Associated Press
Three-tiered Self-Winding Cocktail Table
is a "reverse lazy Susan.

Glass gets a break

The use of glass is clearly a trend in home decor.

There's renewed interest in the Victorian-era mercury glass globe as a focal point in the garden. In blue, red, green or silver, each sits atop a decorative concrete pedestal.

Indoors, glass takes on modern dimensions in furniture and accessories because their reflective surfaces add sparkle to decor.

"We have been seeing more glass in both decorative and architectural applications lately," Metropolitan Home editor Donna Warner says, adding that they can range from glass tables and colored glass dinnerware to glass brick walls and unusual windows.

"What's wonderful about glass furniture is that it is there, and yet it is not there," furniture designer Dakota Jackson says. "Glass is heavy and strong, yet you can see through it."

Jackson regards glass as "the quintessential modern material -- transparent, clean and architectural" and recently introduced the three-tiered Self-Winding Cocktail Table.

"It is a reverse Lazy Susan," he says, "in which the top is stationary and the bottom two levels revolve 360 degrees in both directions. The transparency of the glass lets you see all the operations at once, and shadows are created as light hits each layer."

While Jackson puts himself in the modern camp, Lynn Hollyn, a designer of interiors and home furnishings, likes glass because it is, she says, "traditional and contemporary in the same moment."

As an example, Hollyn installed stained glass windows and etched glass panels over a mantelpiece.

Custom designs don't come cheap; Jackson's table costs $10,000. For those who don't want glass to shatter their budgets, there are plenty of less expensive ideas. Marshall Watson, a New York designer, suggests an etagere with glass shelves for collectibles.

"The furniture disappears and lets you focus on the objects on display."

A glass server on casters is a widely available design. The one Watson often specifies has two shelves and doubles as a side table.

Watson offers a couple of tips for using glass:

Shelving that is at least three-quarters of an inch thick has a beautiful green edge that enhances whatever is displayed on it.

For tables, an interesting edge on the glass -- beveled or rounded -- creates a finished look.

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Associated Press