Featuring Milgard fiberglass windows & Thermatru doors
Some homes stop you in your tracks the moment you step inside, and this Cave Creek property tucked away on four acres is one of them.
Near Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, the home sits in one of Cave Creek’s most scenic corridors, where desert vegetation grows wild, wildlife frequently wanders through and the sky opens wide over mountain ridgelines.
From the outside, it’s charmingly different, although with some of the familiar touches you’d expect to find in Cave Creek—natural stucco, earth-toned textures and a peaceful rural setting bordered by hiking trails, open desert and protected land. But here’s the best part… the moment the door swings open, the entire tone shifts.
Inside is a home with a wildly imaginative personality. The interior blends 1920s-inspired charm with eclectic vintage touches, bold color choices, ornate woodwork and handcrafted details in every direction. Antique-style appliances, moody lighting and period-inspired trim give the home a fully realized sense of character and nostalgia.
For DunRite, that distinctive style shaped every decision. This wasn’t just a window replacement job. It was a design-sensitive remodel that needed modern energy performance without disturbing the carefully curated interior. And because the home sits in Cave Creek, where temperatures climb and dust is common, choosing the right replacement windows mattered.
The Challenge: Update the Performance, Honor the Personality
The original windows throughout the home were Andersen 200 Series with real wood interiors and vinyl-clad exteriors. Like many windows that age in the Arizona sun, they were showing their limits: cracking exteriors, fading and drafts. The energy performance simply no longer kept up, and they were becoming more difficult to open and close.
With such a distinctive interior style, the replacement windows needed to feel intentional. Nothing too modern. Nothing too bulky. Nothing that would interrupt the warm, curated, vintage-inspired aesthetic that runs through every room.
Cave Creek’s unique desert conditions put extra stress on the aging windows, too, with higher wind exposure, more airborne dust and wider day-to-night temperature swings. Any replacement product needed to hold up to heat and the rugged desert environment surrounding the property.
Adding to the complexity of the job, homes in Cave Creek are rarely built the same way twice. Many feature thicker stucco, handcrafted details or custom architectural shapes that don’t follow modern building templates. That makes window replacement more complex than in a typical subdivision home, and it’s exactly where DunRite’s installation expertise shines.
Their team’s robust training and experience really paid off.
On this project, nearly every opening required a tailored solution, from custom jamb extensions to carefully engineered trim work to ensure every window looked original to the home.
The Perfect Fit: Milgard Ultra Series Fiberglass
After reviewing the home’s style and the realities of the Cave Creek climate, DunRite selected Milgard Ultra Series fiberglass windows. They offer exceptionally durable fiberglass frames, slim sightlines, timeless profiles and excellent desert-friendly energy performance. The customizable colors paired well with the home’s existing woodwork, helping the new windows blend naturally with the 1920s-inspired décor.
Because the new fiberglass frames had a different depth than the old wood-vinyl units, DunRite fabricated custom jamb extensions in a matching color. This ensured the finished look felt cohesive and original, with no visual clues that the windows were replacements.
A Highly Technical Installation Unlike Any Other
This home’s unconventional construction presented some rare challenges: the kind that required deep experience and creativity. A Milgard-certified dealer, DunRite Windows & Doors was more than up to the task.
1. Stucco More Than an Inch Thick
While most Phoenix-area homes have ⅜-inch stucco, this property’s stucco was just over one-inch thick. It required careful removal, extra tooling and a precise, impeccable installation process to protect the exterior.
2. Manufacturer Schematics Required
To not disturb the home’s flashing, DunRite obtained the original technical schematics for the old Andersen 200 product, then disassembled the Andersen units piece by piece—a methodical process that avoided damage to the home.
3. Limited Roof Access
Several upper-level windows could not be safely reached from the roof, so the team brought in a boom lift to access the openings without compromising safety or surrounding structures.
4. An Arched Window No Longer Made by Manufacturers
The front of the home includes an arched window that was no longer offered as a manufactured fiberglass unit. Instead of replacing it with a mismatched shape, DunRite preserved the original perimeter frame, installed a new insulated glass unit and added flexible, color-matched trim to stay consistent with the other new windows.
5. A Round Porthole-Style Window Above the Entry
This circular window received a new double-pane glass unit and custom curved trim to complement the rest of the replacement windows.
6. A Third-Floor Patio Door
One of the patio doors sits off a third-floor balcony. This unusually sized door required a custom-sized, pre-hung ThermaTru door fitted precisely to the existing opening.
7. A Structural Front Door Frame
The front door presented a rare situation: The frame itself was structural, meaning it could not be removed. Unlike the patio door, this one couldn’t be pre-hung. To preserve the original handcrafted wood surround, DunRite:
- ordered a custom door slab
- trimmed, mortised, and prepped it onsite
- fitted it precisely to the original frame
- special-ordered a vintage-style hardware
This kind of precision work isn’t typical in window-and-door replacement—but in this home, it was essential.
Scope of Work
- 36 Milgard Ultra fiberglass windows
- 2 ThermaTru exterior doors
- Custom jamb extensions
- Custom flexible molding and trim work
- 10 days onsite in Cave Creek
This project combined standard replacement work with deep customization — exactly the kind of complexity DunRite is known for handling.
A Home That Needed Respect
This home has a vivid personality and a highly curated atmosphere, which meant that installation wasn’t just about skill — it was about care.
The installation team took extra steps to protect the home’s finishes and maintain the handcrafted details throughout.
When the final fiberglass window was installed and the newly fitted doors clicked into place, the improvement was immediate. The home became quieter, more comfortable and far more energy efficient—significant benefits in the heat and dust of the Cave Creek area.
It also added to the fun that every day, the homeowners’ dogs wandered over to “supervise,” hopping into the trucks, following the crew from room to room and tagging along like they’d been part of the crew for years. The homeowners themselves were warm, communicative, and easy to collaborate with, trusting DunRite to take care of their very unusual home.
And when all was said and done? They were thrilled.
The updates improved comfort, energy efficiency and operation throughout the home—all while preserving the character that makes the house truly one-of-a-kind.
A Standout Project for a Remarkable Home
Homes like this don’t come around often.
The architecture, the interior design, the unusual construction… it all added up to a project that required advanced planning, problem-solving and craftsmanship. It was one of the most memorable window replacement projects DunRite has ever completed in Cave Creek.
The final result? A perfect blend of modern performance and unmistakable personality.
And for DunRite, it’s one of those projects—and one of those clients—that reminds us why we LOVE what we do.
