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Elegant Glass Verandas > News Blog
News Blog

Outdoor Interior Design

25th January 20190

“An Englishman’s home is his castle”. Albeit a slight move away from it’s original meaning this phrase is so true in so many ways. An Englishman’s home is indeed his castle. Or hers.

It is a very British desire within the home to constantly improve, even strive for perfection. With well being and mindfulness being such a huge part of today’s society, the impact that this has on homeowners is to strive for stylish, clean and elegant living spaces, environments which encourage relaxation and family togetherness. The same is true of the outdoor space for a home, with outdoor living growing rapidly in popularity playing an increasingly key role.

Whilst the English weather can put pay to enjoying the garden there are now numerous ways to incorporate the outdoors, indoors. With a Glass Veranda from Elegant this vision becomes a reality – from a simple roof structure to a fully enclosed glass room, Elegant can provide the perfect area with a touch of escapism.

Designed and built to your own specific requirements and specification, our verandas can provide the perfect addition to your property and lifestyle!

News Blog

Side Screen Added Protection

1st November 20180

It’s the new accessory product which has been around for years! Pull out side screens, traditionally used with patio awnings, are proving popular accessories for glass verandas too.

These side awnings for terraces protect you from sun, the breeze and views of your neighbours; so you can enjoy breakfast on your patio better enclosed and undisturbed. Elegant glass rooms can be fitted with powered vertical screens, meaning that these simpler devices would not be applicable, but for veranda roofs (structures without glass sides) a pull-out side screen can further develop your outdoor space creating more of an outdoor room. That feeling of bringing indoors outdoors!

Waterproof and tear resistant, the hard wearing high density fabric resists sun fading, mould and mildew. It is pulled out manually by hand, with sizes up to 3.5 meters, latching onto its own ground post or the veranda leg post. Both types of mounting are highly stable. A spring loaded auto-winding mechanism makes it easy to retract away when not in use, rolling into a wall mounted weatherproof cassette. Please do ask about sizes and fabric options.

We have these in stock now ready for fitting.

News Blog

Interior Meets Exterior

11th September 20180

With the British weather being as unpredictable as always, outdoor living spaces are becoming increasingly popular in the UK. Protection with style and real creature comfort.

Creating a dedicated area with comfy furniture, colourful cushions and outdoor dining facility is all part of making such a space an extension of indoors, styling it with personal flair letting your imagination run riot. Why not think about adding lighting, heating or sun blinds to accessorise the room and further protect from the elements – be it sunshine or rain!

Alfresco drinking, dining and entertaining continues being a rising fashion in 2019 – you may have noticed many restaurants and drinking establishments are also following this trend. With a glass veranda from Elegant you can create your own perfect space,  for entertaining or relaxing, enjoying a stylish, low maintenance and stress free environment that can be used all year round and is bound to impress your guests.

Contact Elegant today!

News Blog

Victorian Traditional Verandas

26th June 20180

Our fabulous new range of traditional glass verandas is now available, featuring period-style posts with optional Victorian ornate castings, perfect for traditional homes or to complement a cottage-type garden.

Our new traditional glass verandas are ornately designed to sit well with a traditional garden, a period style of home, or simply for the traditional-minded. Designed with past-times features, lending a tastefully eclectic look, these traditional verandas suit Victorian and Edwardian homes beautifully. Even on a non-period property, this century-old styling offers all the glass veranda outdoor-living benefits yet with a charming period touch. A distinct statement, provocative of the past, perfect for architecturally suited facades.

Elegant traditional verandas come fashioned with corner-contoured leg profiles, avoiding the contemporary nature of square cornered posts. The lower legs of these verandas have rounded period bollard bases, creating the look, and we make the option available to also include ‘antique’ ornate castings at the leg tops, enhancing a Victorian appearance. It should be noted that this range is intended for veranda roofs only and that traditional verandas are not suitable for developing into glass rooms because their ornate leg profiles are not accommodating of glass door additions. That said, we can include fixed glass side walls for the ends (left and right), should you so wish.

Engineered from high-grade, powder-coated, extruded aluminium with parts of stainless steel, at Elegant we custom design your traditional veranda, fully made to measure, enhancing your home for years to come.

For more information Request a Brochure or Get a Quote or visit our new Traditional Verandas page!

News Blog

Healthy Outdoor Living

30th May 20180

Did you know that spending time in an outdoor living space can be good for you! Regularly enjoying Al-fresco relaxation improves our overall mood and can be good for health.

On average we spend too much of our life indoors, and as we get older we become less inclined to venture out. Adding a garden leisure feature, such as an outdoor-living glass veranda or glass room, home owners will naturally spend much more time outside. Not only about fresh air, the sun is a natural source of vitamin D, and when we enjoy time outdoors we can soak it up. Spending quality time in your garden environment can combat stress and depression and have you feeling happier almost instantly.

Physically, an outdoor living and entertaining space helps get people moving around and exercising a little more, often without them even noticing. But it can offer mental health benefits too. Ecotherapy encompasses a wide range of outdoor activities connecting with nature, whether it be spending time in the garden or the wilderness. By concept it is based on exposure to nature improving our well-being, with regular exposure even increasing life-span. Connecting with nature can have lots of positive health benefits, making more regular use of your garden can see an increase in both physical and mental health, this including an improvement in sleeping habits and better anxiety control.

There are countless benefits to enjoying time outdoors, dining Al-fresco, eating barbecue cooked food from your outdoor kitchen, and unwinding with a view of your garden. With a glass veranda from Elegant you’ll soon be adding more sunlight and more of the healthy outdoors to your lifestyle!

News Blog

Veranda Colour Choice

19th April 20180

It needn’t be white! Garden designers use colour and imagination when transforming outdoor spaces, hence at Elegant we offer a broad range of frame options – from muted to vibrant.

Choosing a glass veranda or garden glass room colour can be just like choosing a colour for inside the house. You don’t grab the first option you see, or might think of, instead look at the colour of the patio, plants and features around your garden, and consider what might tone or contrast. If you have a warm-coloured brick wall, then a cooler grey might contrast well, or if you have a white render, then stronger, punchier tones can make a statement. Exploring the many options which we offer at Elegant can be fun, and it needn’t simply be white – even if your windows are.

Our French Grey and also our natural stone shades are on trend right now, toning your new veranda or glass room with the natural feel of weathered stone or silvered wood. Earthy deep yellow or terracotta tones can harmonise with brick or clay tiles, or one of our natural cream shades for Cotswold dry-stone walling. A modern gunmetal dark grey can work in stunning contrast with traditional homes and with traditional garden elements, giving the look of an architects touch. Of course, white is still popular, it is traditional and classic. But with the wide range of options we offer at Elegant we can work with you on design helping to explore your possibilities.

Discover what others have done in our veranda gallery.

News Blog

Outdoor Living For The Ideal Home

5th March 20180

Glass Verandas and Garden Rooms make the ideal showpiece for your home. Bespoke made to order, fully installed for spring, a competitive quotation is free quick & easy to arrange.

Look no further than your garden for an ideal getaway this summer, with outdoor living from Elegant transforming your patio into an oasis of relaxed tranquility. Using beautiful yet functional materials, our innovative products open up the possibilities – creating contemporary outdoor living spaces to perfectly suit your lifestyle. Elegant Bespoke Verandas make the ultimate patio canopy, a modern glass patio roof providing year round protection and enjoyment. While our stunning Glass Rooms include sliding glass doors to protect from the sides retaining a frameless clear view of your garden.

Just like any other part of the house, outdoor living provides another option for spending time at home. However big or small your outside space, and whatever your taste and budget, Elegant are experts at designing Alfresco situations, whether for enjoying a quiet pm drink, maybe somewhere comfortable to lounge, or perhaps an area that will accommodate the whole family for barbecues. Added home living space is what we offer – with the emphasis on “living”.

Very much in vogue, the increasing emphasis on outdoor relaxation and entertaining has generated a boom in interest for our quality garden structures. Weather sheltering havens providing protection from the elements, creating a better protected environment in which to relax and enjoy Alfresco. Yes, it’s more sophisticated than garden living in the past, but don’t think for one moment that you’ll lose any of the old charm or simple pleasures – the reality is that you’ll get to enjoy it more!

Here’s to extending the summer season in 2018, call us on 0800 078 7247.

News Blog

Trends In Outdoor Living

13th February 20180

Helping homeowners to make the most of their outdoor living space we look at where we have come from and where this so very popular UK patio roof market all began.

Ten years ago, at Elegant we were promoting glass verandas (back then a new product concept) with only a few customers opting for the full glass room. Trends change and while verandas have continued to grow in popularity we’ve seen the garden glass room market growing fast, catching up. As outdoor living continues to evolve I’d like to share a few highlights from my observations over time. But first, our credentials, that I can speak with at least some authority…

Elegant have been around from the beginning. Any firm can easily ‘claim’ experience or history with a product, within a market, but the Internet Archive (the “WayBack Machine”) will readily spill the beans! Paste our address www.glass-verandas.co.uk into the search box at https://web.archive.org and you’ll see our old website from March 2009. We started on the veranda concept back in 2008 and launched our site by the following spring. Back then we were on http: not https:, but typing the www. of any company will quickly pull their web history for all to see – albeit not perfectly working as it did. Simply select a year, and click the coloured dots, to view any website at that date – instantly proving length of service and showing what products were offered at that time. It even stores old sites which no longer exist.

Looking at our website from a decade ago I see that our glass verandas aplenty but I see that glass rooms didn’t feature much in those very early days. The built-in sun awning option, and spotlights, were the only two accessories that we offered (or promoted), and while side-screens get a small mention, it appears that any side glazing or sliding glass doors feature only in two small photos – very bottom of the Gallery. How things have changed! Gradually, some customers asked for a side glass wall, to block the breeze, or to help further enclose their space. Over time such requests grew, followed by customers wanting to add front doors, and hence our Glass Rooms market took shape! We added a page “glass rooms” to our website in 2010, helping to spearhead the modern movement, and today I can say that Glass Rooms equal our Veranda enquiries.

Uncertain of how to label this room product, at first I wanted to call it a “Patio Solarium”. This looked good to me until (once again) a genius named Greg showed the way, the term “Glass Rooms” sticking. Delightfully, the only still-existing original rival I can think of, a firm whom along with us at Elegant helped the Glass Verandas to market in those early days (a long standing company covering nationwide) I note that for a year prior to 2009 they were marketing glass veranda products as Smoking Shelters!

I say that not to mock, not in any way. Fact is in those early days we few pioneers didn’t know what to call any of it… and we knew nothing of how popular it would all become!

News Blog

Without A Plan it’s Just A Wish

24th January 20180

Don’t be fooled by January temperatures! If you’re planning a veranda to revamp your outdoor living, and want it ready for the season, it’s time to start the process now.

Planning a glass veranda or garden glass room can take longer than expected. Here are a few tips to get you started, finding the right product ahead of the fast approaching season.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Make research into the different types of veranda designs available, their pros and cons according to your requirement. For instance, is how it looks important to you? Looking closer at different brochures and websites, some brands have noticeably bulky front gutters, or broad/chunky legs, less appealing to the eye. Also look for colour variation. Do you see the same three colours repeated in photos – suggesting that design is less of a factor? At Elegant we make design and good looks a priority. Much can be gleaned taking a closer look at different companies photos, seeing the best of what they’ve done for other customers, whether their profiles look boxy or ‘elegant’ and if their output represents what you most want for own your home.

HAVE RESEARCH INSPIRE YOUR DESIGN
While browsing inspirational photos look for ideas about layout and proportion, intended use and furniture plans, and at colour ideas (it needn’t be white even if your house windows are white). Look at what other people have done and why. When it comes to size, your house doors and windows will usually suggest a good width (it is rare a veranda stops part-way across a window). Desired furniture arrangements can suggest an outward size, modest table seating requiring 2.5m projection, while larger or generous outward sizes can be closer to 4m. Dry access is an essential consideration, looking at our veranda gallery you’ll see that every installation takes in a house door – allowing passage from the home without stepping into rain.

LOCATION, LOCATION
Browsing our ‘before-and-after’ examples (projects) notice how most glass verandas and glass rooms tend to be built over an existing patio table area, spanning existing patio doors. Popularly, they cover the previously established space for a garden table and chairs, whatever spot was already deemed convenient for patio seating and outdoor dining. It is rare that customers will define an all new site, away from the house, or relocate their al-fresco gathering area to another door window or wall. Improving the status quo tends to be more the theme, not changing the established familiar routine.

Doing a little research before talking to companies can help you to speak the same language. And, when finally meeting a representative, having a better idea of what’s available and of what you want will help you to make more informed decisions.

News Blog

Farewell 2017, a good year

29th December 20170

2017 made another great year for us at Elegant, adding many happy customers to our extensive portfolio while receiving more delighted client reviews after glass veranda or garden room installations.

There can be a cynical disbelief of testimonials, purported evidence of satisfaction or esteem provided by a company free to write what they will! I understand the doubt, I’ve experienced it reading brochures myself, so perhaps when quoting great customer remarks from our work sign-offs this year I might just as well use invisible ink. Or perhaps not. People read between lines I think and we all have a nose for unfeigned sincerity. I can honestly say that I’ve never invented a testimonial in my life, some must be abridged, but if you provide good service with a good product, and if you keep your promises, then you just don’t need to invent comments.

To this end, as a company we always append with the afternote “original copies available upon request”.

 

Here’s to 2017, just some of our feedback received…

The “A” Team, what an apt name for your fitters Paul & Lee. Quality of product, service and installation couldn’t be faulted. R. Matthews.

Veranda is truly fantastic! Amazing guys fitting an Amazing product. P. Brady.

Exemplary service with our glass veranda end to end. J. Atkinson-Weller.

Perfect!! M. Wicks

Very pleased with the glass veranda – your fitters were very professional, tidy and polite. Great job! M. Castle.

A very good job of our glass veranda, helpful workmen who were a pleasure to have at our home. G. Kennion.

The installation of my glass room was done very efficiently, very pleased with the quality and look and attention to detail. J. Edwards.

Brilliant – the guys were very pleasant and efficient. C. Stirling.

Couldn’t fault any aspect of this experience, staff were helpful and certainly knew their stuff and we were kept informed at all times. L. Fisher.

Very nice job of the veranda. Good product, good team, good firm. I. West.

Your fitters were quite excellent in every way. P. Jackson.

I am so pleased with the finished glass veranda, thank you. Paul and Lee worked so hard to a very high standard. They were courteous, friendly and professional at all times, a credit to your company. L. Baker.

Fantastic veranda, fantastic work. S. Ormston.

Excellent service, very friendly and professional team. Extremely happy with the finished glass veranda, our new extension fits it seamlessly, would definitely recommend. L. Gilmore.

Excellent job of our veranda thanks. P. Stratford.

 

Original copies available upon request.

Find more… Testimonials