Imagine your view area as a triangle, with your eyes being one point, and straight lines from your eyes to the top of the window and bottom of the window being two of the sides. Lengthening the window will expand the lower limit of you view area, enlarging the triangle. How much more you will see depends on how far the sofa is from the window, and how far out the window the sights are.

Thanks, that helps. Is there any mathematical formula that would equate distance from the window with a 2-foot enlargement? In other words (since this redo is going to cost a lot of money) some formula that would say "increasing your closeness to the window by X would equal a 2-foot vertical expansion of the window." I'd like to know just what we'll be seeing before we do it. There's a great distant view but I'd like to know what part of the closeup view we'll see. Our back yard is very small, a patio with terraces up each side (pic 1). The window we're enlarging is the top one on the left as you look at the picture. I'd like to be able to figure out if we'll see the terraces, just the road below, etc., etc., when in the main part of our living room. Distant view is pix 2,3,4.

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Your views are spectacular.

Could you put 2 feet of cardboard over the existing window to see how much that covers up. Then you would know how much it will reveal if you make the window 2 feet bigger.

For instance if the cardboard covers up a 10 foot tree then you would know that the bigger window would reveal an addtl 10 feet. ???????????? I don't know if this would be close to accurate but I would try it.

I'll try that as soon as the sun comes up, charliedawg, and thank you.

No bears or mountain lions can get up on our deck (without climbing the posts, at least, which doesn't seem likely) so except in winter we can sleep out there. The stars are breathtaking. At this point (about 6 mos in the house) we still remember to look at the view even when busy; glad you enjoy it too.

Oh my gosh, what a gorgeous site! Congratulations!

Can't help you with figuring out the view part, but I'd make those windows as large as I can if you're going to incur the cost of the change anyway. Maybe some of those cool corner windows. :)

To create a formula for moving forward you would need to supply the distance from the window to the viewer, the eye level above the floor, and distance from the window to the elements of the view.

Without that information all I can recommend is to stand up for a rough approximation.

Thank you, all. Mightyanvil, with our wind problem we're recognizing that we probably need to consult an architect or an engineer to make sure we're making good decisions here. The house is builder-designed and we didn't use an architect. Do you have any recommendations as to which category of professional we would need? We can get winds gusting up 100 mph an hour on this ridge infrequently, we're told, and we do require class 4 shingles to keep them on the roof.

The other thing you could do is to sit on a surface 2 feet higher in the approximate location of the sofa. That would give you a very similar perspective.

Thank you very much, everyone. We've called a structural engineer to help us figure out if we can do what we want; thinking of a whole row of windows to go around the corner and make it more of a window wall. It's still dark here, but when it gets light I'll try sitting on the BACK of the sofa to see what I can see; seems like that should work.

Remember that when you simulate the view by getting 2 ft higher, the window head will cut off more view than the final windows.

Also, if the bottom edge of the glass is closer than 18" to the floor and the size of the glass is greater than 9 sq. ft., it must be tempered.

If you have a laser pointer or even a small inexpensive laser level, you could sit/stand at different areas holding up to your line of sight pointing the laser at a wall to give you an idea of where your line of sight is in respect to various distances and measure from there. Just a thought.

Thanks again, mightyanvil and sierraeast. I'm pretty sure DH doesn't have a laser. I heard from the structural engineer, who will get back to me in a day or two. Here are some pix of the construction, just in case it's of interest. Is it true that tempered windows break more easily (although they hold together) than plain double- or triple-paned windows? If so, I guess we might want to keep the windows 18 inches above the floor so any rocks the wind throws at us won't damage easily-broken tempered windows.

So what we're thinking of doing is making these windows the same height and either 6 1/2 or 7 feet long vertically to unify the look and give us a better look at the mountains, valley, and lake (lake is seen out the side window).

Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you again.

Tempered glass comes in double pane or single pane units and is stronger and more difficult to break than normal window glass. It does not hold together when broken like the laminated glass in your car; it simply breaks into small pieces so no one gets badly cut.

So, tempered glass is stronger and safer. For your wind condition I would think tempered glass would be wise regardless of any other risk of breakage.

thank you, mightyanvil. I very much appreciate your help.