I'd pick Option one as it focuses attention on the entrance and is heightened by an inviting light fixture come those long New England winters. Option three works, too, for the 19th Century hanging out on the front porch ambiance.

If you're so overwhelmed by choices, pay for professional direction. The best design decision I ever made was using a colour consultant to choose our interior paint colours.

All three elevations studies are strong, and I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. My own preference is for the third one, with the larger (and more expensive) front porch. It's a stronger indication of "entry", much more welcoming and strengthens the large gable mass of the elevation. For me, the other two designs look more like a small "bumb-o" was just glomped onto the front façade as an afterthought. My apologies for all the technical architectural terminology! :-)

Actually the only one I don't like is #1 because I feel the half circle arch doesn't fit with the other lines of the house. I'd choose 2 or 3.

3 feels more "farmhouse" and 2 reminds me more of a cape but either would work. And I don't mind the bump-o on 2. I personally love a wide front porch so if I had to choose overall, I'd probably choose 3.

3

To me looks more "neighborly" and has a better connection between the driveway and front door, sheltered too. Any reason you might not want to shade the front windows?

3 - it's the most welcoming.

Thank you all! We have been leaning toward 3, but we will have to see how much it increases the cost (and we already know we will need a special permit for it because it's non-conforming to setbacks). My other concern with 3 is how to treat the style...do we go more farmhouse details? Stick with cape style? Clapboard vs. shingles? Colors and fixtures? Open to suggestions!

3 here too!!

3. Love the porch - looks so inviting.

Another vote for 3

Awesome...glad to see we are heading in the right direction :)

Oaktown, we don't get a lot of light in our living room as it is (front right windows), so the porch will make that worse, but I think we're okay with that. I was a little disappointed about making it even darker, but I do really love the look of the porch, and it will give us an additional layer of separation from the street, as the front setback is only 20 feet.

Definitely 3

Would love to see the floor plan!

I really also love the stairs off to the side to your garage and other entry door. It looks very functional as well as quaint. What do you like - board and batten, shingle style?

Are you able to put a window on the side next to the fireplace? It appears private and it wouldn't have an overhang and would give you another point of light.

I thought I'd mention it - wasn't sure if you could incorporate it or not - even a small square awning window. Shingle style would be very nice IMO but I'm not an expert at all.

Wifemothergoddess, here are the existing and proposed floor plans. There have been a couple of tweaks since these layouts (mostly window changes) but overall, this is what we will end up with. We gutted the kitchen and added a dining room and mudroom to the breezeway area in 2009, so those won't be touched.

Existing 1st Floor:

Proposed 1st Floor:

Proposed 2nd Floor:

You are getting a TON more space! Just curious - why did you choose to put a full bath off the kitchen and not a 1/2?

You will appreciate all this elbow room.

Jannicone, the full bath off the kitchen is the only bath we have at the moment. It would make more sense as a powder room for sure, but this was also gutted (in 2012) so we won't be touching that room either. Here are some photos of existing space. Excuse all the toys!!

Dining room looking at mudroom:

Dining room looking at backyard:

Kitchen to living room:

Living room to kitchen:

Gah!! I'm not sure I can handle changing the whole design at this point (mentally). I like what you've drawn, but it definitely feels like a departure from what we've been looking at. You mention "too many 4ft high knee walls". I know these exist in the front left bedroom, and at the front right corner, but isn't that fairly typical with a smaller cape-style? I like the idea of having more height, but not sure of the added expense...perhaps option one would work, as I don't believe the architect has added that height already. Upstairs will be bedrooms for my two small children (though I realize they will eventually be larger people), and one big playroom for them. It has the potential to be divided in two in case another child comes along and they don't want to share.

oh my - that front upstair bedroom - you'll have to duck to get around the foot of the bed if that close knee wall is 4 foot high.

A traditional Cape Cod style house would have a roof steep enough to not need dormers. This house is not a Cape.

A traditional Colonial or Colonial Revival style house would be a full 2 stories.

In any case, you should not have a knee wall less than 5 ft high and you need to draw a dotted line showing where the ceiling height is 5-0 high for the building official (and to calculate the true gross s.f. of the house) and where the ceiling is 6-0 to see if furniture can be placed. I think you will find the The left front bedroom could only have a single or twin bed.

Since there is already a ridge beam or bearing wall supporting the rear dormer roof it would not be much trouble to raise the front wall 2 or 3 ft and allow the rooms on that side to be more comfortable.

If the front rafters are not already resting on top of the second floor, doing that is a no brainer correction since the rest of the floor will be framed as a platform. Of course, that is probably already the case but you need to ask or look at a section drawing ASAP.

Or you could make the roof slope on the front 12 in 12 like a Cape.

Or, combine the two dormers on the left side or connect them with a shed roof to make that bedroom habitable.

But you need to do something ASAP.

Good luck.

This ^^ is why I'm so thankful for the architects on this forum.

This is the section of the upstairs (is this what you wanted me to look at regarding the front rafters?) I can figure out where the 5ft dotted line and 6 ft height goes in a little bit.

Yes, cpartist! Very thankful to have extra eyes, just wish I had posted sooner :/

JDS, thank you for all of your thoughts...I appreciate the input!

The roof framing is unnecessarily complicated and unnecessarily stingy on space. Even a modest increase in roof height would greatly increase the value of the house but, frankly, I'm more concerned that the house be livable for your growing family. They're not small for very long.

The first thing I noticed about the section is that it is not necessary (or traditional) to pull the face of dormers back from the front face of this kind of house; just put the new exterior second floor walls on top of the first floor walls and let the roof eave continue under the dormers. This should save a lot of money especially since the author of the section has called for a contractor or engineer to determine if the existing floor joists are adequate for the increased loading. I would avoid this issue as shown in the sections below.

Section A raises the support plates of the steep rafters and this only occurs where there are no dormers so it cant be very expensive. You may even save money.

Section B simply makes the steep rafters steeper like a traditional Cape Cod style house. Here again, the raised walls only occur where there are no dormers. More space and better looking for a modest cost.

Both add a great deal of volume for a reasonable cost.

Could you raise the height of the elevation of the house by a foot or whatever you need to get the 5' knee wall (which is also required here), by putting this increase under the gable but actually part of the second floor? (Like Jefferson did with Monticello)

Personally I like the first one. The arched porch ceiling is a classic porch detail, it doesn't need to reiterate anywhere else at all.

Also I think the space between the windows and the soffit and pent eave make it look like the tops of the windows aren't being scalped by the roof.

IMO the second story addition serves no purpose without the dormers so they should not look like afterthoughts or an assortment of unrelated roof elements; they should be strong, deliberate forms with some muscle showing. The final design can get worked out in the 3D model; this is just an idea. The bedrooms should be more comfortable, the roof framing simpler and the floor plan shouldn't need to change.

JDS, these all look lovely. I really do appreciate your input on this, and I'm hoping to can come to a resolution without having our architect change (and charge) too much. Do you think that Option 3 would work in the same configuration by just raising the side walls a foot as you suggested? Would this be a major rework on the drawing side of things? I do worry about the head room in the front bedroom, but struggle with the balance of the exterior look vs. interior function. Maybe joining the two small dormers would look okay in Option 3? Do you have any other thoughts on how that area could be addressed if we chose to leave the right side of the facade the same (with the added foot you mentioned)? If we wanted to lean farmhouse style rather than shingle style, would you suggest something different? Thanks again.

This design is strong enough to be adjusted in many ways. It could be wrapped in anything you like: board & batten, cedar shingles, clapboards, stucco or stone. The forms are reminiscent of English Cotswold Cottages.

I raised the roof up in this drawing but you could just make the roof slope 12 in 12. That wouldn't take much time to draw and the steeper roof lines would be pretty impressive. 9 in 12 seems pretty anemic to me. I have no reason to think your architect isn't great but I don't understand that choice.

I'm not a big fan of little dog house dormers from the inside or the outside. Trying to put a portico on the front of an asymmetrical roof design is a tough task and none of your drawings look resolved IMO. The bog porch works much better if you can live with a darker Living Room. Options 1 & 2 are different versions of the old add-something-here, add-something-there approach; standard colonial elements used arbitrarily, if not randomly.

Cotswold Cottages:

Here's a 3/4 Cape:

Here's a half Cape:

I think we will be leaning toward clapboard (due to budget) or shingles, if we can afford them and they make sense. Sorry if my reference was confusing...I was thinking of just raising up my original Option 3. Is that what you meant was strong enough with adjustments? I think we would be happy to trade the light in the living room for the welcoming porch.

Regarding the 12/12 roof, I think the architect was concerned that we would have too much roof showing from the street, especially since it will just be asphalt shingles, not metal or anything special. This is what the exterior looks like now, and we will not be touching the framing of the garage or breezeway roofs, just new shingles and cutting back the overhang at the side door a bit.

It's a small lot, in a modest but highly sought after neighborhood, and we're just trying to make good decisions that look beautiful but still fit in our budget. Thank you for your help trying to get us to the right design!

This is a truly great thread, with some great ideas being exchanged. I hope the OP can pick up on some of them for a greatly improved design.

I can't imagine how the house could have too much roof in New England. In what part of New England are you located?

I can imagine that a tall roof might be too tall for the original front wall but that would be fixed by putting the rafters on the top of a plate on the second floor subfloor which would increase the wall height about a foot. You should do that whatever else you decide to do. (EDIT: actually the rafters are already on the subfloor but a sill plate should be added - you can't nail to the subfloor))

Ask your architect to add shingles on the roof and walls of the SketchUp model. Why would you only look at a black and white 3D model? It only takes a few seconds and you can try out different siding types.

Here is an original full Cape with a tall roof in East Dennis. These houses needed steep roofs for headroom because they didn't have dormers.

An earlier New England style is called Post Medieval English. It has roofs steeper than 12 in 12. This one is a Colonial Revival version in Newton, MA originally built in the 20's:

I don't know if will help you, kercove, but this is my small 1937 cape in Maine with a 12/12 roof. It has a full dormer on the back that you can see part of. This is an old pic from when I added the garage in 1995. The 3rd window on the far right is my home office which has a shed roof, off the main house.

JDS, we are on coast, north of Boston. I'm assuming you may be close by, given the Newton house? Want to finish my project for me?? ;)

Initially we were trying to work with the existing roof, which is 8/12. When our builder (which has since changed) told me he was taking the roof off anyway, we figured we would increase the pitch. Other than the discussion of "too much roof showing" I'm not sure why the pitch wasn't increased past 9/12. It certainly could be.

At this point, our architect has pretty much completed his part of our deal. Any changes from this point on will be at his hourly rate, so I just want to make sure we know what we are asking for, rather than having him redraw a number of concepts. I will talk with the builder about raising the outer wall one foot. Do you think that will give us adequate space, or should we be looking to do more?

This is obviously a major project, and we want to get it right, but also don't want to blow our budget thinking we can have everything perfect. Does that make sense? We are definitely open to any other thoughts, particularly about how to make the small dormers work with the Option 3/big porch. I don't want them to look like an afterthought.

JDS, this sort of reminds me of the first sketch you posted, with some of the elements flip-flopped. Maybe something like this could work, reversed for my situation though. So the large two story would be on the left, giving that bedroom more headroom, and the two little dormers on the right would function fairly well in the big playroom area. I'm not sure how the side view of the house would look though. Would you raise the wall on the front, but not the back, and keep the shed dormer? My porch would be wider than this to incorporate the entire living room area...how would I align that with the little dormers above?

Siasconset New Summer Residence &Guest House · More Info

Also, I drove by this house recently, and it looks like a roomier version of our current design, if we changed the left dormers. What do you think of this?

However, I'm trying not to change the windows on the first floor (left of the door), so I don't know how to make that work with the windows above.

So many options!

Both houses are nice.

Yes, I'm in Newton. I am always willing to take on work but I'm an old architect and would not make a proposal for services to an owner who had a contact with another architect nor would I suggest you terminate your contract. Such situations can get complicated and designing is complicated enough for me.

Here is a nice Shingle Style house in Newton:

Your unusually severe headroom problem is due to two mistakes that can be easily fixed.

1) For the depth of the house, the main roof rafters are not steep enough to allow adequate headroom at the front bedrooms but fortunately those rafters only occur between and at the sides of the dormers. That's about a dozen rafters that would need to be be raised or made steeper. Ask the builder which solution would be cheaper.

2) The big front "gable" is a low triangle form called a "pediment" and has no side walls like a dormer or cross gable. The slope of the pediment rakes is too low to provide adequate head room. It can be made taller or modified to be a cross gable/dormer with side walls. Raising the main rafters might be enough to fix it too.

To reduce cost and complexity the face of all dormers should rest on the lower wall rather than be set back and rest on the existing floor joists. If no one has checked the size of the existing attic joists, you should do it yourself immediately. It might be necessary to sister all of them.

I doubt a cross section drawing with notes and no engineer's stamp will be adequate for a building permit so additional drawings will probably be necessary anyway, but that will depend on your local building official.

I understand that the architect was following your instructions but IMO you are owed something for the architect's failure to alert you to the unusually low ceilings and window heads.

Send me a message or turn on the message feature in your profile.

Thank you so much, JDS! I sent you a message, and I think turned on my message feature as well.

Here’s a house designed by Ed Hageman long ago. It has raised eaves, usable dormers aligned over the lower walls and understated formality softened by wrap around horizontal siding.

Thank you for posting your floor plan. It's a sweet home. I think with the modifications suggested, it will work very well!