For centuries, architects of cathedrals and chapels have used stained glass to reflect the world in a singular light — an atmosphere of deep serenity and unearthly calm. Jan and Dave de la Rosa have taken those lessons to the very heart of their personal haven, bringing a heavenly radiance into their master bedroom with a stained glass headboard, originally a window in a South Carolina church.

"I wasn’t looking for it. The window came to me on the back of a pickup truck. Two guys pulled up to a store I was working in and were trying to sell the objects in the back of their truck. The store owners didn’t want it, but I did. I was at the right place at the right time," says Jan.

Part of the window’s appeal was its $35 price tag, an important consideration. "We were building a hand-built house, collecting architectural pieces and working them in as we went along," she says. "We were accumulating banisters, French doors, windows, light fixtures. I’m an antique shopper, a flea market freak and go to estate sales. I’m always after a bargain. I bought the window because of its shape and price. But it’s so big, I had no idea where I was going to put it or how I was going to utilize it."

"We were the designers and contractors on our home," she continues. "We got the idea from plans for a house in

Like many of the other architectural objects throughout the couple’s unique three-story Fruitland home, the massive window remained in storage, waiting for a decision. "We built our house with a basement so we could store our stuff until we needed it," Jan explains. "We would literally pull out a pile of windows, number them and walk around writing corresponding numbers on a wall where we would put them in."

One of the things Jan often does with treasures she purchases is to try them out in various locations and then stand back to see how they look. At the time, the couple was just beginning to rough in the walls of their bedroom. "I went around looking for a spot. I just happened to hold the window in the middle of the space and said, ‘Wow. That would work out great. We could get the light from all different directions,’" says Jan.

The couple went to work building a half-height bedroom wall around their prize, which divides the bedroom from the bathroom and serves as the headboard for their king-sized bed. "Dave and I did a lot of the construction ourselves, but the window is curved and we didn’t know how to frame it in. We had to hire a finish carpenter to do the work for my $35 window. The $350 he charged was a huge sum of money for us back then," continues Jan.

The headboard is just one of five stained glass pieces that bring a glow to the couple’s bedroom. There’s the one high on the outside bathroom wall, also from a church, along with three that Jan built using vintage glass recycled from another church window. These three windows, and those in a large belvedere built into the bedroom’s soaring cathedral ceiling, also help control airflow in the couple’s passive solar home.

The multihued panes combine to create an ever-changing ambiance of muted light that fully complements Jan’s taste for the Gothic and Romantic. "Our house is three stories, so you feel like you’re in the clouds," Jan observes. "During the day, light comes in from different directions depending on the time. At night, the light coming through is much softer…like candle light, it’s very magical. Being a romantic, I just enjoy it so much."