Gothic structures bring about awe. If you have ever laid your eyes on a building such as the abbey of Saint-Denis in France, you likely were struck by the beauty of this style of architecture. If you have seen other similar structures, the abbey of Saint-Dennis was their parent building, created in the early 1100's and becoming the model style that many other gothic structures were created from.



The idea of gothic building was to be awe-inspiring. They were churches and houses of God, and you were to be in awe of God throughout the building.

If you always wanted to be able to have that style of architecture in your home, but don't have the money to have a building created with pointed arches and flying buttresses, there are still some ways you can give your home a bit more of a gothic look.

One thing that will help is roof finials. When you look at gothic buildings you will likely note that there are a lot of spires and points at the corners and elevated portions of the building. Adding roof finials to your home will give a similar look. You can find roof finials in many varieties these days, and if you look hard enough, you may even be able to find some that are extremely close to those used on your favorite gothic building from days of old. Roof finials are not too hard to install and could easily be a weekend project, unless you are not a fan of climbing up on the roof. In that case you should call in a handy-man to do the job for you.

In addition to roof finials, there was another trait that really stood out in gothic structures, especially on a sunny day ? stained glass. The reason gothic buildings were so inundated with stained glass is because the architecture of the building allowed it. Since the construction, through arches, took all the weight and pressure from the roof off the walls, and instead put it on columns, the builders could have a little more leeway with the number and enormity of the windows that were to be put into these buildings. As yet another tribute to God, artists were called in to create elaborate scenes from the bible in beautifully detailed stained glass. No doubt as worshipers entered the church and the light came through these glass panes, they felt almost as if the rays of the heavens were streaming down on them as they approached the altar. It was easily a very religious experience.

In your home, you may not be able to add such elaborate stained glass works. After all, you do have to consider you are dealing with slightly different architecture, and you are trying to create a gothic look, but not build an entirely new gothic building. You can look into changing some of your smaller windows out for stained glass panels or just get stained glass window panels that you hang in front of the window and will look like the real thing, without any window replacement.