Cool SOHO back painted glass idea

Cool SOHO back painted glass idea

Cool SOHO back painted glass idea

Cool SOHO back painted glass idea

Sometimes an idea is just too good to pass up. I think this is one of them. Whether you work in an office, or at home, here’s something you may find useful – a back painted glass whiteboard.

If you make regular use of a whiteboard – in your home office or in a conference room – you know what happens. The dry erase marker doesn’t get erased immediately, and it leaves marker residue behind. Over time, the residue builds up. Sometimes special whiteboard solvents will remove the marker. Eventually, the board gets dented or scratched, or someone uses a permanent marker on it. Goodbye, whiteboard! (And whiteboards are not cheap.)

Back painted glass makes a great whiteboard

Here’s an easy, economical substitute for a whiteboard. The best part is that it will last longer, clean up better and cost less than the white boards you find in the store.

Take a sheet of ordinary float glass and cut it to your preferred size. Float glass does come in standard sizes, so if a standard size will work, you can skip the cutting altogether. The glass shop can also buff the edges of the glass to remove any sharp sides or corners. If you’re worried about breakage, you can also use tempered glass.

Paint one side of the glass with Glassprimer™ glass paint. Use any color you like, but a shade of white may work best for this application. Add as many coats as needed to achieve your desired opacity.

Once the paint is dry, you can apply the glass to a wall using any common neutral-cure silicone adhesive. The adhesive will not show through the paint, and is strong enough to hold the glass in place.

Ta-da! You have a permanent whiteboard that will not dent, or accumulate dry erase marker ink. You no longer need to use any special solvents to remove the dry erase ink. That’s because glass is impervious. The ink cannot not stain the board because the glass won’t absorb it.

If you’d like more information about back painted glass, or would like to order glass paint, please visit our online store at http://www.glasspaint.com.

Photo Credit: Rae Allen, via Flickr

Celebrate Earth Day with Painted Glass

Celebrate Earth Day with Painted Glass

A growing number of consumers have made it clear that they want to take a more active

Celebrate Earth Day with Painted Glass

Celebrate Earth Day with Painted Glass

role in supporting and preserving the environment. They’re looking for designs and products that are more environmentally responsible and don’t have long-term impacts on human health. In part, that explains why glass is making a comeback. It also explains the growing interest in painted glass.

Painted glass is environmentally friendly

Painted glass has a lot going for it. From a consumer perspective, glass is often a local or regional product. Because of its nature, transporting glass over long distances isn’t attractive, so most float glass is regionally produced to limit transportation issues.

Consumers can cut ordinary glass to fit an application precisely. While glass is generally heavy, thin glass laminates won’t add a significant amount of weight to walls or surfaces. It’s easy to mount, using readily available adhesives.

Painted glass is easy to make. While you can purchase painted glass, it’s actually less expensive to make your own! Using ordinary painting tools that are available at any local home improvement store, you can make professional quality painted glass. The trick is to use paint like Glassprimer™ glass paint, which is designed to adhere to glass.

Glassprimer™ glass paint comes in two formulations – one that’s oil-based and one that’s water-based. Both formulations are low-VOC compounds. That’s important for interior paint projects, because it means that the paints won’t leave any unpleasant, unhealthy paint odors in your home or office. In either case, you can clean up the paint using regular paint thinner.

Painted glass is safe. Since glass is inert, and the unpainted surface of the finished glass is exposed, you work with a surface that’s easy to clean and sanitize. It won’t deteriorate, and it doesn’t release toxic by-products into your environment.

Products like Glassprimer™ glass paint mean that you can celebrate Earth Day every day in your home or office. If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please check out the rest of our site, at http://www.glassprimer.com.

Photo Credit: NASA

Permanent window paint and other crazy ideas

Permanent window paint and other crazy ideas

Permanent window paint and other crazy ideas

Permanent window paint and other crazy ideas

If something about the word “permanent” makes you nervous, then the thought of permanent window paint might make you downright queasy. Fear not, permanent window paint is an actual decorating solution that can have a lot of upside in the right situations.

Where you might want to use permanent window paint

Not too long ago, I was in a hotel room in the financial district of Toronto. The original building opened in 1914 as a bank. In 2006, a group of investors added a condominium tower, which wedges between the old building and its former neighbor. My room was in the original building. One of the windows had a great, close-up view of the new building, and nothing else.

The hotel used permanent window paint to disguise the unpleasant view from the window. The painted window still admitted light, but I didn’t have to look at the condo tower. More importantly, the people in the condo tower didn’t have to look at me!

Permanent window paint is a great solution for applications where you’d install frosted glass. The good part about permanent window paint is that it’s actually less expensive than true frosted glass. It’s also easy to apply. Because the permanent window paint is – well – permanent, there’s no need for ongoing paint maintenance. That’s an added bonus when the window is on the 8th floor!

Permanent window paint is an ideal solution for your bathroom, especially if the builder neglected to install a frosted glass window. It’s also a good solution for “pebbled” glass, which some builders substitute for frosted glass.

Pebbled glass is textured on one side. It’s virtually impossible to see out of a pebbled glass window. That might leave you with the (false) impression that it’s likewise impossible to see into a pebbled glass window. Unfortunately, the smooth side of a pebbled glass window can be pretty revealing. To ensure privacy with pebbled glass, paint the smooth side with permanent window paint. Problem solved!

If you’d like more information about permanent window paint, please visit the rest of our site. To place an order for Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store at http://www.glasspaint.com

Photo Credit: Duncan Rawlinson, via Flickr

Painting glass in your home!

Painting glass in your home!

Painting glass in your home!

Painting glass in your home!

If you’ve never quite gotten the hang of painting, you might be uncomfortable with the idea of painting glass. A painting project basically has two parts: planning and execution. Believe it or not, the hardest part of painting is the planning! If you take some time to plan out your painting projects, you’ll be rewarded with really great results.

Painting glass is only part of the bigger strategy

One problem that people encounter with a painting project is that the end result doesn’t “fit” with the rest of the house. In some cases, a painting project doesn’t fit with the rest of the room. This is where some planning can really pay off. The designs you see in photo shoots have one really big advantage over your project. You never see the featured room in context with the rest of the house.

Unfortunately, when you take on a painting project of your own, people view the finished product in the context of your whole house. An updated room might look great by itself, but doesn’t work in the context of the rest of the space.

Enter the whole house palette. A whole house palette is a color strategy that determines a complementary color scheme for the entire house. As you move from room to room, you use one palette that complements the work you’ve already done. When you’re finished painting and decorating the entire house, the colors you’ve chosen travel easily from room to room. Each room looks great by itself and in the context of the rooms around it.

Painting glass can work into your whole house palette, even if the rest of the house uses paint from another manufacturer. That’s because we can tint Glassprimer™ glass paint to match the paint palette of any major paint manufacturer. Your painted glass will integrate seamlessly with your walls, ceilings, trim and floors, even if another company makes that paint.

If you’d like to know more about painting glass, or you’d like to place an order for glass paint, please visit our online store at http://www.glasspaint.com.

Photo Credit: Lorien Rezende, via Flickr

Putting back painted glass in your home or office

Back painted glass in your home or office

Putting back painted glass in your home or office

Putting back painted glass in your home or office

Back painted glass is an easy solution for homes and offices. It’s easy to make, and can really improve the look and function of a space. Back painted glass offers real benefits when you use it in the kitchen or bathroom. It can also improve the function of an open office space that makes use of glass dividers.

Bathrooms are ideal for back painted glass backsplash

Without a doubt, the bathroomis the “wettest” room in the house. Unfortunately, bathrooms aren’t always constructed using materials that can stand up to constant exposure to water. One way to preserve the walls that get the most exposure to water is to laminate them with glass. Glass will definitely stand up to water. It’s easy to clean, and it’s more sanitary than porous, painted surfaces like drywall and plaster.

You can create an elegant backsplash by using a thin sheet of back painted glass. The painted side of the glass rests next to the wall, and the unpainted side of the glass becomes the “working” surface. The glass can get wet repeatedly. It stands up to soaps, cleaners and other substances that come in contact with the bathroom walls. Better still, back painted glass will stand up to the humidity. It will look beautiful year after year.

Back painted glass will offer the same advantages and the same performance in the kitchen – arguably the second wettest room in the house. Surfaces in the kitchen need to be cleaned and sanitized regularly. Like the bathroom, the walls in the kitchen are likely to get wet. Unlike the walls in the bathroom, the walls in the kitchen are likely to get splattered with food. Having an easy-to-clean surface that isn’t fazed by cleaners and sanitizers is essential!

In an office setting, back painted glass can help control light and provide privacy. It can also disguise an unpleasant view without completely eliminating transmissible light.

For more information about back painted glass, or to order glass paint, please visit our online store at http://www.glassprimer.com .

Photo Credit: Scott Lewis, via Flickr

Are you wondering how to paint glass?

Are you wondering how to paint glass?

Are you wondering how to paint glass?

Are you wondering how to paint glass?

If you’ve never undertaken a glass painting project, you may not know how to paint glass. Painting glass isn’t difficult, and the results can be spectacular. Making your own painted glass is more economical than buying pre-painted glass. In addition, you can cut the glass to achieve a precision fit before you apply the paint.

Here’s how to paint glass

Surface preparation is the key to professional results. Fortunately, surface preparation for glass is minimal, and requires no special chemicals or tools. To prepare a glass surface for painting, you’ll need fine grit steel wool, alcohol and paper towels. The cheap, store-brand paper towels are actually the best choice. More expensive brands (even those that are supposed to be “lint-free”) tend to leave fibers behind. Once the glass surface is clean, you’re ready to paint.

You can apply paint to glass using virtually any painting tool. That includes brushes, rollers, sponges and paint sprayers. The best, most economical way to apply paint to glass is with a high-volume, low-pressure (HVLP) paint sprayer. These tools are available at any home improvement or hardware store. The biggest advantage they offer is even coverage using the least amount of paint.

Regardless of what application tools you use, the trick to getting professional results is to apply the paint in a thin coat and allow it to dry completely before you add the next coat. Generally, a coat of glass paint is dry to the touch within two hours of application, and ready for another coat in about 4 hours. Avoid handing a wet piece (or a drying piece) of glass. This will eliminate the possibility of damage to the drying paint.

One of the great things about glass paint is that if you make an error, you can remove the paint from the glass as long as you act quickly. You don’t have to move the paint entirely. You can remove the fault and repaint. The repaired paint will dry to the same color as the unrepaired section. This means that your repairs won’t show, once the paint is dry.

As you can see, painting glass is straightforward. Getting professional results is easy, even if you’ve never painted glass before. For more information about how to paint glass, or to order glass paint, please visit our online store at http://www.glasspaint.com .

Photo Credit: StainedGlassArtist, via Flickr.com

Glass painting solves decorating problems

Glass painting solves decorating problems

Glass painting solves decorating problems

Glass painting solves decorating problems

Every home is unique, and has its own challenges. Despite this, you can find simple ways to solve decorating problems. Glass painting can help open a home, correct decorating mistakes and even correct flaws that affect your ability to enjoy your space.

Inevitably, homes reflect the design preferences that were in place when the home was built. These can include materials, design features, layouts, room sizes and more. Unless you’re willing to undertake a major remodeling, you’ll need to learn to work with some design features in your space. But that doesn’t mean you need to accept everything!

Glass painting can provide practical decorating solutions

For example, older homes commonly have paint that includes toxic metals like lead and mercury. In addition, they may contain leaded glass windows, which shed lead particles. Lead poses a health hazard to every person. The body absorbs lead readily, so limiting exposure is critical, regardless of how old you are!

Removing this kind of paint is difficult. One of the reasons these metals were added to paint was to improve the paint’s durability. Lead and mercury paints don’t tend to peel until they’re at the point of absolute failure. In addition, old paint formulations were often oil-based.

If you know that you have lead paint in your home, sometimes the best solution is to cover it. Keeping paint maintained can be a challenge, since newer water- and latex-based paints don’t tend to bond well to older oil-based paints. They also don’t provide acceptable encapsulation of lead paint .

One way to avoid constant paint maintenance is to cover the paint permanently with a thin glass laminate. The glass laminate prevents paint dust from becoming airborne. Glass painting enables you to add color to the walls while minimizing paint maintenance and immobilizing lead dust.

Lead management is only one example of the value of glass painting in your home. If you’d like more information about glass painting, or you’d like to place an order for glass paint, please visit our online store at http://www.glassprimer.com

Photo Credit: David Barnas, via Flickr.com

Glass Paint Goes To Sea!

Glass Paint Goes To Sea!

Glass Paint Goes To Sea!

Glass Paint Goes To Sea!

Designing interiors for a yacht is a challenge. The materials you choose need to be rugged, elegant and simple. They must also be able to hold their own in an environment unlike any other. Glass works well as a material choice, and that means glass paint is the ideal complement.

Why glass paint is a good marine option

Glass paint is an ideal coating for multiple surfaces used in marine construction. Glassprimer™ glass paint works well on glass, Plexiglas™ fiberglass and other impervious surfaces. One reason that glass paint is up to the task is that the paint makes a permanent bond with impervious surfaces.

Ordinary paint doesn’t adhere to non-porous surfaces. While it will dry on the surface, it won’t cure. Ordinary paint will fail in high humidity or direct sunlight exposure. In addition, it isn’t rugged enough to withstand normal contact.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is engineered to modify the nanosurface of impervious materials. In doing so, it allows the paint to make a permanent bond. In addition to resisting chipping and peeling, Glassprimer™ glass paint is UV resistant, which means it won’t fade, even in direct sunlight.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is also highly affordable. A single gallon of paint will provide up to 250 square feet of coverage. Interior applications are guaranteed to retain their beautiful good looks for 10 years. Glass paint can also be used successfully for exterior applications. Our low-VOC paints come in both oil-based and water-based formulations, and won’t leave behind an overwhelming “paint” odor.

Glassprimer™ glass paint can also be matched to the paint palette of any major paint manufacturer. You can use glass paint for specialty applications, and you can be sure that it will match other paints you’ve chosen to use on other parts of the vessel.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, or would like to place an order for paint, please visit the rest of our site, at http://www.glassprimer.com.

Photo Credit: James Bremner, via Flickr.com

Invisible glass. Say what?

Invisible glass. Say what?

Invisible glass. Say what?

Invisible glass. Say what?

One of the most likeable things about glass – at least from a materials perspective – is that it’s transparent. So the notion of “invisible glass” might be hard to grasp. There’s already so little to see. Glass industry giant Guardian Glass has developed what it calls “invisible glass,” a non-reflective glass surface intended for building exteriors.

Anti-reflective glass is growing more popular in interior spaces. One of the characteristics of glass is glare. Reflections can also sometimes interfere with the visual presentation of a glass application. With non-reflective glass, glare and reflections are eliminated. The glass is still present; it just doesn’t disrupt a viewer’s visual impression of a space.

Guardian’s Clarity product is a specially coated formulation of ultra-clear glass that eliminates reflections. An applied coating enhances the transparency of the glass and eliminates reflections. The company says that the glass is ideal for showcases, restaurant windows, museums, auto dealerships, control towers, sporting venues, zoos and aquariums. According to the company, the glass can also be tempered, meaning that it can be used in applications where safety is a concern.

In addition to its interior uses, the company says it now offers the anti-reflective glass for architectural and façade applications. Anti-reflective façades can improve the view of the building from the outside, and can also improve visibility for building occupants. Guardian says that it expects the product to be useful in controlling solar heat gain and thermal insulation. It can also reduce exterior reflections and increase the amount of transmissible light that enters a building.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. Glassprimer™ glass paint can be used in both interior and exterior applications and can help reduce solar heat gain in some applications. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Guardian Glass

Considering a home improvement project? Think glass!

Considering a home improvement project? Think glass!

Considering a home improvement project? Think glass!

Considering a home improvement project? Think glass!

2017 offers a great opportunity to refresh your living space. If moving or building your own home isn’t in the cards, you can improve the space you’ve got. The number one reason people consider moving is “more space.” But how can you create more space using only the space you’ve got?

Glass is a great way to open up a space, if only virtually. By making a space look bigger, you can improve your enjoyment of the space and give it a crisp, clean look.

How can you open a space? Consider removing non-structural walls or using glass room dividers to “remodel” your interior space. Raising furniture off the ground will also allow you to “look through” objects, creating a more open feeling in a small room.

Another way to open a room is to reframe windows. Small windows are more energy efficient, but they don’t tend to admit a lot of natural light. By increasing the amount of natural light in a space, you can create the impression of a larger, brighter and more welcoming space.

You can also use glass in doors, or use frameless glass doors to create the visual impression of more space. In areas where privacy is desirable, you can use frosted glass. If frosted glass isn’t in the budget, consider using Glassprimer™ glass paint.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a cost effective alternative to frosted glass that provides privacy and durability. Glassprimer™ glass paint is highly UV resistant, so it won’t chip, fade or peel even in direct sunlight. Unlike frosted glass, Glassprimer™ glass paint comes in virtually any color. It can be tinted to match the paint palette of any major paint manufacturer, so you can integrate it seamlessly into your decorating plan.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint and how it can help you control light and heat in your space, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Acme, via Flickr.com