What does your architect recommend?

there are 5 gables just on this side of the house. That's a lot!

Here are other homes with lots of gables that keep their material selections to a minimum.

Where are you in the build process -- still designing or already building?

Still designing. Starting to do some outside work but nothing has been done to the house.

Beverly, thank you. I love gables so I am mostly to blame but I am now considering I went a tad bit overboard.

Prior to working on things like the siding, I'll suggest rethinking some of the architecture.

There are issues with proportion and scale. The windows seem huge, and look to go floor to ceiling. Compare them with the size of the doors. The windows read as very contemporary, but the house itself seems more traditional.

See the two red lines. The windows are not centered on the wall, and the horizontal line which I believe to be the floor level runs through the garage doors. And those garage doors and windows above seem to touch.

The two columns are way too skinny, and the arch above seems out of place. The entire entrance seems too close to the mass to the right.

I've circled what looks like some sort of return, but what's the triangle showing just below?

I would be interested in seeing the plans and the other three elevations.

NEVER make design decisions on a house based upon one elevation, like you are doing right now.

The windows look massively oversized. For example - the (2nd floor bonus room?) triple ganged window appears to be about 14' wide. THAT IS A LARGE WINDOW. And it also appears to be about 1' above the others - so either the lowers go to the actual ceiling or the uppers sit completely on the floor.

Then - look at your right lower window vs the front door. it's like 2 different scales / 2 different houses.

I am worrying about the drafting, technical and architectural skills of the person who put this together. Right now as PPF noted - it just doens't appear to be buildable.

not a pro but if you have stone I would choose one other material for everything else - I think less is more for sure

Will suggest that you not employ too many materials. Would really suggest that you only use one type of siding and your proposed stone. Too many materials can just make a house look jumbled (lol, technical term).

" Would really suggest that you only use one type of siding and your proposed stone. "

I would use the stone ONLY if it is on all sides of the house. If only on the front, leave it off. As far as siding, if the stone goes all the way around the house one other siding type and not board and baton as it does not really lend itself to your style of home and layout. Board and baton is more geared to larger rectangular wall areas like a barn wall in my opinion.

Thank you everyone. We are currently working with the architect because the windows are an issue and clearly you all notice that as well. The grills on the windows are different than what we have chosen (not ordered) and don't reflect what we want. After reading your comments, I just called my husband in a panic.

I was thinking of going back and asking the architect if lowering the entrance gable could be possible. Possibly eliminating the gable to the left of the entrance which is the master bedroom closet, but then I feel it will throw off the house even more. The entrance is more towards the right because if we centered it, then we would have to move the staircase which is an even bigger project. The house is currently a raised ranch. PPF, thank you for your diagram. I will definitely bring your very important points up to the architect. I've attached the plans of the house. The proposed lift is gone. We are thinking of just making that a closet.

Is this a remodel or new construction? You've attached an earlier draft where the front was flat, now every room jogs maybe a foot? Don't do that- looks very artificial. In my city a 2' minimum is required for change of plane- 1' looks like frosting. Other than that I think its all been said above. Oh and anything can change at this point, better to pay for revisions than to progress with building something you know is awkward- this will be an expensive build regardless, it might as well look good.

It is currently a raised ranch and we are adding a second floor but completely redoing the first floor.

And adding 1’ jogs in the foundation in the process? Don’t do that. If you want to vary the facade pull one section forward several feet. I can’t imagine how much extra you are paying for those 1’ jogs.

A plan that requires a person to go through a narrow hallway to the main living space in the home is flawed. The huge curved stairs in the foyer seems out of context for a ranch house. The kitchen and dining room are the focal point of the plan and are front and center upon entering your home. I am not a professional. I am just saying that this is a very confusing layout. What is the original floor plan of your home?

The staircase shouldn't reflect a ranch. The point of the addition is to make it into a colonial. In the basement we have a small summer kitchen and a family room. First floor we have a dining room, living room, kitchen. One full bathroom and three bedrooms. The master bedroom has another small full bath.

Hallet & CO that isn't something we considered, but you raise a good point. We actually had to go in front of the town board for a variance because we did want to vary the facade. We were also told that if we would go 2 feet or more, we would need new footings.

The first house we owned had a garage under and we swore to never own a house with that set-up again, and we haven't. Carrying babies/kids/stuff up and down a flight of stairs to get in/out of the garage got old very quickly. Also not great if you plan to retire in this home.

Shift the bathroom and office upstairs, so that the space could easily be reconfigured to be a 4 bedroom house. You will lose value from the addition by making it a 3 bedroom house.

Was this raised ranch originally a modular?

Thank you for your input Chispa. Raised ranch is not a modular. We are going from a 3 bedroom 2.5 house to a 4 bedroom, 3 full baths, two half baths house. 1500 square feet to 4500 square feet. The existing master bedroom that is in our ranch now will remain there we are just making it bigger (thinking about the future).... initially we had an elevator but costs were out of hand and eliminated it. The master bedroom on the first floor will serve as the guest bedroom for now. Three additional bedrooms (one master and two for the kids) are upstairs along with the kid's full bathroom upstairs.

After seeing the plans, you need to scrap them and start fresh with a new designer.

I'll let others enumerate all the problems, but there is nothing worth saving.

Geez you guys are ruthless. lol

Unfortunately you are not designing a plan/layout that will appeal to many people out there.

Family room has no connection to other living spaces and no connection to the backyard.

The house isn't large enough to have space "wasted" by a second staircase.

Your proposed house layout is more closed off than the 1965 colonial my in-laws built and still live in.

This should be a full teardown and all new build. It will be more cost effective, a better result, and not beholden to the sins of the past contaminating the future. That ^ is a Hot Mess Express. The layout is terrible, as is all the raised boil bumpouts. Trash that whole thing. Start over. With a different architect.

The backyard is on the other side of the house, right outside of where the kitchen and dining room will be. There's no need for the family room to have a connection to the backyard because we have already built a downstairs space with a kitchen, family room, and bathroom directly connected to the backyard and pool. The second staircase is needed to go from the basement to the first floor. How else would you expect us to get downstairs without another staircase? Not sure why you would consider it wasted space. We actually need it to get from the basement to the first floor. There wasn't enough room to put the living room on the other side and I chose to do the kitchen/ dining room together instead of the kitchen and family room together, which put the family room on the other side of the house. I appreciate the feedback but I'm also trying to make sense of it especially since I am definitely going to make some revisions.

The curved staircase and foyer take up a large amount of space. I think it would be a better use of space to have one staircase that goes all the way from the basement to the second floor.

I think the access to your first floor family room is very awkward. If the curved staircase was eliminated, and the other staircase was enlarged, your family room could shift to the right and have a connection to the dining room and kitchen. The entry could shift to the left and be centered on the front elevation, so you could eliminate some gables.

If you don't put in an elevator, I'd look at a dumbwaiter system for hauling groceries etc upstairs. It's a hike from the garage to the kitchen.

Like mentioned above, you use just one staircase to go upstairs to second floor and downstairs to basement.

Also if your downstairs family room is an important entertaining space, then an open staircase to the basement, like in the photo below, makes it a more welcoming space and more connected to the main floor.

Chispa, you are absolutely right and I truly appreciate it.

Why didn’t you do that teardown? You would get to have a much freer design, without the restrictions of the old house.

When the designer does not know the minimum hallway width is 3'-0", it is time to get a new designer. Start with local architects.

Not a designer, he is a local architect… the hallways on the plans are 3’-0 width.

Verify your "architect's" license with your state.