Uhmmmm that is a tough one.... Are you more concerned about the way it looks from the inside or do you want it bigger because that's your view window??

Well, both are a concern, but the view is the main thing; it's why we built the house here. I'll be interested to see your ideas, and thanks!

Cant offer any advise but just wanted to say what an awesome view(s) you have there. Beautiful!

Thanks, sierraeast, and you haven't even seen the best of it. We can see five mountain ranges from various windows, some close up, some far away. We have everything from goldfinches to bald eagles flying around here near our deck (not so often on the bald eagles, though). In fact, another expense on these windows is going to be something to prevent bird strikes, poor guys. So far nobody's been hurt as far as I can tell.

Sounds awesome mixing it up w/nature. Our build is in the sierras but we are in a canyon. Nice but no views. We can hike up out of the canyon for some pretty awesome views, but you have to get pretty elevated. It's sure nice when you can simply look out a window or sit out on a deck and take it all in. What i wll miss about where we currently live in the mojave is that our property is elevated and you can see the town below along w/ the surrounding sierra's to the west as well as smaller mountain ranges north,east, and south. The town itself is down in a valley. I dont make enough time to enjoy the view and take it for granted at times, but it is the one thing i will miss here. Do yourself a favor and give those great views daily attention!

You're talking a LOT of money to move windows around at this point. But, if you hate it, you'll always hate it and you should spend what it costs to fix it.

On the inside, putting bookcases under the windows and tying the whole thing together with molding would make things look cohesive.

I agree with live wire oak.
Are the windows too tall for window seats? If you could incorporate them, you could have some nice cushions along the back which could become a favorite spot to enjoy that incredible view.
Also, you might consider built-in bookcases surrounding the window - bottom, (sides?) and top. It could help 'frame' the view.

sierraeast, you'll get a lot of birds flying around in your canyon, I bet. It's amazing how we forget to get out there and look, isn't it? So far DH and I are doing a pretty good job of it, not as much as we did when we first moved in, though.

live_wire_oak, I think too that we should spend the money. It's more now trying to decide if the windows should be bigger or just brought down, and then of course the other questions I mentioned. Thanks very much.

I like live_wire_oak's suggestion of bookcases under the window - in fact, I think you'd do well to make that entire wall bookcases - adding shelves on the far ends of the windows, under the windows, and one on top of the window that is even with the top of the existing shelves (lose the cornice boxes and drapes) so that the entire bookcase is just a big box and the windows are in the middle of it. You could then put roman shades or bamboo blinds on the windows if you need privacy or light control. You could then house the stereo stuff (or whatever is in that wooden cab under the window) in the shelves. I think that would give a very cohesive and clean look and the windows would end up looking fine where they are. The money you'd save by not moving the windows around would more than cover the cost of the extra shelves.

I'd also think twice about moving the windows down - you'll have to patch the stucco at the top and the patch will always be visible unless you restucco the entire side of the house. If you're allowed to make the windows a foot longer but keep the top where it is, that would be a good solution and probably not super-costly, but you'd have to find out about the wind loads first.

jennymama, the window seats are an interesting idea. We had them in another house we built, and loved them. I'm going upstairs right now to see if that would work. We thought about making the whole wall bookcases as you've said, but were afraid it would make the windows look like they were in a cave. I love the window seat idea though. One problem is our builder got the left window an inch higher than the right one, but it's not really noticeable now and maybe it wouldn't be with window seats either, the pillows would distract the eye. Bye. Got to get up there and look!

This is a tough one, but I don't think I would go to huge expense to put in bigger windows. I difinitely would *not* simply lower them. The existing windows are not tall enough to place them lower to the floor without making them look *too* low. You would get the feelig that you have to lower your head to look out the window. And I don't think larger windows are worth the expense, because even with large windows (vertically), the view is going to be dominated by the fireplace and bookcases.

Take some of the suggestions for decorating that wall and make it the primary focus. You can enjoy the outdoors veiw from other vantage points.

I would remove the objects from the top of the bookcases and extend the cases all the way to the ceiling with a soffit (the way you would put a soffit about short kitchen cabinets that don't extend all the way to the ceiling). then I would put up a crown moulding above the bookcases and around the fireplace bump-out that matches the window curtain boxes.

I like the window seat idea too. A floor lamp and tall plant in the corner next to the little window would distract from the difference in window height.

Jennymama hit the nail on the head if it's possible to pull it off. Window seats would be awesome there! Keep us posted!

Amy

I love the window seat idea. Measuring it out, the windows are 35 inches above the floor, which would be about 17 inches above the window seats' height, but by the time I put pads and pillows on them I think it would be okay. You guys concur on that? The bookcases come out 11 inches from the wall, the fireplace wall 20 1/2 inches, and the hearth 39 1/2 inches. The window seats would have to be more than 11 inches; would it be best to make them match the extension of the fireplace wall at 20 1/2 inches?

The back windows are confusing to me because the window salesperson (after we had them in) said they should have been the height of the door, she felt they dwarfed the back door. I thought we'd save money by lowering them instead of getting new larger windows, but I see now that's probably not true because having to restucco, etc., so I think we should get new windows if we decide to go that route.
chapnc, the picture I posted is probably confusing -- the main view is out the back windows, the lake view is a bonus, and you come in the entry facing the back view, so that's what really dominates the room. I'll post a couple of pix, with apologies to the folks who've seen them before. I think the idea of boxing in the top of the cases with a molding matching the windows will tie it all together beautifully.

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susan, I hope the window seat works out for you. Maybe you could do a mock up of height and depth with cardboard boxes to see what looks most pleasing to you. You might be able to push the seating height up a bit to make a more comfortable viewing height. You could even make the space under the seating area bookshelf space to tie the whole space together. Also, if the 'bumpout' of the window seats looks awkward, maybe you could bump out the lower section of the bookshelves (kinda like the difference between upper and lower cabinets in the kitchen) so you have one continuous depth.

BTW, I am always looking for possible window seat places...I just LOVE them!

Me too, and the ones we built in our last house were even comfortable! Sometimes I think they aren't, although they always look inviting to me.

I'm not completely clear on the plan, here: do you want the room to look better, or be better?

Looking better from the inside is easy: leave the windows, add shelving below to integrate with the bookcases, pad the tops for seating, fill the space between the seat and bottom of window with custom bolster pillows so the whole thing looks more 'on purpose'.

But the windows really are too small and too far from the ceiling: an easy mistake to make, it's hard for those of us not involved in the building trade to visualize the actual size based on the numbers on a blueprint, especially since the actual glass area is so much smaller than the numbers. Lowering them would just look odd and new ones wouldn't add a huge amount to the project [with the caveat that 'huge amount' is very realitive].

So, if it isn't a budget breaker and you want to enjoy those [wonderful] veiws, some changes have to be made.

I'd argue-- if you are opening the wall anyway-- that those windows are not only too small, they are in the wrong place. For maximum impact, they should flank the fireplace, and it's the bookcases that should occupy the less important real estate in the corners of the room.

I'd use new windows as near the ceiling as possible, and bring the bottom down to the level of the hearth. I'd extend the heath under the windows for extra seating, and add a molding from the FP to the corners to integrate the windows, fp and bookcases into a single unified whole.

That way, there would be something wonderful to look at from the main seating, even if the FP wasn't burning.

Now here's a thought: leave the current windows, add new ones. It would actually be cheaper than removing the existing and trying to patch the resulting holes, since you'd be removing siding and interior finsihes, rather than trying to add new materail that matches the old.

You could put the bookcases in front of the old windows if you really want them on this wall, or move them somewhere else...

Oruboris, thanks for writing so extensively.

I think I've confused the issue about the windows -- the side windows by the bookcase are not the windows with the main views. The main views are from the two windows in the wall with the door in it (third and fourth photos). The rear side window has a glimpse of the lake and the other one toward the front of the house just looks at a neighbor's wall, although I plan to put a tree there. I think you're right about the size of those little windows, though, we probably should have made them bigger (taller at least) to begin with. I wanted virtually a glass house when we started, but the wind up here is just too strong for anything like that.

Thanks again for your post and your ideas. To answer your question, I'd like the room to look better and be better as well.

looking over these ideas again, jennymama, I see I missed your idea about putting bookcase shelves under the window seat. That's a pretty cute idea, I like it. DH wants to get his stereo stuff somewhere also. I hope stretching the budget even further won't freak him out. Maybe bumping out the lower parts of the bookcase would work also -- I'll have to mock all this up and see how it looks.

And thanks to all of you for these wonderful ideas. I think I now have a reasonable idea of what I want to do.

Yes, I see what you're taking about now in the 3rd and 4th pictures.

Again, it's your call. If you have the budget to replace the windows with larger, then yes, it will capture more of the view.

Don't get me wrong, the view is beautiful out of the existing windows, but I'm thinking the view is better when you're standing than when you're sitting in a sofa or chair. Having larger windows that drop down a bit further vertically will give you the same unobstructed view when sitting.

That's basically the only difference that I see that it will make, the difference between a "standing" view and a "sitting" view.

Either way you can't lose, it's a great view and a great setting for your house.