How to Give Your Home Character with Replacement Windows and Doors

When San Diego homeowners think about upgrading their homes to give them some added character, they don’t often think about their windows and patio doors—but they should! New windows and doors can make a huge difference in the curb appeal of your home. Sure, they are great for energy efficiency, but if you want to give your home a more custom, crafted feel, they can contribute to that as well.

Here are three ways you can use new windows and patio doors to help take your San Diego home from boring to stunning!

Replace Your Old Slider with New French Doors

Many homes in San Diego have sliding patio doors, and many of them are old single pane sliders with aluminum frames that have seen better days. If you have been thinking about replacing your old slider with a new one, you might want to consider a set of French doors instead. French doors are considered an upgrade over sliders, so they are a great investment in your home. In addition, they give an otherwise standard home a more custom look and feel. We mostly install French doors in homes with a more traditional style, but they can also work in more modern homes.

Since our French doors are all made to order and can be virtually any size, we can fit a new set of French doors in the space where you now have a slider. It will fit perfectly in the space, without causing any damage to the interior or exterior walls.

French patio doors tend to be a bit more expensive than sliding patio doors, but as we mentioned earlier, they are a desirable upgrade in San Diego. When it comes time to sell your home, your home will stand out among all of the other homes on the market. In addition, French doors let in more fresh air, since both doors can be opened wide. In a typical two-panel sliding patio door, only one of the panels can be opened.

Choose Colored Window Frames

More than 90% of the replacement windows we sell in San Diego have white vinyl frames, but that certainly isn’t the only option! The window lines we sell at BM Windows offer several different colors of frames, such as black, grey, tan, dark green and several others. If every other house in your neighborhood has windows with white frames, going with a different color can make your house stand out and have a “custom” look.

Black frames are becoming more and more popular right now, as they are being used in houses that are going for a “modern farmhouse” style. Windows with black frames look stunning in houses with white or light grey exterior walls.

If you’re worried that the color in the frames may fade over time, make sure you go with a replacement window brand that uses quality vinyl that’s fade resistant.

Add Grids to Your Glass

Installing replacement windows with grids is another great way to give your San Diego home some added character. Window grids are a popular feature for homes that have a more classic style—such as Craftsman bungalows, Victorians, and cottage-style homes. They harken back to the days when large windows were made out of multiple smaller panes of glass and put together in grid patterns. What was once done out of necessity is now used as a design feature in San Diego homes.

If you have a newer house with some of the features of a Craftsman home, play up the style by adding windows with a grid pattern that’s often seen in Craftsman homes from the 1920s. That could mean only adding grids to the upper portion of a single or double hung window. If you live in a cottage-style house, a classic grid pattern with equal-sized squares throughout the pane of glass would be a great choice.

In the windows we sell, the grids are purely decorative and are placed between the two panes of glass in a dual pane window, so while they have the classic look of smaller panes of glass, they are still easy to clean because the surface is completely smooth—the best of both worlds!

If you’re not sure what type of grid pattern would look best in your style of home, ask a representative from BM Windows at your in-home consultation for help. Contact us today to schedule your appointment.