BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

Desiree Shier considers the windows of her home to be the eyes of the structure, so when she and husband Al Shier bought the property as somewhat of a fixer-upper last summer, the glass was the first thing to get a makeover.

But the Shiers, who plan to restore their 1928 home to its original architectural state, weren’t looking for just any window replacements.

Their search was for a contractor who specializes in historic windows, which led to Window Restoration and Repair, a Los Alamitos company that recreates and refurbishes old frames, casings and accessories for residential windows.

The Shiers moved into their spacious, Spanish Revival home in August 2007, leaving behind their former Spanish abode only a few blocks away on Cordova Avenue, where they also engaged in extensive historic renovations, Desiree Shier said.

“We love restoring old homes, and in this area there are so many, whether it’s Spanish or English Tudor, or others,” she said.

The couple hope to get their new Cortez Drive house on the Glendale Register of Historic Resources, and eventually on the national register, she said. Both lists would require the house to have original, or restored windows, but when the Shiers moved in, they found aluminum louvre windows in place of the wooden ones that would have been built in 1928, she said.

“Upgrades in here had really taken away from the character of the home,” she said.

Enter Window Restoration and Repair, a niche company run by Ed Sanchez and Scott Goldfarb.

Sanchez worked in the window replacement industry for about 15 years, and in the process he smelled an opportunity to start his own restoration company.

“I had people telling me they really wanted to keep the old windows, just restore them,” Sanchez said. “And I just thought, ‘Hey, there’s a market to fix these things.’”

So in 2001, Sanchez teamed up with longtime friend Goldfarb and went to work. In addition to restoring original windows, they install new windows custom designed to the home’s era, Sanchez said.

Sanchez and Goldfarb installed about 30 new windows for the Shiers, but to get the design right, they studied one remaining original window in the home, Goldfarb said.

Installing new windows in old homes can be tricky, as the new frames are perfectly plump and the aged structures have lost their right angles, Sanchez said.

“We always order the windows a little big so we can cut them down,” Sanchez said.

The company does most of its business in the Long Beach and Los Alamitos area, but more and more calls are starting to come from Glendale and Pasadena, Sanchez said.

“We thought Pasadena was really going to be the city, but as it turns out, Glendale has been every bit as good for us,” he said.

The company is planning to give a presentation to the Glendale Historical Society at 7 p.m. June 12 at the First Congregational Church of Glendale, 2001 Cañada Blvd.

For more information about Window Restoration and Repair, visit www.window-restoration-repair.com.