoke designs to company logos to be printed directly onto the glass.

Frameless, Glass Sliding Doors – Now we’re really getting into ornate territory. Glass sliding doors are a contemporary and elegant solution for creating subtle glass office partitions that also maximize the feeling of space. The glass used for these doors will of course be more durable than standard glass, meaning some of the more delicate, hand painted designs might not be possible, but frosting and digital printing onto glass sliding doors is certainly possible.

Frameless Hinged/Pivot Glass Doors – As with the frameless glass sliding doors, a hinged or pivoted glass door accentuates a subtle, contemporary atmosphere and can be constructed from a wide variety of more durable glass types.

Plain – Of course if you simply want just plain, un-painted, un-patterned glass for your doors then that option is available. But with such gorgeous designs available for just a fraction more, why have water when you can have wine?

Crispin Jones loves DIY and has spent a lot of time in the last year helping Mike Bowers put together the blog at UK Oak Doors. Together they have built these two calculators – including the the stain calculator