Our window has been looking like this for 2 years. And our porch still looks like this.

One of the things we fell in love with in our Beacon home was the wavy glass of the antique windows. Every window in the house is original wood, hardware and glass. Some of them don’t work too well and they are all terribly DRAFTY! But there was no way we’d ever even think of replacing them. So, we set out to restore them.

We knew that restoring the originals meant we would have to get storm windows. After researching a few companies and even getting all of one quote for installation, we went with Allied Invisible Storm Windows. They are historically appropriate for period homes because they are “invisible”.

Our one quote came from Park Slope Window. Two of the owners came to do the estimate because they have a shop in Westchester also. So, keep that in mind….Park Slope Window services up here as well. Their proposal wasn’t terrible, but we preferred Allied to the window company they wanted to go with. I’ve forgotten what that was now as it’s been about 2 years since. While they were here they let me know that I had better maintain these historic windows as it costs $1000 per window to restore. Good to know.

We installed the storm windows first because we knew it would take us forever to restore each window. In 2 years, we finished one. Well, it took us half a day to do it and then we took a little rest.

Since this isn’t a DIY post, I’ll make it brief. Restoring old windows entails stripping paint, reglazing, repairing weights, chains, ropes, etc and polishing hardware. Make sure you protect the wood with oil, poly or paint. It’s not difficult. It’s just time consuming!

Fairview Glass via Materialicious
10 Reasons to Restore Your Old Windows
Chicago Tribune article
Old House Web: How To
Old House Web: Suppliers
Period Homes: Storm Window Suppliers