How did the architect draw the elevations?

I would order exactly what your architect specified on your building plans.

You want a bunch of strangers to tell you what to order when we have no idea what you are building?

ditto

New to Houzz, wasn't sure how much info to put in. It is a ranch style house. Mostly 10'ceilings throughout, with exception of Great room, dining room and foyer which are 12'. The problem is that draftsman made a mistake on elevation. Initially we had 6' window with 18" transom above in a 10' ceiling height bedroom and in dining room 6' window with 6" between window and 24" transom window. Now we are told that windows are too tall and want to lower them to 5'4^ and keeping transom above, which I think are kind of small for the ceiling height. Please advice or share ideas. Thank you.

I’m not a pro but u gotta post plans/elevation.

Consider ditching the transom and putting the windows at 8-6" or 9'-0" depending on the furniture and the view outside the windows. 5'-4" is about the height of a 6' person's eyeball. You will hate it!

Folks can better help you if you post sketches with dimensions showing proposed door/window sizes and placement.

We have 10' ceilings on the first floor. 7' exterior doors with 2' transoms above; regular windows/transoms designed to align with those. Except for the kitchen, the windows are ~5' tall putting the sill height at ~27". I think the proportions are good. Because the transoms are so tall the window trim goes to the ceiling and we do not have crown.

Good luck!

I appreciate everyone's comments. Summit Studio Architects mentioned to get rid of the transom windows, but I would like to be able to keep them if possible. Could I maybe change transom instead of 18" make it 12" in the Bedroom and in Dining room change from 24" to 18"? Or will it look disproportionate? Should I sacrifice Tray ceiling in the Dining room and 4 1/4 crown mold in bedroom for the sake of keeping initial measurements of the windows with transom above? Never thought this would be so hard.

Where are you in the process? Has construction started?

Summit Studio Architects, Yes. Foundation walls have been poured. Do you see other concerns based on front elevation?

I wasn't looking for other concerns on the elevation. Since you mention it, my strong preference is to group windows together rather than separate them This looks better on the outside and feels better on the inside.

If you're using vinyl windows you may not be able to mull the transom directly to the picture window. The weight of the upper window is too much for the lower one. If you're using wood windows you can put them together with no gap.

Regarding the tray ceiling, this can be built up into the bottom of the trusses. You could do 10-12 raised area and a small drop down to create a beam effect around the perimeter. The columns and the tray in the dining room go together. If you eliminate one you must get rid of the other.

In any case, your draftsperson's mistake is only on paper so far. I recommend you get him or her to fix it before the carpenters show up even if it causes you to put them off a week or two.

I can't tell enough from the elevations and plans to know what the various ceiling heights are doing to make good recommendations for you.

Just my 2 cents, at first glance your windows appear too big in the front elevation. Removing the transoms on the left and right set of windows would look better proportioned. And possibly reducing the height of the center transoms.

Also, what brand and type windows are you using? Vinyl, fiberglass and or wood all will have diiferent appearances and sightlines at the joinging points, and some of these get quite large.

Windows are vinyl

Are you using Silverline Windows? If so think about the 100 series, they are a definite step above the bottom of the food chain Silverline.

millworkman I hear you :) Unfortunately, trying to stay with in budget. I was initially in shock how low of an allowance we had for windows. I didn't think there would even be windows for $$ allotted. For whatever reason builders on new construction homes 500,000+ are installing these windows. Area where we live 500,000+ by far is not a low end not even mid range home. Just hope installers (our framers) will do a good job. That's half the battle.

One point.....high ceiling with low windows is a big mistake. The top of any window should not be more than 12-18" below the ceiling (obviously, as a very rough rule of thumb). Having more of a gap there will make the ceilings dark and shadowy and you will lose much of the airy and spacious feeling that you were doubtless going for.

qam999 Completely agree with you, that's why we kept the height of windows along with transoms above.

Good that you're pushing the windows high. qam999 is right low windows would leave a dark cave. Keep the transoms as close to the larger windows as you can structurally get away with. Trim them together i.e. don't use small trim and leave a little drywall gap between. This will look better and the painters will appreciate you.

Also eliminate the little bit of brick between the transom and the lower window to make the windows read like a single unit.

VERY IMPORTANT--- get this figured out on paper before the carpenters get started. This is especially critical on a brick house as the coursing of the brick should line up with the window openings. Are you wedded to the stone? The home would be more attractive as all brick in my opinion.

Notice how the brickwork aligns with the windows. Your carpenters won't figure this out for you.

The picture looks nice.

It takes careful planning to make this look right. Someone needs to draw this to figure out where the first course of brick starts and where the window heads will be depending on the size of brick you're using. If that's not done, the masons will have to cut the bricks to fit and it will look cheap and poorly crafted.

This will take time to draw properly. Don't rely on your builder to draw it on a 2x4 in the field.

The plan and the elevation don't seem to match up. It looks like you have pillars and a small porch in the elevation but these don't show up in plan. If you have pillars, they should be substantial enough to look real. I think you need to ditch the white area around the front door to achieve this.

Good drafters should know how to detail brick. There's a lot more to it than just filling in the area with the CAD program. I'm not sure who on your team is capable of figuring this out and getting the windows and brick to align.

It worries me who's keeping track of all these changes. Someone on the team won't get the memo and screw something up.

Summit Studio Architects We will meet with the builder before framing and touch on changes. I have been also keeping him in the loop along the way as well. We spend so much time on floor plan that kind of missed the boat with front elevation. We can only hope now that nothing gets missed. Will be better prepared if we ever decide to build again. I appreciate your advice, feel free to provide additional comments.

The top of any window should not be more than 12-18" below the ceiling (obviously, as a very rough rule of thumb).

That must be a very rough rule. My windows downstairs are 2' lower than my 10' ceiling.

Upstairs my windows end at 6'8" high and my ceilings are 9'.

No one comes into my house and thinks it's dark.

Please get rid of the stone. It does not work with the brick! The stone adds nothing and detracts from the lines of the house.

Adding it is the proverbial lipstick on the pig.

cpartist The picture of the window you saw up above is just the style of brick pattern that I found. I think it will work well around my dining room windows. 3 windows will not be molded together but separated by narrow brick pattern. It is not reflected on the front elevation. We have not picked out the brick or the stone yet. The brick color in the picture is way busy, and I agree with you that color brick would not work with stone. Speaking of brick, we drove around new subdivisions today to get some ideas of brick and stone combination and let me tell you, I am more confused now than when we started :) Building a new house is fun and exciting, but so many decisions to make.....

I really like mixing stone with brick. We did stone on the bottom and stone details over the windows and doors.