I wrote yesterday about getting colored glass inserts cut for a dresser top. It was pointed out to me that custom colored glass is expensive. Next question: can one effectively give quarter-inch sheets of clear glass a tinted appearance by coating the underside with latex paint? Flat, glossy?
I have never heard of intentionally painting glass but it happens by accident all the time. You might have better luck if you scratch up the glass with some steel wool. I think a glossy paint would be ok for such a project. Q: Why not just use a piece of plywood instead??
Paint the underside of the glass works fine . A better option would be glass paint or dye , available from most good craft stores like hobby lobby or even wal mart
Oh, cool. I guess that's what stained glass hobbyists use? Thanks.
No, it'll look like a painted-over window. some automotive candy-coat paint would work, but if I didn't want to pay for actual tinted glass, I'd consider just dropping sections of mirrored plate glass in there. Slate would also work, if you can find a local dealer with pretty enough stock in the right thickness, willing to cut it for you.
Personally, the idea of having any breakable material on a horizontal surface seems silly to me. I'd be inclined to go to the local custom cabinet shop, and have some hardwood panels made in a matching or contrasting finish. They can make them nice and square, and make the edges the exact depth so they fit perfectly flush and look like they belong there. Just cut some exact-fit cardboard templates for the pieces, and carry them in, along with a measurement of how thick you need the edges. The edge beveling can be on the top or bottom, whichever works with the design of the dresser.
aem sends...
There are sprays that can be used for tinting. When you buy the glass, be sure to tell the glass guy what you are going to use it for. You don't want window glass, but he will know what you need and can probably tell you what is needed for color. A good glass store can give you much more information than most of us.
That stuff isn't even color, as it is made to imitate the pattern of stained glass. Any paint would work, put on the under side. If a transparent "tint" is wanted, clear acryllic painting medium along with the acryllic paint color of choice would probably work. I keep a can of varnish on the shelf for decorating emergencies - touch of artist oil color, touch of mineral spirits, some varnish. There is an art form of reverse painting on glass, which is oil paint with colors built up so background goes on last .. intended to be viewed from other side.
That's a good point. Thanks.
On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 03:14:09 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Edwin Pawlowski" quickly quoth:
I have purchased "frosted glass look" opaque plastic sheeting before. Most places like Lowes and Michael's carry it for privacy on bathroom windows and for crafts.
-- Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization. -- Charles Lindbergh
How about spray adhesive and colored cellophane on the underside? Do you want an opaque finish, or translucent?
Why do you call them inserts if they go on the top? That's why someone yesterday thought you were putting them in the drawers. I've seen a coffee table that took a glass insert, but never a dresser.
If the surface of the wood which will be underneath bad? It might not be so hard to clean it up so that it looks nice under the glass.
When my parents bought my bedroom set when I was about 5, they (my mother, that means) got glass tops for the night table and the desk.
3/16 inch I think. Beveled edges. I don't know if it was tempered or not. I'm a good boy and never did anything that would break glass, never dropped anything on it.The night table because people sometimes put drinks on that, and the desk to keep the impression of writing, etc. from making indentations in the wood.
My brother may have lost the glass in the last 6 years, but it lasted
48 years before that with no breakage.I think one needs to put small felt circles under the glass to keep the glass from scraping the wood. Or maybe it keeps it from rocking?? if the wood or glass isn't perfectly flat??? Even though the desk is four feet long I think, the glass never sagged in the middle. (I think we only had them at the corners, but maybe also one front and back in the middle lenghtwise.)
I sold her bedroom set 10 years ago, and the buyer took everything out, but iirc, my mother had glass on each of her end tables, maybe the dresser, and definitely the chest. The chest and maybe the dresser weren't even rectangular at the top. The chest had embedded pillars** on each side from just above the third drawer up to the top of the 6th drawer from the bottom, which is the top. And the middles is convex, so it must have been expensive to get the glass. That somehow got broken at the corner 5 or 10 years before my mother died, probably by someone other than my mother. But it still lasted 45 years. She had it taped, and it looked bad***. I should have tried gluing it.
***It probably looked good when she first taped it, and my mother was 4 inches shorter than I, so I am not sure she could see how bad it looked.**I'm sure they were really half-pillars glued on and painted.
She covered her dresser, if she did, because she used it for make-up, her nighttables for the same reason as mine, and I guess she figured the dresser would get damaged too if it didn't have a glass top.
It really was no trouble to not break the glass.
Don't you have to bevel the top at least a little, or it will cut people?
Interesting. Is it scratch-resistant?
On Tue, 19 Sep 2006 07:13:12 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, Harlan Messinger quickly quoth:
Some, it's about a 6 mil vinyl sheeting. It's not much more scratch resistant than most other shelf-type paper, but you could use it on the underside of the glass for the privacy effect. It would probably last pretty well on top, too, depending upon how hard you are on your dresser. That would also pad the glass so you wouldn't need to use the more expensive tempered glass. 1/4" plate would probably work.
Ebay has a bunch of styles to choose from. "frosted window film"
========================================================= What doesn't kill you +
Well, I said they were for the top, and they are. And I called them inserts because they are inserts. The top now has wood inserts, sunk within the frame with their tops even with frame. The inserts sit on shelf pegs.
Beveling is angling the face at the edges. It's separate from whether the edges themselves are rounded, which is only important if the edges are exposed where someone could run into them, such as with a table top that isn't framed, which the nearest two-year-old is guaranteed to run into head first. And both are separate from the glass being smoothed to prevent getting cut just by touching it. My coffee table has a glass top that isn't beveled and has 90 degree edges.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.