In Thornhill, a 16-foot arched window trades faded white for crisp black, and a stone house finally shows off its best side. Both of them, in fact.
Some houses keep their best feature tucked away. This one stands it right beside the front door.
The stone bay at the front of this Thornhill home holds an arched window that rises roughly 16 feet. It’s built from four stacked sections: three tall panes crowned by a half-round arch, with a slender window flanking each side, following the angle of the bay. On a bright morning, sunlight pours through the whole bay and spills across the dining room table. It’s the sort of window that makes you set the table a little more carefully.
For years, though, the frames let the side down. Once crisp and white, they had faded to a chalky off-white that melted into the pale stone. The house had good bones and grand proportions, but from the driveway, it looked tired.
Back in Black
The homeowners replaced every window with DraftLOCK Slim Series units, 30 in all, finished black on the outside and white on the inside. The effect is a little like eyeliner: nothing changes, yet everything looks more defined. Every arch and sill now stands out against the stone, and the pink and grey flecks in each block look warmer than before. The arched window above the double front doors and its twin in the upstairs gable echo the same curve, so the whole facade reads as one confident design.
The slim profile matters here. Heavy frames in a dark colour can look clunky. These stay narrow, so the glass does the talking, not the frame.
The Other Side of the Story
Out back, the house changes its accent. Grey stone gives way to sandy buff brick, and a bay rises three storeys above the deck, serving the kitchen and the primary bedroom. This is the family’s side of the house, made for morning coffee on the deck and long dinners under the gazebo.
“We always loved that tall window. Now the whole house looks the way we pictured it.”
Calm, Quiet and Cozy
With this much glass, comfort was never an afterthought. All the new units are triple-glazed with argon gas and Low-E glass, so the tall dining room no longer runs colder than the rest of the house when January arrives. The hum of traffic on the boulevard fades, too.
The best upgrades are the ones you stop noticing. A few weeks in, nobody mentions the drafts anymore. They simply aren’t there.
Dreaming of a change of frame? Book a free in-home consultation and see what’s possible for your home.
