I suppose a lot of suggestions would be based on how "original" you want the house to be to look old. Have you watched Rehab Addict on HGTV? That might be a good place to start looking to see what you like.

I watch that show religiously and love it! I want it as period correct as possible but of course we will have A/C and heating in Texas. I'm not that tough. : ) I love the hexagon tile floors in the bathroom and the transom windows. Nicole does an excellent job.

Please be very careful with your design. Here is an example of a badly designed new Victorian home. http://www.oldhouseguy.com/contemporary-victorian-design/ Proportion is something few architects know about today.

ccintx,if you would have made it clear what you are doing when asking about ducts on hvac forum,you would have recieved intirly different responses. If you are actually building such home redwood on exterior trim can impart appearance of age while lending duriability like no other material. Unfortunatly 1x redwood is diifficult to find outside the N.W.If you decide that's something you would like and have a place to store it until needed,I know of a small amount near Dallas. Stained concrete has a place in any construction intended to look older. The same can be said for wood flooring but I would never use man made in a home like this. Lastly,selcier's question needs to be answered if you expect advice you can use.

selcier, probably just original enough to give the house some character. We do want HVAC and of course bathrooms.

klem, maybe it's just your tone, but what does getting responses of the energy efficiency of exposed ducting have to do with asking for ideas that would give a home the feel of a vernacular farmhouse? Thanks for your feedback, but I'm confused on what your "scold" means.

Old House Guy, thanks for your remind on proportion and balance in architectural design. We are going more for a simple vernacular style. What do you think of the balance/proportion/detail of these houses? I'm no expert on the subject, just trying to learn. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

ccintx,take my comments any way you please but they are intended to help you maximiz benifit from relevnt advise vs just ingaging in chit chat. IMO,your hvac question should be along the line of,(We are building a new home and weighing benifits of hvac ducts inside living space apposed to attic. The house will be desighned to look and feel like a vernacular farmhouse so we don't want to distract from that look and feel.) Here's how you opened the discussion. "What are your thoughts on the energy efficiency of HVAC ductwork that is exposed? I'm referring to the ducting that is visible inside of the home" Then you asked "Would it be as efficient as ducting contained within a soffitt? Your thoughts?" You would have recieved similar but more inhanced advice about ways of desighning home so fir downs act as ducts and forget ideas of ducts in sofftis,that's worse than attic. Specificly from rater who I mentioned as advocating ducts in living space. Rater has experience with fir downs acting as ducts that inhance farmhouse look rather than distract. This would certainly have been talked about after your secound post in that thread,where you said "I have been researching spiral ducting and the efficiency of it makes sense to me. What about the placement of the ducting within the living space?" If that doesn't sound like a hack retrofit rather than planed new construction,I would like to know why. If that doesn't clear up your confusion,I'm stepping back so mind readers can answer.

Oh Klem, I see why you are intirly confused,..sorry,..the post I made about exposed ductwork was for relevnt advise as we were gathering information for desighning a hacked retro-fit HVAC for living quarters in a barn.

Take a look at home plans from Allison Ramsey Architects and Our Town. These firms are quite good with translating the old into the new home.

Their houses look pretty good except for some use of the wrong style/period windows and skinny balustrades. The window muntins are obviously out of proportion to the window. However the houses overall are done well.

I wonder if the builders followed the architectural plans? I've seen some examples of the same house from ARA that looks plain and then another builder who executed it properly. Our Town will also include inside finish plans.