Front door faces wrong way AND not centered...on a huge square porch.
6 years ago
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When the garage doesn't face the front
Comments (16)Christie, It has been interesting following this thread as the real layout of your situation only became apparent when you added the additional late fall taken pictures. I think most of us were imagining a situation where the garage was set as an "L" to the rest of the house, rather than your situation. I'd also agree with several others here that pulling the walk away from the house, perhaps as a gentle curve, and adding a pull-out parking bay off the driveway would make the entry more gracious, but can understand that this is more than you want to take on at the moment. I would see no harm in wrapping new plantings to the outside of the existing walk, and maybe even adding a few small accent trees to the outside to make the approach more inviting. I would suggest keeping any new plantings right at the walk/driveway connection low and sweeping to not block sight of the actual entry. I can also see how the Burning bush Euonymus is probably a maintenance chore being squeezed between the house and walk, and should probably be moved to where it can have some room to grow, rather than being hedged. The main floor level set higher than the garage seems perfectly normal from this end of the country, where such a design is the norm, most often seen when houses are split level with another storey above the garage, so I had to stop and look at the photo again to see why this was a quandary for Laag. If I were to guess, I would say that you probably have forced air heating ducts located in this crawl space, connecting to the heater in the garage? In the long view, you might also consider remodeling the house to convert the garage space to more living area, and locating the garage in an orientation that is more pleasing visually. Here in California garages are often converted to living space, and sometimes not even replaced, but instead a carport might be added with a new orientation to the house. A larger porch or reconfigured enty could also be designed in future to make the entry more inviting, but I suppose this wouldn't be as popular in Missouri, as it is in California, where lots are so much smaller, and privacy and usable garden space are limited, making entries a logical place to enclose to create usable and more private garden space for entertaining outdoors. Low fencing to create a semi-private courtyard could be another approach to signal that this is the entry, and also make it more visually interesting....See MoreFeedback re. 2 front doors versus 1 front door
Comments (19)Annie, I know we cannot do that style. But I do love it - love the double doors & curve! They go perfectly with your home! We will consider wood. The house is in Florida, about 5 miles from the ocean. The house faces south, so I am not concerned about the sun beating on the doors. We went to the door lumberyard yesterday, & they seemed to think a wood door would work fine at our location & would not need maintenance too often, as long as it was painted/stained & sealed properly. DH is really struggling with glass & privacy. I don't want a frosted glass & he wants some glass but total privacy. The house will be set pretty far back on the lot, so I am not worried about privacy too much. I am one that could walk naked down the street with no issues, but he wouldn't walk around the house in boxers if there was non-privacy glass in the front. I played in PS again. Any thoughts on any of these door styles? The first one has some curves in the moulding, so that could introduce the cove ceiling element from the foyer. My favorite is #2, but that offers the least amount of privacy for DH. #3 might be a compromise for DH. #4 is too Craftsmen, but that is what he was originally drawn to. I don't think it looks right with our French/English style. This post was edited by wishiwasinoz on Thu, Sep 26, 13 at 5:28...See MoreAdvice regarding face brick on front of new house.
Comments (32)Thanks for all of the comments, minus a few they have been very helpful! No, it is not a custom built home, but they are quite excited, certainly not the end of the world, lol. It is bigger than it looks from the outside and has some nice views from the back and is well located next to schools, a rec center, bike paths and parks. They looked for an existing home in their price range, but they are flying off the market so fast in this area that every house they bid on was gone quickly. This house is on the smaller side in this neighborhood and yes they were not happy with the quality of some of the interior finishing touches offered so will probably be changing them quickly. Happily they sold their first home in one day, received multiple offers and nearly doubled their money. It was a small fixer upper that they rehabbed. The shame of this is that I would guess the model did not look like this and with the options they chose this was how the builder finished it off. I am sure it was in a picture and they missed this detail. Why any professional would think this was acceptable is beyond me. They could easily sell and get their money back and more if it bothers them too much. Housing stock is very limited here. Some of the ideas that have been suggested are not that expensive of a fix if they choose to do them. Thanks again for all of the productive comments. I have been passing them on along with all of the renderings. Special thanks to Pal!!! You have been so helpful, I am sure they will be ecstatic with all of the smart suggestions, many which they can do affordably!...See MoreHelp with Challenging Front Porch/Walk/Entry Design!
Comments (15)Iesp, to truly work out all the issues in front of you .... you must have a base plan. We've been dealing with aspects of the problem not knowing EXACTLY where the parking, driveway and obstructions along the way, are, if any. We don't know the exact elevation difference (to the inch) from the front porch deck to a fixed, relevant point near the parking destination. One could make estimated guesses about what could be done, but they could be wrong because, at this point, the base information is vague. I feel quite certain, though, that the solution to a pleasant walk from the parking area to house is going to involve regrading with some specific goals in mind. Presently, the steps are concentrated at two areas: the porch and at the bank. The steps at the porch seem reasonably acceptable. But the steps at the bank are too many to create a pleasant experience. Ideally, you'd want to have banks of few steps (usually 2-4) separated by runs of a few feet. The runs, instead of being perfectly level, would be "slopes" so that they're also instrumental in lowering the elevation as the walk travels on toward the lower destination. It is the combination of steps and sloped walk that allows one to have the overall best walk experience ... not too far ... not too steep ... no wasted energy. (I put "slopes" in quote marks because they cannot be perceived as slopes. They must be subtle enough that they pose no danger or difficulty. Yet they must be doing some grade change work.) We haven't seen the porch yet. For the sake of argument I'm going to guess there are 4 steps there. At the bank there are six legitimate steps. With a total of ten steps and a total drop of 11' (averaging the estimate) .... it's a hugely unpleasant walk!! I would consider seeing if the parking area can be raised a bit. Every amount that the overall 11' elevation difference can be shrunk helps a lot. It's a lot easier to step on a gas pedal and get the car to do the work, than it is to get out and hoof up a bigger hill. It wouldn't make sense to lower the elevation near the house/porch/steps. But it would make sense to begin reducing it earlier than it presently begins (at the bank). I don't think there is a reason you must keep all of the plateau that the house rests on. If you walked a few feet from the porch and then stepped down 18" and kept repeating this scenario, the overall walk would be much friendlier. You could pull this off with an elevation drop of, for example, 2.5' for 10' or so of run. Since the overall run looks to be easily greater than 40', it should be no problem to get from the porch to the parking in a very pleasant way. BTW, an 8" step riser is HUGE. You'd want it to be more like 6". Bouncing back to a covering-over-the-porch issue, without a MAJOR architectural remodel I don't see a permanent porch roof as a possibility. But it might be possible to have an independent awning, not attached to the roof in any way, that covered the porch as an independent "roof." Two forms I could see exploring are the pyramid and shed roof shape. It would be something one would have custom made by an awning manufacturer. Since they may have already dealt with your exact problem, I would contact a local outfit and inquire if they have solutions already in mind that would work for you. It won't be seen from the back side so the fact that it wouldn't be architecturally kosher from that view wouldn't matter....See MoreRelated Professionals
Fort Lee Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Inwood Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Wheaton Decks, Patios & Outdoor Enclosures · Walker Mill Home Builders · Kearns Home Builders · Rockville Siding & Exteriors · South Glastonbury Siding & Exteriors · Dunkirk General Contractors · Jefferson Valley-Yorktown General Contractors · Newington Home Builders · Plymouth Painters · Culpeper Painters · Clarksville General Contractors · Mililani Town General Contractors · Parsons General Contractors- 6 years ago
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