How to add colonial bars to your windows

The front windows in our home have colonial bars on them but the back of the house doesn’t. I have wanted to add them to the back especially the kitchen/family area for so many years. Well we have finally done it! So this is how to add colonial bars to your windows without spending a fortune.

THE BEFORE

As you can see from the photos our windows were very boring and because they are nearly 22 years old they just looked worn out.

Luckily for us the bars that were used on the front windows were still available. We found them at Stegbar. The official name for them is 18 Raw Mat Generic Aluminium Extrusions. The product is not noted on their website and we had to contact them directly to make a special order. The product we used to attach the bars to the windows was Selleys Clear Glass Silicon Sealant. There will be times when you put a bit too much silicone on the strips and you will get oozing from underneath. To remove this extra silicon I used a Folding scraper which proved very handy. If you need to wipe the silicon off anything you can use Mineral Turpentine.

There are also other products on the market for adding the bars to your windows. These ones are flat pvc. We chose to stay with what was already on the house.

The most important thing with doing these bars is to make sure you measure correctly before you cut. We used a tungsten carbide 60 tooth mitre saw blade for the mitre saw to cut the strips. Tony also set up a guide on the saw, as all the horizontal pieces were the same size for three of the windows, so he could cut them all at once without having to measure every time he needed to cut a piece. This was a huge time saver.

We started with the vertical pieces and then added the horizontal ones. The other important thing to note is that you need to use a level. The last thing you want is to have crooked bars for eternity!!!

When installing the horizontal pieces you may find that some will start slipping, to avoid this we added tape to each piece. You just continue to do all your windows the same way.

The next step was to install the blinds and curtains

We ordered new blinds and curtains to compliment the beautiful windows. We chose to use an online company called Blinds Online. They were fantastic. You are able to order up to 10 samples of the fabrics they have on offer. They have so many beautiful ones that it’s hard to narrow it down to just ten. Before you order you have be very careful with your measurements and follow their instructions carefully for each window. It took approximately 2-3 weeks for them to arrive. We also decided to get the automatic blinds that operate via remote.

We chose a linen fabric with a blockout backing. The colour was a neutral called “hopsack” and I absolutely love it. With the curtains I decided to go with a sheer as there was no need for a blockout curtain as the whole area is surrounded by the outside pergola and doesn’t get any sun. The colour was Tahiti Sheer Snow. I like to keep the main aspects of a room really neutral and then add in colour via cushions and throws etc so that I can change the look easily and without spending a lot of money.

Speaking of cushions! The finishing touch after all the work was some beautiful new cushions from Willow Home Living.

I couldn’t be happier with how everything worked out in this room. For such an easy inexpensive change the windows have transformed the look of the room. If you want to see the process of our kitchen renovation you can find part one here.