I don't like the way it looks over the front door. I like the look of the dormer over the large front window. My husband, however, likes the dormer in the middle. He said that the rest of your house is almost symmetrical, and to offset the dormer throws off the symmetry. I guess it's a male thing, maybe.

Cheers!
Heather W

Here is a link that might be useful: Our ICF Home Construction Journal

Thanks Heather! I took a look at your journal -- Nice house! What great wildlife too!

Another vote for over the dining room window!

Either 2 or 3, but not 1. I think I like #3 best. Very nice! Good luck!

This is just my opinion of course, but I like it in the middle (#3) as a balance to the other two wings of the house.

I DO like it over the door. It helps focus attention on the front door -- always a positive. I also like it nearer to the two gables on the right side of the house. Is the dormer decorative? What interior portion will get the light from the dormer?

I like #3

#1 would give a person looking at the house an illusion of a two story foyer. If this is not the case, a person entering the house would be 'let down' (for lack of a better word) when arriving inside to see a low ceiling.

#3 is just wrong.

#2 gets my vote.

You keep changing up the brick/siding. I like the siding choices on #1 best visually (front porch non-brick, either side of porch bricked) but if you don't put the dormer over the front door, I would leave it that way too.

What's going on upstairs?

I would expect a two-story foyer in that home. (Meaning I vote for the dormer over the door.)

I've seen a lot of homes add another smaller dormer to offset the lopsided appearance that can happen with the main dormer not placed in the center.

The dormer can have a vaulted ceiling, allowing you to stretch that window a bit taller.

Thank you - we feel very fortunate to have so much lovely wildlife here in Florida, which is why we chose to purchase a lot that had 2 acres of conservation on it and only 1 acre we can build on. I like that the animals will always have a protected habitat.

Your house looks like it's going to be beautiful; I am looking forward to seeing which you go with.

Cheers!
Heather W

Here is a link that might be useful: Our ICF Home Construction Journal

I think I'd attach a shed dormer with maybe 3 small windows connected to each other to the left side of the doghouse dormer in #1 and run it across the dining room window. It seems like the main dormer should be over the door as a focal point, but it needs something to balance it, which is why I'd add the shed dormer.

Anne

In simple aestetic terms, centered: over the front door. The others feel wrong to me.

But how does it relate to the interior? If it doesn't work from inside as well as outside, it's not good enough.

Sorry: very sleepy, didn't finish my initial thought: meant to say 'over the front door' doesn't work because it draws the eye up and away from the door, minimizing instead of maximizing.

I would do a different type of dormer and make it wider. Use a shed dormer with multiple windows. The height of that dormer doesn't look right with that roof, IMO.

I think you should consider two dormers, one each over the entry and the dining room window. If not that, then maybe one large shed dormer (Craftsman style) over that entire area? The problem that you're running into with this large dormer is that it is breaking , or almost breaking, the top of your main roof ridgeline. If it can do this on paper with a non-perspective drawing, then I think that dormer is going to seem HUGE in person.

I vote for #1, over the front door. I also like the way your stone work looks on #1. Cindy

If you want the dormer to align with either the entrance or the dining room window you need to do something to make them relate to each other. In the current design the dormer is floating on the roof and therefore should be centered on the roof, not any element below. Two dormers would greatly relieve the tension created by the single dormer. The Palladian window seems like a token gesture to architectural history and perhaps inappropriate on a one story house with such a modest offset recessed entrance and lack of classical detailing (I assume).

I like #3.

I like none. My preference would be two dormers or a multi window shed dormer.

I like the shed dormer idea, too. (Hadn't "thought outside the box" of your three choices.)

Please return to tell us what's going on inside.

If the dormer is just for outside appearance I vote #3. If you can vary from the 3 options presented, I like the 2 smaller dormers idea, you could add balance to the exterior that way and accomplish more light in the entry and dining room.

Two smaller dormers-- one over the front door, one over the dining room window.

Of the others-- #1 or 2, but not 3. The dormer needs to relate to the interior of the house and #3 is straddling two downstairs rooms.

I like the idea of one big centered dormer....not necessarily a shed dormer - you could keep the gabled look but just make it big enough to straddle both the window and the door. Of course, that adds a lot of space and almost gives your house the appearance of a 2-story house instead of a one story with dormer...but I think that would look the best. 2 smaller dormers would look kind of busy, I think. If you've got to choose one of the three, I agree - 1 or 2, but not 3 - that just looks odd.

Here are the options mentioned above:

{{gwi:1457362}}


{{gwi:1457363}}

I too, was thinking that 2 smaller dormers just seem like it would fit better and walllaaaa....Kellyeng does it for us. I think the top picture with the 2 smaller dormers looks excdeptional with the stone facade. Good luck!!

I like the shed dormer, but I would slide it down. Have it start below the main roof line and have the vertical wall lower down as well. I personally don't like the double dormer. Too many peaks.

I vote for 2 or 3.......probably 2

Just a thought, but have you gone to a plans website such as Donald Gardner and looked for your style of home? Maybe there will be actual photos of a completed house to help you. FWIW, I'm still liking 3 best.

Good luck!

Wow! thanks everyone -- especially Kellyeng! I had not considered the other options, but will. To answer the question about the interior, the dormer is part of an unfinished space upstairs that may be finished later. The entry has a 9 ft. ceiling, but is open to the living area on the back which will have a cathedral ceiling. Here's what it looks like -- the entry is about 9' deep (from the door to the living area): {{gwi:1457364}}

So the dormer lights nothing? I'd just leave it off until you decide what you're doing with the second floor. (How will you access the second story? Where will the stairs be?)

We built a single story home with a full-height attic that can become additional BRs and baths with the addition of dormers; there's a walk-up stairway in our foyer.