What about doing a simple white wainscotting just below the window. Then do the 9" siding instead of the vertical. Bigger than the picture below but gives idea of what was thinking. Plus think it would look better actually rounded vs how they have it.

You have a lot of materials, textures and colors at present giving the front of the house a rather busy and cluttered appearance.

My suggestion would be to unify and harmonize the house and the stone masonry by replacing all of the various wood siding materials with cement plaster which could be integrally colored, painted or both.

Less is truly more.

If willing to redo all the wood Virgil idea would look nice. Here is a mock up of what I was talking about if looking for a smaller project. If you kept the colors similar to the siding it would be more subtle. If done in same white window trim with only a few squares would look nice too. I think pvc trim does not rot and will bend. (a pro may disagree. Am just a person who likes houses) :)

gpeach1 - thanks - not sure I can afford to remove all the wood. I am doing extensive renovations inside so was trying to keep the exterior costs down. I like the clapboard.

Original architect had drawn something similar

I should have mentioned that the siding has lead paint so the cost of removing it is extremely high.

Define "extremely high".

Mark Bischak, Architect - the lowest price was 16K because of the lead regulations. Then I would need to buy something to replace it. That's cedar clapboard with a 10 inch reveal and it's not cheap. So removing the clapboard is not happening - I have way too many other things I want to do with the house and I like the clapboard. I don't like the vertical so I would be willing to remove/replace that at least under the bow.

Tapered clapboard cannot be bent around curves because the ends will slope down; the boards would need to be custom milled to a smiley shape. Shiplap or dutch/novelty siding could theoretically wrap a curve, but steam bending would be necessary for this sharp radius.

Shingles? Give them any thought?They are ideally suited to this.

Casey

Sombreuil - Shingles are the winner but I can't remove all the clapboard though because of the lead and the cost so I think we are just replacing the vertical siding on the section under the gable (left and right of the bow) and shingles underneath

Is it possible to shingle over the existing clapboard siding?

Virgil Carter Fine Art - the clapboard is really thick so by the time we add the backer (not sure what it's called) and then shingle, the windows will be really receded. Plus I like the clapboard - I prefer it to shingles at least if it is going to be painted or stained. I don't know about the upkeep of unpainted or stained shingles but I don't want to end up with a dark streaky mess like my neighbor. Before you ask, NO vinyl.

I asked my builder and we can shingle over the vertical siding under the bow.

"...I need some advice..."

Gotcha. Advice given.

Good luck!

Virgil Carter Fine Art- your advice was good but I have a budget and lots of things I need to do at the house. I asked for suggestions for the radius wall because we already priced several options for changing all of the siding on the front and explored siding over the existing siding.

I do appreciate that people offered suggestions that were beyond what I can afford now but I could revisit once we finish the interior renovations.

Here’s the house with the siding removed. I like the color of the paper underneath much better than the old siding.

I neglected to mention that we took down a big wall of the stone on the back of the house so that could be used.

I found a cheaper contractor to remove the existing siding from the front. I'm glad I did it because I was leaning towards a cool color like grey but prefer the color of the paper that was underneath the siding.

Do any of you have any experience with western red cedar shingle panels?

Architectrunnerguy

Virgil Carter Fine Art

I bit the bullet and removed the siding in the front and will shingle the front.

This is the house with the siding removed. I love this color with the stone but am having a hard time finding a stain that matches because I wanted to buy the shingles pre-stained. Here are the stain choices so far - what do you think?

This is the first color next to the paper that was on the front. It looks pretty close to me.

Here are the color choices next to a few different sections of stone. Which one do you like best? And what size shingle do you think would work best?

Colors 1 to 5 from left to right

Colors 1 to 5 from left to right

Colors 1 to 5 from left to right

Prestained generally still needs to be top coated in the field.

I like 1 or 2.

Can you fix the gable like architectrunnerguy suggested? Also the column by the front door?

The bow window extends more than 2 feet so what he suggested is more than I can afford and I don’t know if he could tell how far it extended when he drew that. Another architect suggested that and then asked how far it extended and changed his mind. Regardless of whether architectrunnerguy could tell the projection of the bow, I just don’t have the budget for that metal roof now as the exterior work is just a small part of the overall project.

I am doing the column - it will be stone on the bottom like this. And we are moving the window in the gable up so it’s not a bullseye in the middle of the gable.

I think I'd prefer the column without the stone.

Also I was asking about extending the Gable, not the roof over the bow window.

cpartist - He had suggested to extend the gable out 4 to 6 inches BEYOND the bow but that would be an extension of almost 3 feet and that isn't happening. If we extend it at all, then we have to redo the entire front roof. So I am not sure yet - will depend on budget.

We took down a wall of stone in the back of the house that matches the stone in the front so I'm going to use stone under the bow like this and we have enough to do the column.

Are you extending the stone past the bow to the walls too or just the bow? If just the bow it's going to look pasted on. If you look at your inspiration pic it extends to the porch and to the doorway on the right so it's a continuous flow.

cpartist - it's going all the way across on the section that has the bow like the inspiration photo. It will be the height of the bottom of the bow.

Shingle color 1 or 2.

Do you have wood floors inside, just thinking you might be able to tie the shingle color into any wood you have inside the home so that you get a good cohesive design outside to inside.

Summye I do have wood floors inside but they aren't visible from the exterior. They were stained by the previous owner and I hate the color so they will be refinished when the remodeling is done.

Your stone is much prettier in the last few pictures up close than in the first pics you posted. I like the 2nd stain on the last picture of the cedar siding. Is that a semi transparent stain?

it may be a budget remodel but it looks like your house has good bones. What are you doing to the inside?

ILoveRed - The stone is a grey granite and it is pretty but I never thought it was with the old paint color so that may be the issue you are having with the first pictures. When I saw the house with the paper that was underneath I finally saw how pretty it could be.

The shingles are all semi transparent stained red cedar because I liked the variations in tone that I had with the paper.

It's not a budget remodel - I am doing quite a bit inside and just didn't factor in making major changes to the exterior. However the back roof was leaking and the shingles were in bad shape, the lead paint on the cedar siding is peeling, and we are changing all of the non-original windows so there is already quite a bit of exterior work.

As for the interior, I'm going from a 2 bedroom 1,5 bath house with a tiny kitchen in the front of the house to a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a good size kitchen in the back.

This was the floor plan before

And this is the new floor plan at the time we started to work.

This was the back of the house before. You can sort of see the algae covered roof and the jalousie windows under the arches.

This is the back now. The higher door goes to the new kitchen. The lower door to the sunroom.

Overall I think it looks like a good change. Three things bother me.

1. I think the new dining room is far from the kitchen.

2. If you don't take baths frequently, I'd ditch the bath in the master for a larger vanity. Storage and double sinks in a master tend to be more important than having a tub and a shower. Instead put a shower/tub combo in the guest bathroom

3. I would make the hallway to the master narrower so the master closet could be longer.

cpartist

Thanks for your input. Everything is already framed and I like the layout. I bought this house knowing I would renovate and had several goals - all met with this design.

1. I saw at least 50 plans drawn with the kitchen in different locations including suggested by architects and designers on here. (not exaggerating about the number of plans - there were 3 different architects at different points and you can see all the suggestions offered on Houzz). The current location is the best compromise of location and cost without extending the house. It's 7 feet to the DR from the kitchen - I can live with that.

2. I am a bather so I want a tub in the master. There will be a linen closet in the master as well as several recessed cabinets not shown on the plan. I prefer pedestal sink to vanities as I don't like the sprawl of stuff on top of the vanity.

There is not enough room in the guest bath for a bathtub - it can only be 5 feet deep without affecting the entrance to the DR. We can't change the location of the guest bath either as all the windows are already here. It could have been a little bigger if I was willing to put the laundry inside of it but I didn't want to do that. I went around and around on the guest bath with tub. In the end I decided against it for several reasons - 1. Many of my frequent guests have mobility issues that make climbing over a tub to take a shower difficult. 2. I don't have any guests who would take a bath when visiting so it seemed like another compromise I would pay for to make future buyers happy. I have a second home with a bathtub/shower combo and nobody has ever used the tub.

Who knows what future buyers will want when I go to sell - if I were looking again, I would want a tub in master not guest. Maybe a family would want something different. Conventional wisdom would say people want at least 2 baths; however, I live in a city neighborhood with all old homes and most of the homes in my neighborhood, including the 4+ bedrooms, have 1.5 baths and they sell quickly. My master bath was and is on the larger side for the neighborhood. My house now has 2 baths on the main floor plus a 3/4 bath in the basement that we updated to use during the renovation. My house also has a full height second floor walk up attic so there is room to grow without adding on. I didn't expand up as I didn't want a two story home.

3. One of the goals of the project was to eliminate the narrow hall that couldn't accommodate moving furniture, a person with a walker, and the outswing doors to the basement and attic. I don't think the hallway can be narrower without looking weird or blocking doors. The new closet in the master is the second master closet - the other one is large.

This is looking at the master from the new guest bath - if we were to extend the wall with the closet, I think it would crowd the bedroom doors.

I'm sure your house will be perfect for you

How exciting. I like a lot of the changes that you are making including the vestibule into the bedrooms and "fixing" the stairway. I think it's cool that you are trying to keep the old house feel in your remodel. I love semi-transparent stain but I went with solid stain for my cedar siding because we are hoping it will reduce maintenance issues. And our Cedar Valley siding warranty was better with solid stain. Not that warranties are ever really worthwhile.

I am also a little concerned about the dining room seating being away from ythe kitchen but if you incorporate some island seating in your new kitchen, this would cover it I think. Post on the kitchen forum when the time comes.

this looks like an exciting job. Hope you will keep sharing and be open minded with all of the expert advice you get here. It has been so helpful to me in our build.

good luck!

ILoveRed - I also wanted solid stain because of the maintenance and may still do it. My neighbor put her solid stain cedar shingles on 6 years ago and it looks brand new.

The new kitchen has a large island with seating and the 3 season room off the kitchen will have seating as well. I don't use my dining room much and it really doesn't seem far when you are in the house.

I love old houses and am trying to keep as much of the charm as possible. For example wherever we are expanding a doorway, we are doing it with a cased archway like the rest of the house. We saved all of the molding to do that but we don't have enough for all the arches so I have to have it custom made or change all the trim as it isn't sold anymore.

I wasn't posting on this forum for interior help. I simply posted the plan because of your question about what we were doing inside. I took a ton of advice from people on Houzz but it's a bit late now to make changes to the interior when we have already completed framing. Any changes would mean additional costs and time so unless the person who points out an issue could also point out a workable solution that would not kill my already over budget project, I have to go with the plan as is.

ILoveRed The kitchen design is on this thread (https://www.houzz.com/discussions/help-with-floor-plan-dsvw-vd~4387103 towards the bottom.) This thread also has many of the designs that I considered, along with before and after shots

Crown Point delivers the cabinets the week of the 22nd but we had a major setback with the reclaimed flooring I purchased and now we have to find new flooring so I am not sure when the cabinets will be installed.

Here's a progress shot of the stone we saved from the back being added to the section under the bow and one of the new windows in front.

Here's what I did for the bow

Very nice!

Still working on this but here's the progress to date

Before

before

now