Vintage Art Glass

salvaged art glass $250+ salvaged wood door $250 rollers & tracks $150+

hardware $ 20+ rubber bumper, closed-cell tape $ 2

labor to open and reframe wall $500 This project involved fitting salvaged, antique art glass into panel doors that would slide into wall pockets. Art glass can, of course, be fitted into any panel door. The homeowner is dedicated to reusing artful salvage and, in fact, had amassed a tidy collection of building elements, including stained-glass panels, which he had stored away. Having added a conservatory to the back of his turn-ofthe-century Victorian cottage, he wanted to close off the new room from the original front entry hall and back stairs, but a traditional swinging door would cause wasted space. Aha—a sliding pocket door would do the trick—one door to the entryway and the other to the stairs. He thought of his salvaged treasures: a glowing cranberry-glass pane with an etched stork motif, and another set of Aesthetic Movement panels painted with period motifs including an owl and moon. So he did what a 19th-century homeowner might have done, creating two pocket doors inset with art glass, which would provide filtered light and privacy when closed, and disappear into pockets when open.

Admittedly, fitting a door with stained glass and creating a new wall pocket with sliding hardware is not a weekend makeover. It’s an exacting project even if the pockets are already there and you are merely fitting solid doors with glass panels. Most people would not consider this a DIY job.

Any solid, paneled door can be made into a pocket door, its panels removed by a competent woodworker and replaced with glass. (You may, of course, find a vintage door already fitted with etched, leaded, or stained glass.) The glass panel itself must be in excellent shape or well restored. Copper foil applied with lead solder is usually the best method for restoring antique art