Thanks so much for your responses! I agree. My experience has taught me that thinking these details out before construction is much more practical. Here are some answers to your questions: I live in central NJ. Zone 6-7. I have about 4 feet of height under the deck to insulate it. I was thinking of using "Tiger Foam". IÂve used it in my home before. This stuff is effective, but expensive. I would use some and fill the rest of the area with packing Styrofoam that IÂve been collecting. The greenhouse will be built against my home. The bedroom window above it would be blocked if I made it higher. I guess IÂll be growing dwarf bananas. I donÂt see that I have much of choice, unless you can see a way to configure this that I canÂt see. There is an area to the left where we can go higher, but that would make it a weird shape, and more complicated construction. I guess it isnÂt worth it. I looked over the full size plans and you are right, they donÂt have the overall dimensions. No wonder my township returned the plans for being incomplete. The floor space is about 7 feet by 15 feet, minus the cut corners. HereÂs where I stand now. The deck is built. The rest of the deck is finished. The supports for the green house are all in and there is durarock on the floor, in the greenhouse area, that is ready for a tile floor. I would love to use a floor drain that is set into the floor and runs the length of the space, but that would entail cutting away the supports. The surface that this is will be built on is above the surface in front of it. May be the drain could run along the front, out side the floor supports. I think my architect could work this out. If not, then wherever we put the drain, the floor would have to slope in that direction. The way it is built now, it slops slightly away from the house. I guess we could change that just a little with the mud when we tile. I think the architect put a knee wall in the plans. How should that be built? Will I be running things through it in the future? The ridge of the roof runs the short way, so it isnÂt very long in relation to the space. If you put in a ridge vent, how do you keep the hot air from escaping in the winter? HereÂs my main concern. IÂm not building the green house because I donÂt have room for my plant inside my home. IÂm building it because my houseplants donÂt do well in my home in the winter. They get plagued by spiders and disease and dry out. I have been very successful with outdoor gardening. I realize that I will still have to care for my plants in the greenhouse but I hope it will be a lot better for them than it would be in the house. I would really like to find out what kind of heating wonÂt make it too dry in there.

OK - So here are some photos, if these help. The first photo shows the drive-up view from the street at ground level, so not much roof showing. Really, not much roof showing from the street at all from any angle. The second photo shows the view from down the street looking back towards the house. The third photo is a 'head on' from our across the street neighbor's front door. The planned addition will be on the right side there, replacing the brick wall and brick garage with a structure similar to the one on the left in the same stone, but with more glass in the center. The right side is is where the roof pitch might be different, changing from 4:12 to 6:12. Between the two stone sections, the center area will be mainly glass and will have the front entry. And the fourth shot is a rendering of the proposed plan. The roofline in the rendering is shown at approximately 6:12 on the right, 4:12 on the left.

Something about your renderings doesn't match your pictures... I think you roof on the house part is too tall. Anyway, I think if you matched the size of window that is next to it, and smaller than your bumpout windows (also not shown in the rendering), it will look okay. And, I'd probably keep it a hip roof. Now, as to the pitch. Your renderings show the roof as if you were 50 feet in the air. You need to see what it will look like from 6' from ground level, since that is where you'll be standing. I suspect you'll be able to go with a lower/lesser pitch on your 1 story addition due to that.

Sometimes you can understand color relationships better by putting the samples together. If it doesn't work that way, it won't work on the house. Just be aware that colors get stronger and darker as the sample size gets larger and they change with horizontal vs vertical orientation to the light but not enough to overcome a poor color relationship. What I have very little confidence in is visualizing colors on a computer screen. It simply too inaccurate to be useful. I have always relied on taking color samples to the site or at least outdoors. I think focusing on color descriptions and computer mockups is a specious approach. Personally I think the dullness of most of these stain colors contrasted with the brightness of the white trim is distracting. I would wrap the corners with the shingles or at least paint the trim a more subdued color. Here is a house on the cape that takes advantage of a more subtle trim color and shingle shapes.