Living in a New York City apartment building and working in a high-rise office tower, I’m used to having the view out the window framed in steel. Maybe that’s why I’m often captivated by hardwood window frames. Whether painted or stained, traditional or modern, rustic or refined, well-maintained solid-wood windows and glass-doors seldom fail to add character and charm to the interior and exterior of a house. Here are three fine examples of wood-frame windows that recently caught my eye.

Painted oak-framed windows create a perfect light-filled breakfast nook in this Mill Valley, California, kitchen by Sausalito-based designer Leigha Heydt. Photograph by David Duncan Livingston

Sausalito, California–based residential designer Leigha Heydt has done a marvelous job transforming an undistinguished modern lodge-style house in Mill Valley into a contemporary version of a Craftsman shingle cottage. Among the renovated home’s most successful spaces is the kitchen, which includes a delightful, multi-windowed breakfast nook. The white-painted hardwood windows, custom made by Sierra Pacific, are used to define the cozy 54-inch-by 71-inch space architecturally. Because the nook is next to an external door offering plenty of ventilation, Heydt was able to install fixed windows rather than more conventional operable casements with their associated hardware and screens. This gives the whole structure a crisply tailored look, with the slim muntins that divide the glass panes contrasting elegantly with the heftier vertical and horizontal mullions between the windows. A painted-hardwood banquette anchors the space, which manages to be light-and-airy and solid-and-substantial at the same time.

In the living room of an Austin, Texas, house designed by Webber + Studio, window walls are framed in white oak stained a warm honey color. Photograph by Casey Dunn

To see the masterful use of wood-frame windows in a contemporary setting, check out the living room of a recently completed residence in Austin, Texas, by Webber + Studio Architecture. Since the room occupies a pavilion with 13-foot-high ceilings, the architects were able to install transom windows on three of its sides; in addition, two of the walls are almost completely glazed with casement windows or sliding glass doors, creating a wonderful indoor-outdoor feel in the light-filled room. Custom made by Weather Shield Windows and Doors, the oak frames, casings, and trims are finished with a warm honey-color stain that further enhances the room’s sunny atmosphere. The warmth of the wood is juxtaposed with a cool limestone-tile floor and a raw-steel fireplace—made in France by Focus, it’s like a dramatic piece of freestanding modern sculpture.

Archia Home’s renovation of the kitchen in a 19th-century farmhouse in Dover, Massachusetts, included installing a 16-foot long wood-framed folding window above the sink counter.

Building firm Archia Homes achieved a stunning effect when they installed a 16-foot-long folding window in the kitchen of a 19th-century farmhouse they recently renovated in Dover, Massachusetts. Custom made of white painted hardwood, when closed the unit looks like four regular multi-pane casement windows. But when each pair of bi-fold windows is pushed back, it’s as if the wall above the sink has been removed, replaced by an uninterrupted panorama of the lush wooded landscape surrounding the house. In keeping with the natural feeling, the kitchen’s gorgeous white oak countertops, made by Brooks Custom in Mt. Kisco, New York, are oiled rather than sealed—a finish that requires some maintenance but lets the sheer unvarnished beauty of the wood shine through.

Heydt Designs
3030 Bridgeway, Suite 204
Sausalito, CA 94965
heydtdesigns.com

Sierra Pacific Windows
575 South Whelen Avenue
Medford, WI 54451
sierrapacificwindows.com

Webber + Studio Architecture
1220 Lavaca Street
Austin, Texas 78701
webberstudio.com

Weather Shield Windows and Doors
One Weather Shield Plaza
Medford, WI  54451
weathershield.com

Focus
Viols-le-Fort, France
focus-creation.com

Archia Homes
PO Box 612
Duxbury, MA 02331
archiahomes.com

Brooks Custom
15 Kensico Drive
Mount Kisco, NY 10549
brookscustom.com