And so it begins...

It's about time! Let's see, well, this is the wall that will have some stained glass panels installed. One problem though...I have to make some large holes in the wall. OMG!! This wall is in the entry area. It's dark and dark in this area. The glass will add a some color as well as much needed light to the area. I did some probing around to find the existing studs in the wall and any wiring that might bite me later. I don't like surprises. After deciding that the studs were fairly plumb and evenly spaced I did some preliminary sketches for the glass panel sizes. I came up with a four panel scheme that fits well in the space provided.

Here's the living room side. The cutouts were conveniently hidden (and insulated) by the movie screen during the winter months to keep out the cold air. I also placed four layers of blue sheet on the opposite side to insulate the wall. It worked well as the wood stove kept the room nice and warm.

If you look closely the wall is marked for cutting so on with the show!

OMG! It's the dreaded cross bracing. The house will fall down if I cut it. Actually, it's not a big deal. Instead of cross bracing like the Japanese use, I replaced it with 2x6's and treated it like a window opening. I believe in making it stronger than original. It also helps to have the wall boxed in by huge timbers. Time to relocate the wires.

With the wires relocated and the light switch moved, I went ahead and installed my 2x6 headers and framing and blocking and blah, blah, blah. Sorry no pictures as this is top secret information (translation: very boring).

Alrighty then, this guy is still smiling so I guess it went well. Moving right along I installed the painted mitered frames for the stained glass. I decided to make the frames the same size and space them equally. The gaps were filled with spacers and joint compound.

Scary isn't it? It almost looks like I know what I'm doing. Prime and paint comes later. The color has not been determined as I'd like to choose a color that matches the glass.

Here's our favorite addition to the room, a home theater. The plan is to have movies at night and stained glass during the day to let in the light for the dark entry. So, what will the glass look like? Stay tuned.