We have a new beautiful addition to our showroom, and it’s my new Back Painted Glass wall! Alright, well, it’s not “mine” per say, but it’s by my desk so – it’s mine ok!

What I love about projects that we do for ourselves here in the showroom is that I get to see and be involved (sometimes) in what is going on. Honestly, it’s kind of fun to watch the process happen and I also get to learn more about the in-depth process of how some of our larger projects come to be.

Measure and Glass

A great glass wall begins with a great wall measure.

Because god forbid something happens to be out of square.

And with a good measure, you’re also going to need some good quality glass – very specifically NOT standard clear. Probably even more important than choosing your paint colour, is making sure that you are using Ultra Clear Low Iron Glass. Paint being applied directly to glass needs a good front surface to be viewed from, and trust me, if your glass is green it is going to show when the back of your glass is the paint colour you chose and the front is discoloured. The green hue that standard clear glass carries transfers poorly when painted.

So make sure that you are using Ultra Clear if you ever do this!

Luckily, we only stock Ultra Clear glass in house, so that was one less thing for us to worry about.

Choosing a Colour

 In choosing a colour for our new wall, we had a couple of things to take into consideration.

  • Our beautiful, and quite colourful, Mondrian inspired mirror wall that is DIRECTLY across from where the new back painted glass was going that would reflect back that colour in it’s already very colourful mirror – I mentioned that it is colourful right?
  • The 2020 Design Trends and what colours people are looking for right now.
  • What paint we had available.

 

Before the Mondrian Mirror went up, we did have a piece of painted glass on the wall we were getting ready to cover! And it was, when I say this I am not kidding, BRIGHT orange.

Yeah, the bright orange had to come down when the pink, bronze, and antique mirror went up across from it. Things were not looking quite right.

Now, we still could have painted it any colour. Any colour? Yes, any colour. But we ultimately decided to paint it – white.

Yes, I know, I know, but listen. I promise the 2020 Design Trends will forgive me for this. I think.

Now, what was nice was that we didn’t have to go through a whole colour deck or sort through EVERY paint colour we have in the shop (and we do have quite a few) which was nice! It was nice.

But if you have never compared white paint to white paint before…

So there we stood, with a few cans of white to choose from picking out every little nuance between them. “This one has a little bit of a yellow tone to it, like an eggshell, while this one over here has a cool tone. And this one I think is slightly grey, do you see that? What about this bright white looking one?”

I’m fairly certain that we went with one of the brighter whites.

Painting the Glass

If you’ve ever wondered how we paint glass – it’s a secret.

Well, it’s a secret that I may be inclined to tell you a thing or two about. Just don’t tell anyone else ok.

This is the part in the process that I get to be REALLY hands on with. Literally. Since I, ya know, paint the glass myself. That’s right folks, if you have an area of custom back painted glass installed by Builders Glass right now, odds are it was custom painted by yours truly.

That’s right, I’m not just some kid they let loose on the blog!

For me, painting starts off with a really thorough cleaning. I’m always worried about a speck of something being on the glass, so I may clean a glass surface two or three times. It’s overkill, but knowing that my first layer is going to be the layer that is visible because it will be shown through the glass – I make sure it is REALLY clean ok?

So after I clean it, I *audio tape warps*, and then I go back and really make sure that, *audio tape warps*, and that’s how we create custom back painted glass. It’s quite simple really.

Installation

Unfortunately, I was working on another project while our guys were installing the new back painted glass on the wall, which was kind of a bummer, but the end result is AWESOME!

The wall that the glass covers had a sconce hole in it, and the wall paint itself needed some help, so covering it up with a glossy piece of painted glass was PERFECT. That and we’ll be able to make whatever notes we need to on it!

The painted glass is adhered to the wall, the edges supported with channel to make sure that the glass is well secured. And there it is! Up on the wall!

Dancing Dudes

I think when it was decided that the paint colour for the glass was going to be white, we all decided that it was going to need something. Maybe a boarder or something of that like?

Bridget actually found this really cool site called WhatisBlik.com with all of these vinyl decals, and they couldn’t have been more perfect. She found these really cute Keith Haring dancing decals and said, “we need these.”

And boy was she RIGHT!!

The decals were just enough to add to the glass piece without marring the reflection of the Mondrian mirror wall. They create interest in, what is essentially, a blank space. They also make me really happy every time I look at them, I mean – come on, they are really freaking adorable and happy and a perfect option for back painted glass surfaces.

If you have any questions about back painted glass and how they can be used in your home, give us a call or come stop in to our showroom and get inspired!