Why choose a glass Juliet balcony?

Looking for a way to let more light into your building and improve access to the outdoors without major structural renovations? An ideal solution for saving space while getting all the benefits of a traditional balcony is a glass Juliet balcony.

Named for the famous balcony scene in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, these small balconies were traditionally made using stone or brick. Metal balcony railings made from materials like wrought iron later became popular in European countries like France and Italy.

Nowadays, glass is the perfect modern material to truly open up a Juliet balcony. This design normally doesn’t feature an exterior structure with walk-on floor space, instead mounting a barrier in front of a full-height window or French doors that open inwards.

What better material to make this area feel more like an airy balcony than a glass balustrade?

This blog explains how your home or office could benefit from a Juliet balcony, and why glass is the best choice for modern Juliet balconies.

What are the benefits of Juliet balconies?

While it’s true that you won’t benefit from an outdoor seating area as you would with a traditional balcony that projects from the building façade, there are many benefits to Juliet balconies that make them a winning alternative.

They’re fast becoming a home design trend for good reason – here are just six of the benefits of Juliet balconies that can transform your building:

1) Low maintenance

Building a projecting balcony is a lot of work, requiring not just a higher budget but also planning permissions. It’s also impractical for many buildings, depending on the layout and surroundings.

A Juliet balcony, on the other hand, usually doesn’t require much work or planning permission. All you need is a window or French-door-style opening that you can install a barrier across, et voilà – you have a mini balcony to look out of,  where the floor space remains inside rather than outside.

2) Access to fresh air

Connecting with the outdoors and breathing fresh air is proven to be better for our health. From reducing fatigue and anxiety to improving digestion and strengthening your immune system, allowing more fresh air to circulate through your interior space has many health benefits.

Whether it’s a kitchen, living room, bedroom, or workspace, a Juliet balcony can help to improve ventilation. You can get fresh air without even having to step outdoors, bringing the outside in.

3) More natural light

Just as air circulation is good for your health, so is natural light. Exposure to daylight affects sleep cycles and cognitive performance, so lack of natural light can have negative consequences for your physical and mental health – but it can be difficult to get out in the sun with our busy modern lives.

With a Juliet balcony in front of a full-height window or door, you can let more light flow through the space, and even feel sunlight on your skin by simply stepping up to the barrier.

4) Increased safety

Having a strong barrier across the opening allows you to leave large windows open without worrying about falling – which is an even bigger concern if you have children or pets to watch out for. Juliet balconies allow you to enjoy the view and the breeze without having to go too close to the edge.

This is especially helpful for anyone who might have a fear of heights, but who still wants to enjoy sitting or standing in the open air and daylight without having to stand on an overhanging platform.   

5) Attractive aesthetic

With its clean lines and unobtrusive design, a Juliet balcony is a cost-effective way to enhance the appearance of a building, both inside and outside – it’s beautiful whichever side you view it from.

You can create a chic interior seating area beside the door or window, with the balustrade as a security barrier, while it elevates the façade with a high-end look from the outside. If you choose a frameless glass balustrade to create your Juliet balcony, you can achieve a truly seamless style.

6) Affordable option

As mentioned, building an actual balcony takes a lot more work than creating a Juliet balcony – more materials, more time, more effort, and much more stress overall.

Even if you have to install French doors or a sliding glass door to make it possible to add a Juliet balcony in front, this is still easier and more affordable than extending your actual building.

Juliet balconies are easy to install and automatically look elegant. Best of all, they require very little upkeep to stay in good condition once they’re in place.  

Why use a glass balustrade for a Juliet balcony?

There are many ways to achieve a Juliet balcony in different materials, but we believe that glass is the best choice. Wooden balconies are great for a traditional style, and shaped metal rails can lend a continental look, but glass is the most versatile option to fit in with all kinds of building designs.

Don’t think you’ll be limited to just one style of glass Juliet balcony, either – there are many different mounting systems that can modify your simple glass balustrade. Set within the window profile or fixed across the outside, framed or frameless, anodised aluminium frames or a matt powder-coated finish… there are so many combinations to choose from to get your ideal look.

Whichever style you settle on, it’s sure to look amazing from both inside and out. If you need some visual inspiration to help you decide, view our glass balustrade gallery to see what you can achieve with the high-quality products from Express Toughening.

If you have any questions about our glass balustrades, give our team a call on 020 8500 1188 today and we’ll gladly discuss our services. If you would rather contact us online, please fill out our contact form or send an email directly to info@expresstoughening.com and we’ll be in touch soon.

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What Our Customers Say

Andrew Cooke

Superb customer service from the Express Toughening team – when I made a mistake on my order online, they dealt with the issue quickly organising partial refund immediately. My order arrived quickly and their courier messaged me before delivery to check I was in. Quality product at the best price I found online.

Rated 5 out of 5
Kiron Kular

A massive Thankyou to Helen from Express Toughening for being so patient, co-operative and helpful with my orders. She resolved a re-make without any fuss and in an extremely timely manner. If you want glass – go to Express Toughening and ask for Helen!

Rated 5 out of 5
Andy Beviere

Extremely easy company to deal with, glass ordered weeks ago and asked for a specific delivery date due to glass testing and no one being onsite. Delivered on time and when asked for other types glass stated they couldn’t help but recommended an equally helpful company!!

Wouldn’t hesitate to use again.

Rated 5 out of 5
Brian White

I’ve used Express Toughening twice now and have been very impressed with the glass they have supplied and also the helpfulness of the staff. The first job was a couple of years ago when they supplied me with a 6mm satin frosted toughened glass door for our shower room. From my measurements they supplied a fabulous door which had the hinge and lock holes cut out and also took into account the out of square measurement of the door frame. It fitted a treat and is stunning to look at.

More recently (late last year) they supplied me with painted toughened glass splash backs (7 items altogether in 6mm glass with the biggest being 2.1 metres long), all cut to my sizes and with numerous switch and socket cut-outs. My local glass supplier said they could not cut out the close together sockets and switches, but Express did and got it spot on!

As with the glass door, the splash backs were delivered to me by Expresses’ own transport and without any problems and quality issues.

After the scary bit of fitting them all the result is faultless and stunning. Thanks go to Alex who helped me with the ordering process and technical aspects of glass splash backs.

Rated 5 out of 5
David Convery

4mm toughened glass for greenhouse. Although slightly dubious about ordering from a company I’ve never heard of and not local (300mile away) I’m so glad I took the plunge. A great customer service from Helen and the team from start to finish, clearly there was nothing for me to worry about.

Their website is easy to use and made ordering online a doddle and for those shapes, they don’t have on their website a quick email and rough diagram sorted any issues there. All glass arrived on time well packed and with no breakages.

It’s a company I wouldn’t hesitate to use again and I’d definitely recommend it to others who need quality glass cut to size.

Rated 5 out of 5
Tony Fields

Excellent product.
Exactly what it says on the tin.
Brilliant, friendly service from Helen.
Definitely recommended.
(And we’re on the Scottish border)

Rated 5 out of 5
Tony Owen

Fantastic service, fantastic prices and fantastic products – I could not recommend Express Toughening highly enough – I got an immediate response to my request for a quotation, and Helen was so helpful in answering my questions. Order placement was easy and everything arrived exactly on time and as promised. I won’t look anywhere else for my next order – great prices (way cheaper than other quotes) and great service!

Thank you!

Rated 5 out of 5
Sam Richardson

We have been using Express toughening for a number of years, mainly for glass screens and Toughened Glass for balustrade. The company are always reliable, deliveries always on time and friendly helpful service.

Rated 5 out of 5