Stained-glass windows often have a close association with places of worship, but many homeowners appreciate the beauty of this type of glass and look for ways to incorporate it into their homes. If you're keen on changing the look of your home in certain areas and you want to include stained glass as a part of this change, share your ideas with a local interior designer. He or she can likely give you some suggestions on how to proceed in a manner that will increase your probability of being happy with the end result. Here are three places in your home that can benefit from a stained-glass window panel.

Breakfast Nook

A breakfast nook should be bright and cheery. If you're not a morning person, you may find that sitting in this spot while you eat breakfast can brighten your mood if the space is decorated well. A stained-glass window can be ideal for a breakfast nook because of the cheery colors that it provides. For example, if your breakfast nook gets the morning sun, the sun will filter through the stained glass and cast red, green, and blue hues onto the table. Keep in mind that the stained glass doesn't have to comprise the entire breakfast nook window — simply hanging one panel over the window can work well.

Staircase

If you're fortunate enough to have a home that has a window on one of the walls of your staircase, you'll appreciate how it keeps this spot bright. This can be another ideal location for adding a stained-glass window panel. Some staircases can be a little drab — for example, if you have a dull shade of paint on the walls and a generic wood or carpet color on the stairs, this is an area that can benefit from a splash of color. When you hang a stained-glass window panel over your staircase window, you'll appreciate the bright hues that flow into this part of your home.

Bay Window

It's common to have large bay windows in different areas of your home, including in the living room and dining room. If you like the size of your bay window but feel as though it's missing something, think about hanging a stained-glass window panel on the middle of the window. Given the size of most bay windows, this can be an opportunity to choose a large stained-glass panel — perhaps one that is too big to work with other windows in your home.