Oaktown, I now see (for the first time) that your house does have a vocabulary of a shed roof over first floor elements and a gable at each end of the house, containing second floor occupied space. For some reason this wasn't as clear to me on your first illustration. The effect on the garage, however, seems to be too small and "toy-like" to my eye, based on what I can see in the last illustration. Just my take on the last illustration. What do you think, based on all three illustrated alternatives for the garage? I do like Ramsey's work and her garage, on your link above, may work fine to resolve all of the design issues as best as possible. I understand your concern for the connecting breezeway. Could you rotate your illustration and show us a view of it, as it connects house and garage. It would help to actually see it, rather than trying to visualize it. Your design is progressing nicely and you will soon have a wonderful plan to build--congratulations!

Well...as the discussion thread on snout garages revealed, some people don't give a fig what the front of their house looks like. Hard to believe, but it's their own words. So...the first response to "Garage door design, help!" by the OP has to be...do you care what the front of your house looks like? If not, do whatever you want...you don't need advice here. On the other hand, if you do care what the front of your house looks like, then the proper place to begin is to understand that garage doors are always the single largest architectural element on the facade of a house. Thus, creative design approaches are needed to reduce the visual bulk and contrast of the garage door(s), and to integrate the door(s) into the architecture, rather than have the door(s) stand out in stark visual contrast with the rest of the house. This is stark visual contrast, which pulls the eye to the garage doors, over anything else in the rest of the house: And overly designed, "cute" doors have the same effect--so much texture and detail, that the eye goes directly to the doors and remains there: The irony of both of the photos above is that in each case the owner spent a great deal of money to make large overhead operating doors look as if they are two smaller hiinged "carriage" doors. The unfortunate result, however, is that the doors are so "busy" and overly detailed that they achieve the opposite of the desired result: they attract and hold one's visual attention. Here's a very simple, freestanding garage in which the doors almost disappear and the visual result is a focus on the overall architectural shape, and not on the doors. This is achieved by having doors, trim and siding all very similar in hue and value. And the arbor becomes a wonderful added architectural feature, adding depth and interest to the facade of the building. This is a good demonstration of the importance of the architecture of the simple building...not the doors! If one cares about the architectural appearance of their house, when it comes to the garage and garage doors, less is clearly more. This mid-century modern Eichler home demonstrates the value of integration of the garage, not the contrast of the garage, into the overall architecture of the house: The concept of integrating the garage into the architecture of the house, rather than contrasting with the house, holds true for any and all architectural styles: But...the first and most important step in taming garages is that one has to really care and value the exterior appearance of one's house. If not, this will be all that's needed: Expensive doors which act as eye magnets. Do you care about the exterior appearance of your house? If so...less is more!

I like the stone removed....less is more. I'm not sure I like the white railings; if you go with black windows, I would do the railings the same color like the first picture you posted. But I'd also rethink the black windows. I know they are trendy right now, but I have heard of people regretting the choice. At the very least, I would consider having the windows white on the inside.

So u have a tandem... too... mine is 14 ft wide,entire length with my addition is 34 ft, my garage door is standard 9 ft wide by 7 ft high,your door seems wider which is why i thought you had a double car side by side.Gutter question is my shed front porch lines up with gable roof,so both gutters are interlocked or even with each other. You have a staircase which i dont. I want to ask u how your gutters work with flat roof,if i consider s flat roof,Im hopingjust gable comes off& ceiling inside can stay intact along with gutters, soffett vents, as they are. A deck is a fine idea! Im gettibg a sketch done for flat roof, but 1st im just going to paint door blue & maybe the trim, tan or leave it white. Let me know how your gutters work, thanks again..