JDS:

I don't think most of us appreciate true and classic design. I can look at a house and love it, but not know why. I admire your talent.

I looked at the elevations of our house and knew that it had potential, but that it wasn't *right*. Thank you for the enlightenment.

I want a full porch. What if we ditched the gable, the 2 ft bump out, and flattened out the roofline and called it a farmhouse, lol.

Or, I could take your advice and ditch the full front porch (since it faces west and is going to be like sitting on the face of the sun in the evening).

This is so tricky.

I thought it was more appropriate to have separate windows rather than having them joined/ welded together?

So can you order windows like the example you posted above? They look great. I guess I'm confused if it's something you buy or build, lol. Make sense?

Edit to add: I apologize for asking such lame questions. I'm so completely clueless. Thank you again for indulging me, and for the time you have spent to help.

I need some time to mull over the possibility of changes. As it is, we have already paid our draftsman (which I was happy to do, he spent a lot of time and has already changed a lot of things for me).

I'm thinking that it wouldn't be a problem to tweak a few things and maybe just offer to pay him an hourly wage. I feel like we worked together on this plan and I'd like for us to "finish it" together.

I guess i feel like we have a good start, there are lots of things that I like and love about the house and I'm not ready to give up yet. I like the general flow of the house, although I agree that we should re-visit the master bath, possibly re-orient the stairs and maybe rework the mudroom. When I get brave I'll post in the kitchen forum as well.

On my post yesterday I commented that if your draftsman designed the house then yes maybe let her continue. But I'm not sensing that she's much of a a person with good design skills. It's just not coming through like the person of talent who used to work in ARG's office.

I really think at this point to continue with your draftsman you'd be throwing good money after bad. I could afford to do that with my house since the price of the draftsman was rolled into the house cost. Can you afford to continue to pay a draftsman over and over like I did, to nudge every detail?

Or would you be better off taking what you like of your house so far, and bringing the overall feel to a "person of talent" as ARG calls it, and having it done right the first or second time? Someone who has the ability to sketch out on paper an overall feel that will work, vs using a CAD program?

Like JDS said, this person is working bass ackwards.

I'm an artist. I don't start a drawing by doing the detailed flowers on the vase. I start by sketching out the overall layout of my drawing and then start to refine shapes slowly, moving things around, changing some shapes etc. Only once I have the overall basics down, do I start to broadly add my darks and lights, and then start to add color. Once I have the overall feel of the darks/lights and color do I start to refine by defining the details, again first in broad strokes, and then finally nudging the most intricate details needed.

It's the same thing with designing a house. Find someone who understands proportion not only in the spaces within the house, but the visual spaces and elevations.

A good book for you would be, "What Not to Build" for the exterior and for interiors, I highly recommend any of the Sarah Susanka books.

IMO this is partially due to the use of CAD for a preliminary design, a serious but common amateur mistake.

Ok, since it's raining here today (and the weekend...typical!), let me type up a few thoughts for the lurkers. When I look at "preliminary" designs here there are a couple of red flags that often tell me that conceptual design is being executed not as it should.

-The above is probably the most obvious. Most creative folks generally don't use a computer for conceptualizing or coming up with the "big idea". Once a concept is down a computer is great for developing the "big idea" but initial ideas by truly creative people are usually in freehand sketch form. When a client asks me why I'm not conceptualizing on a computer I usually reply with "A CAD drawing may show what I know but a sketch will show what I'm thinking". And at this stage it's all about thinking.

-Too much detail. Detail like the roof vents at this stage JDS mentioned and all the EXACT cabinet sizes (not here but on many other "preliminaries").

-The exterior rendering of EVERY piece of siding and EVERY brick. A giveaway that someone is more of a technical person and less of a creative one....."Dammit, I have a button here I can push to render the whole elevation and I'm going to use it!!!". And that just clouds up the evaluating of an elevation. When standing in the street looking at a house, are we really looking at the mortar joints? But in a fully rendered graphic CAD elevation that's usually a heavy visual element.

- We can't see this on the forum but another flag is the inability or unwillingness for the designer to do significant or at least some conceptualizing in front of the client. If a person has to always "go back to the shop" to come up with ideas, that's not a good sign. We all do that to a certain degree, more so with a complex project, but there should be an ample component of real time design in any project. Being inside of the design industry for 35 years and personally knowing hundreds of designers over that time, I've found the best designers are almost always fast on their feet. And that ability can carry through the whole job. I've seen designers on the job site and when asked for thoughts on a trim detail for example, will reply "I'll go back, develop a CAD drawing and have a PDF over to you in a few days" (and likely maneuvering themselves right out of any future decisions!!). And I've seen solutions sketched out on scrap plywood on a pick-up hood serving as a desk with the carpenters and owners looking on and drove off to the sound of saws and hammers executing it.

Just some random thoughts I hope others will find helpful.

cpartist,

I think you are right. We've already paid our draftsman 2K. I wonder if he would give us the Cad files and we could take them to an architect of some sort for fine tuning. We only have the pdf's at this point.

We live in a small community. I'm worried about finding a "person of talent". I feel stuck and I have a pit in my stomach.

Confucius say do not plan a house while pregnant. LOL.

Architectrunnerguy,

That was helpful. I'm glad it was raining ;-) Thank you!

Well I will add this question to the west facing house=no porch. I assumed that west facing would be great for a porch or overhang to protect the inside of the house from blazing heat but yes too hot for outside enjoyment?

So I really thought west facing porch was GOOD in that regard?

Then a porch south east facing for actual sitting outside to enjoy the weather. One for enjoyment outside / one to protect enjoyment HVAC inside. Is that way off base?

I hope you do take your fire proof undies to the kitchen forum. You won't regret it. They'll set them on fire with love and all things rockin kitchen.

Thanks everyone - There's a lot of good stuff in here. I hear a lot of suggestions that I wish I had heard before our first build. (dont mix brick and stone on the same house -- we went overboard with finishes on the outside and it's always bugged me). I'm meeting with an Architect next week and will probably post my own asbestos undies entry. Thanks again.

Autumn, I think you are right. It's one of the reasons we wanted a full porch. Hopefully 8 feet is deep enough to reduce some of the summer sun baking the main floor.

cpartist,

I think you are right. We've already paid our draftsman 2K. I wonder if he would give us the Cad files and we could take them to an architect of some sort for fine tuning. We only have the pdf's at this point.

We live in a small community. I'm worried about finding a "person of talent". I feel stuck and I have a pit in my stomach.

First, take a deep breath, and relax. It will all work out and be wonderful in the end. I can feel your frustration and believe me, I understand it.

Can you give an idea of where you live? Someone might have a lead for you.

I know that's a sickening sum to have already paid out to the draftsman, but it's not all bad. I would do a search here on houzz for architects in your neck of the woods. I would probably look for someone who's a single person office like JDS, ARG and Mark and who specializes in residential. Then see their work.

Read up on how architectrunnerguy works where he does charettes. Maybe there's someone nearby who'd be willing to do that for a reduced fee?

Addtionally, I wouldn't worry about more than taking your pdf to an architect. Don't hamper the design person with what's been done because you might get something even better. Even more important, I'd get a good handle on what your budget is, and what your absolute must haves are and might be nice to haves are. Then show the architect some pictures of houses you like, but please do yourself a favor. Since you seem to favor more traditional design, look at the "real" versions that have stood the test of time, and not the "builder specials".

Cpartist.....

That would be ideal. This floorplan has everything I want. We've been working on it for months and I honestly can't think of another thing that we need to add (although I know it needs a few tweaks in kitchen and mater bath). I've even embraced the mudroom. A family of 6 has a lot of stuff to put in that closet....it's the stuff that currently clutters our rental...shoes, coats, sports equipment, extra appliances, big packs of paper towels, etc. Also....the "bills and mail, calendar desk" under the window will honestly be a lifesaver to me. I also love that I can see out the front of the house from the kitchen.

I know the house isn't perfect, but I see it being so easy to live in (after tweaking the kitchen, and master bath)...easy to keep an eye on the kids, etc...

Hiring an architect after all weve been through seems so awkward to me for some reason? I'm fairly certain that I'm 94.76% nutso. LOL

What would happen if I give this poorly photoshoped rendition of JDS's ideas to my draftsman? Trainwreck? Be honest.

I still don't know what to do, ug.

Thank you so much for listening! ....and especially for offering honest advice.

This may seem a little wild but why don't you contact JDS about costs to develop his concept sketches for you? Most of us regulars know who he is but he's got a "message me" on his profile page. The worst he can say is "No". He may be busy enough or have other reasons for not going forward but it can't hurt to ask.

You really think someone would want to get themselves involved in this mess that I've gotten myself into, ROTFL.... ;-) That is a good idea (albeit a bit wild).

I hadn't thought of working with someone online, although I did Google architects in our area, apparently there are a couple.

DH is out of town for the day. We have lots of decisions to make when he gets home. He wants me to be happy, but could honestly care less what the house looks like as long as it's built well (one reason he is doing quite a bit of the work himself). We are both very committed to our budget as well.

decisions.....decisions......

Thanks again for your ideas and help :-)

You really think someone would want to get themselves involved in this mess that I've gotten myself into, ROTFL

Well, I did say "other reasons"!!

I understand the floorplan is ok right now but honestly it can be a lot better as you and others have surmised.

There's the too large foyer, the mudroom that needs work, the fact the bathroom on the main floor is across the foyer from the guest bedroom, the kitchen that definitely needs work, the huge garage attached to the side of the house blocking any sort of light, the master bathroom that needs work, the baby's bedroom with the entry right at the stairway (an accident waiting to happen), and of course the elevation.

Get it right here on paper vs having to make changes later on. It's a lot more costly to make changes once you're building.

Its looking much better.

The first thing to do is pull the garage away from the house. It currently overlaps the main house. It not only looks awkward but it creates a flashing/drainage problem at the roof valley. Nothing should ever come within 18" of a roof valley. I would pull it several feet away; it should not appear to be an integral part of the house since its low and obviously a garage. The left side of the main house appears to be wider than the right side which makes the issue even worse. Looking at the plan the framing of the left end of the house is not well aligned and needs work anyway. I think I would move the basement stair in the garage under the other stair.

Then get rid of the brick. If you want stone, draw stone, but not every stone or you could leave it blank; its easier to imagine stone without the brick. And its not necessary to show the roof shingles, this is not a rendering. If you want to see what the house might look like, print it and add color and shadows. Or make a 3D model in SketchUp, put the correct materials on it, add people and perhaps a tree, turn on shadows and print it.

The upper window in the garage needs to be something more interesting. Even removing the window would be more interesting. I would forget the shutters until the house is working well and probably wouldn't use them with stone.

Is snow an issue? I don't think you never said where the house is located.

We have room for a detached garage. I wouldn't mind one, I'm not sure about DH. We could put the family room and office that I was planning over the garage in the basement. Hmmmmm.

I wonder what the price difference would be between attached vs detached?

It's likely that the house will be all brick, which is why our draftsman drew it as such. We were toying with the idea of cultured stone, however.

I think the left side *is* 2 feet wider. Yes, we have snow!

I have to get my heiney off the computer and take my kids to the park or something. They have been watching TV nearly all day. Ug....

Thank you for your ideas!!

Here's an interesting article that might help a bit. Blog article

I know I said we were going to the park,lol...just one more thing! (or two) :-P

JDS....the more I think about detaching the garage.....we could even out the house and lose the extra stairs. It might make enough room to add to the master bath and closet and even get my oldest boy out of "sneak.out.ville." AKA the basement. I'd prefer his room upstairs. It would also open up the possibility of un-cramping the back half of the house and I could have a small office in the guest bedroom. Hmmmmm....

CPARTIST: I promise to read that link....thanks for posting it!

NAJEEBAH: So nice of you to say, LOL....mostly I'm just a little nuts-o. We are planning on finishing the landing in the basement and the 1 bedroom (maybe the bath) and DH will finish the rest later.

Gasp! I hit send for my comment above and am surprised to see that JDS has just whipped up a little something! Are you kidding me? I love it! I like that the garage isn't smashed up against the porch so that there is room for a 4th column.

My mom lives in a 100+ old house and there is a spot on her porch where the column (similar to the ones you have drawn) is cut in half and placed up against the exterior wall to create symmetry.

Oh!!!! I see what you mean about pulling the garage away from the house! Duh. I thought you meant completely detaching it. I lack sleep. And I'm six months pregnant. Forgive me.

I really am going now. :)

Its nice without corner boards. I would probably shingle the house and use stone on the garage. But I would use thin adhered real stone or stucco before I would use cultured stone.

Ourlife...I have to say you are funny. Your sense of humor will get you through this. I have one of the architects on this board helping me with my plan. I just had to convince DH I wasn't crazy ;-)

I know My plan will be so much better. The idea is not so far fetched!

good luck!

I like the McKim, Mead, & White examples.

Just to throw another $.02 into the pile. You could consider (if you have enough land) to 'detach' the garage from the main house, but create a covered breezeway between the house and garage. B/c my weather sucks 360 days a year, this is what we're doing. This is freeing up about 20-25ft of the house for more windows. We will have the breezeway sealed, insulated, but not heated or cooled. I hope to have a wall of windows on one side to act as a 'sunroom' with a tiny bistro table and 2 chairs for morning coffee with my husband. The back side will be solid as I dislike those neighbors so I don't want to see, hear, or, worse, smell them.

A covered breezeway, or enclose it for your mudroom. Then you can rotate the kitchen to take the left side of the house, perhaps your desk area goes at the front (and the guest closet, get it off of the stairs and open those up)

Just wanted to say thanks again for all of the advice and ideas.

DH came home and we chatted about everything. We are just going to take it slow, research local architects, weigh all of our options and then make some decisions.

Amazing ideas here, it will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Thanks again! !!

I think you are doing the right thing by taking it slow. Best of luck to you. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Sorry, late to the party. Here are some ideas.

-back garage up a bit, add wrap arounds on each end of the porch to hide the garage a bit more /make the house seem more visually anchored to the ground/ add a nice connection to the back/side porch. aligning garage makes the foundation/roof framing much more simple and efficient.

-combine both stair cases into one super stair, which has a leg in the foyer and a leg in the kitchen that meet in the middle at landing and go up. business up front, party in the back.

-slide bathroom and closet between guest room and living. gives guest privacy/noise barrier. maybe the guests could have their own private door to the porch?

-kind of a touchy subject but, but personally I'd move the back porch to the side. you get passive solar heat in the winter (if the windows face directly south, +/- 15 degrees) shade in the summer with a proper overhang, and unobstructed views instead of staring through porch furniture and having darker rooms all the time. if your basement is a walkout to the back, this also gives the rooms down there great light that's not obstructed by a deck/porch overhead.

-dedicated laundry room that connects to master bath through a closet.

as I was finishing this up I realized it might be a tad bigger than I intended, it came out around 3300 square feet including the bonus, excluding garage and porches. didn't catch the size on your existing plans, but this one could be scaled down in several places. if you'd like i can get you a dimensioned copy.

hope something here helps!

-

A few items from my perspective, I quickly read through the above comments, so sorry if these have already been mentioned.

- Overall nice looking house and well thought through design for a growing family. Good use of space (like using the space above the front hallway rather than wasting it with a two-story entry). Lots of storage room and places for the kids to hang out together or separately.

- You may want to verify if you have enough counter space in the kitchen. Think about where the microwave, coffee maker, toaster oven, four canister, dish drying rack, etc. might go. You have the island, but usually those are kept fairly clutter free to be useful.

- Steps to the basement - we have been in houses with kind of an "open" plan for steps into the basement and really liked them (no door at the top, but an opening into the stairwell and a door at the bottom to control noise). It makes a finished basement a more inviting feature of the house. The door at the top may mostly remain open depending on traffic to/from. We have a similar door in our house and I removed it due to the way it swings into the hallway.

- First floor bath. Do you need a tub in there, or would a shower possibly save some space and be just as useful for the number of times you are using the guest bedroom.

- Tied to the use of the guest bedroom, could that be an office area, or possibly add french doors into the living room area for extra entertaining space when not being used as a guest bedroom (using day beds or a pull-out couch).

- Shared bath upstairs. Another item that we would do over if we had the chance. Look at options where you can modify your shared bath to have two "compartments". One section would be for someone taking a bath or using the toilet. That would be separate from a section where someone is just using the sink to brush their teeth, blow dry hair, etc. It saves some time when the kids get older and are competing for use of the bathroom to get ready for school.

- Master bath - somewhat same concept as above. We have a large master bath and have become used to the extra space. We also have the closed door in the bathroom and do like it directly connected (since you typically use it in combination with the bathroom area). Maybe even out the size of bedrooms 3/4 and give yourself some extra space in the master bath / master closet area. You could also increase the size by moving the wall into the master bedroom. With a large closet and a flat screen TV, we no longer needed very bulky bedroom furniture. A bed and two night tables is all the space that is really needed in the bedroom.

Nick...very nice!

To be able to change the overall exterior design of the house from what the OP originally proposed, it should be necessary to see the site and surrounding buildings.

Unless I missed it, I don't even know where this house is located.

Wow Nick,

That was a lot of work! I don't know what to say. So, Thank you. I really like how you filled in the "wasted space". That staircase is so creative. And.... Lol " business up front party in the back." It's the mullet staircase! I like the streamlined kitchen and the 4th bedroom upstairs, although I'm hesitant to put a bedroom over the garage. It really is an amazing plan. I'd love to see dimensions.

We are at our spending limit with:

1400 ft2 main

1400 ft2 up

1400 ft2 basement (likely to remain mostly unfinished for a while.)

+ 600 ft2 bonus

However, DH talked to the truss guy and was quoted 15k. Apparently our roof is more complex than I anticipated. Yours looks more simple.

adkmbl,

Thank you for your kind words, and advice, I like the flow of the house too and can see our kids easily growing up there. Your comments are encouraging, thanks again.

JDS, our lot is in a newer subdivision with .4-.75 acre lots. The newer houses are mostly the craftsman style that is so popular right now. The older houses range from 1 story stucco or vinyl siding ramblers (attached garages facing tbe street small porch) to more "country" looking houses. (Sorry, I don't know the technical term.) Lol.

At this point we may just squat in my in-laws basement and put our lot up for sale, lol. Then I won't have to make another decision ever again. ;-)

You still haven't told us what part of the country you're in which also will influence a lot. That is what JDS is getting at. Plus the fact what is your lot like? Is it completely flat for example? Soil conditions? etc

Ooooh....lol....I'm sorry for being so dense.

We live in the West. July is usually 90-low 100's. January- butt cold and lots of snow. We have 4 seasons.

Here is our lot (I know it looks homely, but I have a master's degree in horticulture and before the kids I worked for Extension)...and we own a tiller ;-)

So, our unfortunate exterior and ugly garage will be in good company :-p lol. It's a fun neighborhood for kids...which is what it's all about right now in our lives.

Now that you've seen our lot.

I'm going to justify my attached garage for a minute, lol. I don't want a TV in my living room on the main floor. I love to sit down to a meal and talk to each other....and then when we are done eating, we sit and talk some more. And, I think basements are depressing and I don'twant to go down there, lol.

Thus, the bonus room over the attached garage will house the TV. :-)

Lol, ourlifeinthesticks, love your comment about your house having company ;). It is hard to plan a house in a neighborhood where you have to take into account the surrounding houses. I totally get what you are saying. I love old East coast Victorian style homes, for example, but if I were to build one where we are moving it would stick out like a sore thumb!

Well,

If your house ends up looking like JDS' last sketch, you will have the best house in the neighborhood.

Naturally. ;-)
I'm kidding. I remember seeing a few houses that I liked when we were looking for lots. Not that what I like means anything, lol.

That first house I posted is much prettier in person, especially at a time of year when the landscape is in bloom. It's harder to judge since the Google maps photos are so bad.

Go with JDS's last sketch and see if you can incorporate Nicks changes but make it one stairway instead. It's only a few steps from the front hall to the kitchen from the stairs. Don't make it more complicated and a heck of a lot more expensive than it needs to be. (Stairs are expensive.) Use the space for storage instead.

Additionally with your weather, make sure you have wide eaves for shade and definitely put the covered area on the south side of the house. You won't regret it.

Is Nick's bathroom too far from the garage entrance? When my kids are muddy I'd like them to be able to come in through the garage and wash up.

Eta... I had the same thought about the stairs....they are cool though. :-)

Eta2..... Nick's downstairs uses space more wisely (as does his upstairs....it's genius, and the roof would probably be cheaper).

However, like I said, I'm nutso. For *me* I like our upstairs better. I like that there is lots of "landing space". It makes me feel like I can breathe. The 100 year old house I grew up in had a big landing at the top of the stairs with our bedrooms branching off from it. We used it as a playroom. I like havinga "room" up there that is not a bedroom. But, I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks so, and we will never be able to sell our house as a result, lol.

We read a bunch before bed, and I hope to make the "sitting area" by our MB a space conducive to that.

I also dig the bonus room. My sisters downstairs and bonus room are very similar to what let we have in our plan. My kids love to play up there with toys, watch movies, etc. I love that they are close when we are in the kitchen (because of the stairs).

I do like Nick's exterior a lot. JDS's is more my style, however. So, if we stick with this plan I'll likely owe him one ;-)

Really like Nick's plan. To a large part you can use JDH's exterior with that plan -- just elimated the middle gable with the arched window. There is also some int insignificant cost savings by eliminating that gable and window. Having had a sitting area, they sound like a good idea, but IRL don't tend to be used. The few extra steps from the garage to the downstairs bathroom is more than compensated by having a guesr room that works and it will serve as a much better powder room for other guests rather than directing guests to your back hall/mudroom.

Good points. :-) ...and good to know about the sitting area, thanks for your experience.

I just edited above my reasoning about the bathroom....I have muddy kids more often than I have guests, lol.

Although I know that I'll blink my eyes and they will be off to college before I know it. (community college, lol, because this house keeps getting more expensive and we are a 1 income family).

My design is just your design cleaned up. If I were to design a house for you I would need to spend time on the site and talk to your family. Good design usually comes from interaction with the users although its a closely guarded professional secret.

[edit: I say that in order to justify how long it took me to figure it out]

I very much agree about not having a TV in the living room and spending time with your family. That's what a house is for.

If you were to design a house for us there wouldn't be a buffet of architectural styles on the same house, lol.

I haven’t read through all of the comments so there may be
some overlap but a few details I noticed…

Reach in
closets should be larger than 2’. Kudos
to your draftsmen for at least accounting for the drywall and adding an inch,
but particularly your coat closets, when you get bulky coats in there the
sleeves stick out and take up more than 2’. A
minor thing but honestly I don’t think you’d regret giving it an extra 4-6
inches.

With the guest coat closet placed there, you
have a large grand foyer but you walk in and face bi-fold doors that probably
aren’t closed all the way or are coming off the tracks. You have this nice stairwell but it is completely
walled off except for the bottom 4 steps.
I would try to open that area up and bit and remove the closet so you
can see something better than closet doors when first walking in.

I only see one area for a mechanical chase on
the first floor and it looks a little small for water, drains and HVAC ducts. On the second floor will your ducting be in
the floor or in the ceiling? If ceiling you need a continuous chase from first
floor to second. If vents are in the
floor on the second floor, anticipate having a bulkhead on the first floor to accommodate
ducting.

Upstairs bathroom – I grew up in a house with a separate
room for the sink and then a tub & toilet room. Some probably find it a little awkward as they don't know “how” to use it and they closed both the doors but in a house with 4 kids (1 boy and 3 girls) I’m
pretty sure having the sink area that everyone could use WHILE someone was in
the toilet/shower was the saving grace in our house. Plus, that bathroom also has a lot of wasted
space as is, I’d rework that and the laundry.

Master bathroom, I’m guessing that’s a
freestanding tub, it looks like a pain to clean around. You’d have to either sit in the tub or stand
in the corner to clean back there.

The mudroom is large but the layout doesn’t
look very efficient at all and it functions more like a hallway.

The island in the kitchen, it looks like there
are no cabinets under it? I don’t see a
lot of storage other than the pantry and the pantry style dish storage. I’m sure it’s been said to review it with the
kitchens forum :)

4’ for the upstairs hallway seems wide,
especially since you have the second stairwell so it’s not the ‘prime’ access
to the bonus room. I would bring it down
to 3’6 to match the stairwell. I’d also
consider switching bedroom 4 and the bath/laundry area.

The sitting room is a little awkward, I can see
a chair going in here or there for a person to read in, but in my house it
would turn into a chair full of laundry too quickly. Plus no one would read there because it would
be right down the hall from the open bonus room (I’m guessing that is a play
room.)

The closets in the shared girls room… will they
fight over who gets the bigger one? The closet in bedroom 4 needs to shrink a
bit too, the door frame will be right next to the wall there.

On the front elevation, do full height
sidelights instead of the windows. Get
chunkier columns in there. Spread the 2
garage windows (or at least see if that looks better).

Back elevation, reconsider the column
placing. You’re stepping out a French door
smack into a column and looking out a kitchen window into a column.