Design

The Future of Hardware

Automated hardware is part of a larger trend toward whole-home automation.

The Importance of Hardware in Window and Door Efficiency

Components and hardware should meet, or even increase, a window and door’s efficiency. 

Fabricators’ Choice

Homeowners want to personalize their interiors to match their decorating preferences, and often assume this includes their windows and doors.

A Profile in Windows

Double-hung windows represent the lion’s share of the market. Tilt and turns gain more awareness. Manufacturing and product efficiencies remain top of mind.

The Transformative Power of Innovation

The 80th anniversary of the International Builders' Show welcomed over 1,800 exhibitors this year and more than 76,000 professionals. Jumbo pivot doors, daylighting and accessible technology were a few of the key trends.

Colors of the Year Offer Optimistic Outlook for 2024 Finishing Trends

Reflecting the trend toward warmer, less saturated colors, softly tinted hues lead the 2024 color palettes for architectural coatings.

Mountain Modern Style Showcases Natural Colors, Rugged Durability

Architectural style balances biophilic elements with rugged durability

California Residential Project Prioritizes Open Space

A contemporary craftsman project in Venice Beach, CA, creates an open, connected space using glass sliders on either end of the house, skylights and more.

Front door finishing trends: Neutrals, naturals or nonconformist

A home’s front door sets the tone for engagement with the community, presenting an inviting welcome or a protective barrier.

Balanced Contrasts

When choosing a finish that frames vistas, color often is the first consideration. To ensure a lasting, positive impression without a lot of maintenance, selecting a high-performance finish matters.

A Trend Toward Pivot Doors

The unique design, manufacturing and hardware considerations for pivot doors.

Privacy Glass’ Creative Design Opportunities

Offering innovative safety and security solutions, privacy glass helps create a truly connected living space that doesn’t sacrifice style.

Modern Performance, Historic Look

Terra cotta textured finishes celebrate ancient beauty and modern performance.

6 Coating Considerations for Coastal Communities

Select the right finish for aluminum windows and doors.

Aluminum Extrusions

Aluminum can meet many goals, including those around sustainability, recyclability and design.

Energy Star Version 7.0

What companies should know as they prepare for the October implementation of Energy Star Version 7.0.

IBS showcases opportunities for windows and doors

The National Association of Home Builders’ 2023 International Builders’ Show, part of Design & Construction Week in Las Vegas, attracted its highest attendance in 10 years. I was among the 200,000 participants and hundreds of first-time attendees.

IBS Dazzles with Products, Trends, Conversation

The industry was on full display during a record-breaking Design and Construction Week.

Top Features and Design Trends for 2023 Highlight Post-Pandemic Shifts and Affordability Struggles

Home buyer preferences have continued to shift home building trends in the wake of COVID-19. Amenities no longer necessarily translate directly to number of rooms or types of features within the home either, it can also be simply having a space within the home that provides respite.

Garage Door Design: Upgrading from Basic to Beautiful with Wood Grain Finishes

Whether upgrading an existing door or selecting one for a new home, more of us are choosing a garage door with a high-end look.

The Value of Color

Make sure you get the right color for your project by using the appropriate paint codes when ordering your finish for windows, doors and other architectural aluminum products.

Case Studies | Doors

How doors can transform a home, plus market insights from manufacturers.

Light-toned anodize finishes offer appealing aesthetic with minimal maintenance

Building teams are increasingly selecting anodize finishing for aluminum-framed windows, doors and skylights. While painted coatings provide the largest color assortment, architects and homeowners often find the range of anodize metallic tones matches their design, while offering minimal…

Residential Color Trends Are All About Balance

Color choices can affect our mood and our behavior. We hope these trends help create harmonious, grounding spaces that inspire balance and stability.

The Argument for Wood Plastic Composites

Aside from product differentiation, the advantages of wood plastic composites are superior strength, lower expansion/contraction, less heat deformation, better U values and “greenness.” Let’s examine each in turn.

Achieve a Photo Finish for Architectural Aluminum

A few simple steps to protect finished architectural aluminum products on the jobsite can save you from a future headache and potentially expensive remedy.

Drive Profitability with These 3 Emerging Door Trends

Doors can empower homeowners to reimagine open floorplans, create statement-making entrances and accommodate the ever-expanding functions of a home.

How to Offer Customers the Craftsman Design Trend

While homes made of individually handcrafted elements may not be accessible or desirable for every homeowner, manufacturers can incorporate elements of Craftsman design in their products.

Hope’s Introduces Old World Suite Steel Windows and Doors

The new product, with its thin arrow-shaped steel frame profiles, represents a return to Old World style, says the company.

Jeld-Wen Unveils Luxury IWP Aurora Fiberglass Exterior Door Line

Each door is crafted from a mold of an actual wood door. Standard designs include choices from sleek contemporary and updated traditional to coastal and European rustic.

Crystal Windows Expands Aluminum Color Palette

Crystal Window & Door Systems expanded its stock architectural colors for its aluminum window and door products to 20 stock colors available in AAMA 2604. An additional 16 are available in AAMA 2605 powder coat finish.

Patio Doors

Case studies show design trends in patio doors.

The Rise of Slim Profiles in Window and Door Design

Not simply an offshoot of the renewed interest in minimalist design principles, the increased interest in slimmer sight lines is more related to the realization that slimmer profile windows can help homeowners maximize natural light, offer better views, and provide a cleaner, sleeker aesthetic.

Back to Basics

Streamlined, simple trends reign in today’s hardware design.

Classic Black Finishes Deliver Timeless Appeal

With aluminum windows and doors, you can offer a choice of either painted or anodized black finishes to help homeowners, designers and builders attain this design-driven look and achieve the desired, durable result.

Design Considerations for Hinge and Multislide Doors

We must apply the insights gathered from thermal simulations, consultants, design experts and energy advisors to develop the best possible solution. Drawing from all available information and innovation, you can engineer the optimal, holistic, high-performing hinge or multislide door.

Curves Ahead

Completing both curved and linear extrusions in the same batch minimizes variation for a consistent, high-quality appearance and reliable, high performance, backed with a standard full warranty.

Big Doors, Big Problems

Big doors seem all the rage these days, with large residential doors offering a unique and often spectacular focal point to a home. However, with big doors, come big design problems.

Wood Without the Work

When your project calls for the natural beauty of wood, but needs the high-performance longevity of aluminum, wood grain finishes can provide the best of both. Textured wood grain finish options mimic not just the look, but also the feel of natural wood.

Extruding Solutions

Vinyl extrusions need to meet increasingly stringent performance criteria while matching the design flexibility customers want.

Spotlight on Smart Hardware

Hardware manufacturers in 2020 are experiencing burgeoning demand for technologically advanced and hands-free hardware both as the world moves toward more automation and as touch-free options become necessary safety components in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Doorglass

Divided Light for Entry Doors

Architectural styles—even the most contemporary expressions of an architect’s creativity—are drawn from the pre-existing, visual language of architecture inherited from earlier styles. These styles can remain with us in legacy buildings, modern revivals and elements repurposed and reinterpreted for…

That's a Wrap

The window industry continues to see an increasing request for colors. Today’s consumers demand more color and design options, inside and out, both for new construction and especially in the replacement market. Homeowners want the chance to complement or accent the design of their home with more…

Chasing Daylight

For several years, I worked in an interior office with nothing but a buzzing fluorescent light to illuminate my space. After buckling down on a project for hours, I was always surprised when I emerged, looked out someone else’s window and saw it was snowing. Or storming.

Ongoing Optimism

You don’t have to wander far to hear positive sentiments about the immediate future of our industry. For instance, Window & Door’s 2018 Industry Pulse notes that the majority of manufacturers, suppliers and dealers expect sales to increase throughout the year. Meanwhile, the Pulse reported that…

Application Versatility with New Door Designs

The combination of indoor and outdoor living spaces within the high-end residential market has been trending for a few years now. Large openings, made possible by oversized residential windows and doors, have attracted many a homebuilder and renovator. Just check recent pages of Window & Door…

5 Elements Behind the Best-Made Windows, Doors and Skylights

A home’s windows, doors and skylights exist for a number of reasons—to provide ingress and egress, sunlight and fresh air are some of the most obvious. But today’s savvy homeowners want more than just some panes of glass to let light in, or a panel that swings open to allow entry. Modern consumers…

Continued Opportunity in Color

A few weeks ago, I returned from International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas—where there had been a bit of snow, as you might have heard. Wild weather aside, IBS coincides with the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show to make up Design & Construction Week, and it’s always a nice snapshot of the…

Now Trending

Early last month, I and several other members from the Quanex team attended the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, both for some good weather and to get a sense for how the industry is feeling at the outset of a new year. My takeaway: Many building and construction professionals are abuzz…

Is a Modular “Disruption” on the Horizon?

“Disruption” is something we’ve seen happen to a lot of industries over the past decade or so. Video rental chains got disrupted by Netflix. Taxi companies got disrupted by Uber and Lyft. Newspapers got disrupted by the internet and blogs (like the one you’re reading right now). What’s the next…

Three Design Trends to Watch for in 2019

As we enter the new year and homeowners begin to think about the home projects they’ll tackle in 2019, it’s important to plan for the trends that may take hold in the coming months. New materials, styles and features are already emerging among popular photos on Houzz that will impact the…

No Compromising on Form, Fit and Function for Screens

Screens are important, but most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about them until they either don’t have them, or until their screens don’t work properly.

Form & Function

Inox’s CeraMax Rainbeaux ceramic-coated, hand-finished door hardware is designed to resist deterioration from salt spray, oxidation, humidity and UV light. Hardware manufacturers today are tasked with making products that not only appeal to myriad aesthetic styles, but also that function for the…

Color Strategy

As the demand for color in the window industry increases, so does the demand for applicators of these finishes. This trend was a key reason for the startup of a Dallas, Texas, business, Stealth Finishing. “Color has been around for a long time in Europe. It’s grown in much of the U.S. and Canada…

The Biophilia Trend

Keeping your finger on the pulse of modern home design trends is important if you’re in the window and door industry. So where are people’s heads these days? I wasn’t too surprised to see that “window walls” were one of the top picks in a recent Houzz trends piece. While the write-up credits…