Google "eyebrow pergola" for a bazillion listings of sources...

The challenge with this sort of design and your house, is that the cantilever will cover most of the pergola. You'll be much better off with a freestanding, ground mounted pergola!

I like Virgil's idea of a freestanding, ground-mounted pergola. And spring for something like cedar, which will last through weather and more than a few seasons.

Why not a porch and roof?

Does your mockup show you digging out the basement? So the eyelash pergola would be 2 stories up? That's a no go for me.

I'd be more inclined to add a full pergola and patio outside the sliders (but not in front of the kitchen), and add another window in the stairs mudroom. And I'd throw all that out the window if you're going to dig down and expose the basement.

The mockup is someone else's house, just as an example. So no digging out a basement. I see what you mean, Kaye, and I think it's that the pergola would look like it's incorporated into the overhang, right? The brackets would be under the overhang and then extend under a bit of the pergola. I don't see why it wouldn't work, and look nice. But sorry, it don't know where to find them in a lightweight material, only in wood. And I'm not sure how you'd attach the wood to your house.

Can we start a Go Fund Me and buy some more windows for that first house/photo? That is just sad.

It's a Dark House...designed to be dark on the inside. Very rare!

Yikes some of you. No idea what the future plans around OPs house are but in some places there are restrictions on how much side of house can be “open” (windows and doors) due to how close you may be to neighbours etc.

OP...landscaping would go a long way here. I think you can easily do an pergola under the cantilever coming off the back sliding doors. I would look at talking with a landscape designer in your area, I know here you can pay one to come up with a design and plan for you, but then you can go DIY if there are budget concerns or just cautiousness.

I was confused by the mockup too, as it shows a walkout basement (I think) and different windows than the first photo. And the first two photos aren't the same house (look at the brick at foundation and the bumpout on the side vs the door.) Kaye - which is your house? Are you waiting to build and the first two are examples of similar homes?

Agree with Rai that landscaping will help tremendously. I'd also want more windows.

The cantilever looks fine to me. Spend on landscaping.

- "Yikes some of you."

Thank you, Rai Kai.

:(

I'm new to Houzz, this is my 3rd post, but I have got to say so far I've had a somewhat crummy experience with people being... critical and snobby. So I'm just going to get this off my chest.

I'm sorry my little house disappoints those of you who are 'PRO' architects on here. I have other pursuits in my life (like the land we just purchased in the equestrian community we picked, and building our horse related amenities) than utilizing our entire budget into an custom designed home with fabulously 'correct' architectural features. Please, refrain from posting on this thread if you're a professional that wants to just dis on the little house I'm
excited to be building in the fabulous neighborhood we found. (Some who have have replied here have also commented, and started heated debates with other users, on my other threads, and it just isn't necessary.)

Anyhow... back to my dilemma with the cantilever on the back of the house. :)

I don't want a FULL PERGOLA for a ground level patio. The point of the eyelash pergola was to pretty up the cantilever. My issue is the cantilever.

The 3 photos in the opening post are indeed of the actual model / layout in some subdivision but not OUR ACTUAL house (which is not built yet).

The 'shopped mock up (2nd photo in the opening post of the back of the house with the photoshopped basement and window) is the same house model, different build / subdivision. We used that image because it was the back of the house so we could photoshop it. But they are both the same model / floor plan house, photos I got off the builders website.

OUR house will be on a horse farm with 10 acres, and the back of the house is where the riding arena and spectacular view is. And yes,bpathome, there will be a walk-out basement in OUR home (which is not built yet). The land drops off significantly.

We are adding more windows to the back than the stock model (the first image) comes with. You can see them the 'shopped image.

We will not be adding windows to the west or the east sides (the sides) of the house for a few reasons:

1. The house is facing north and don't want full west sun in the summer only to have blinds pulled in those rooms.
2. No room in the 2nd story for full size windows on the side of the house.
3. The garage will be on the west side anyhow.
4. I don't care about the side of the house as I won't be outside looking at the side of my house (?!) and neither will anyone else. So why spend money where I don't particularly care?

The house is fairly small, 30' X 28'. As it is we are already adding a window, on the back of the house, in the master closet in the name of improving outside ascetics. We are also going to have wider trim on the windows and possibly shutters.

The space where there are no windows (in the photoshopped image) on the BACK of the house...

• on the main floor is where the mudroom is and has full ceiling to floor cubbies / lockers ( no wall space for a window) and...
• the upstairs is a bathroom and the tub/shower combo on the back wall so there is no wall space to put a window there either.

Back to the cantilever.

palimpsest - Here is how we 'shopped it with a roof where the cantilever is... however we are on a pretty tight budget as we have other things were doing (horse barn, riding arenas, etc), and we are empty-nesters (no kids, no large family) and we don't do a lot of entertaining, so the cost of a large deck would really yield no return for us, honestly. Which is why we are doing just enough of a deck to give the basement door some weather coverage (not shown in this image, but the ones in the original post). Meh. I just didn't like it. :)

These are two images I found when I was trying to figure out what the cantilever that high up over a basement would look like with a deck (these are NOT the house model we are building, just random images):

I also don't want a busy desk to look like scaffolding - our riding arena will be behind the house so we will be spending a lot of time looking at the back of the house doing the thing we love most, enjoying our horses, our farm and riding. ;-)

This photo was the inspiration for having a minimal deck off our dining sliding glass door.

Ideas for the cantilever:

I got the idea for the eyelash pergola under the cantilever from this... I believe I found this on a 'makeover' post for the overhang on a garrison colonial.

I also wondered if the little 'squares' that are under overhangs, which I have NO idea what they are called, would pretty up the underside of the cantilever.
Faux rafters? I don't know.

Were doing OUR house in a light grey color scheme like this so we were also considering, and probably the easiest solution, a thick white border on the cantilever. Our cantilever is only on the back of the house. The front of our house also is NOT going to have the full/fully roofed porch like the photo in my opening post, but the little gable portico, very similar to the first image below.

Does that ^^^ have the little 'faux rafter' squares under the cantilever???

Actually, the more I look at these the more I think the white border is what would be best. :)

More information is always more helpful for understanding and responses than less information.

The last two photos, posted above, are certainly one attractive way to handle the cantilever at the rear of your house.

The pergola in the third photo above is not an "eyebrow" pergola as you initially posted and led folks to believe was your interest. This is a "normal" ground mounted pergola, supported by the columns (on the ground). This would be an attractive addition to your home, but only over the exposed basement wall. It would have no connection with the cantilever.

A deck at the second level, over your basement entry will not provide rain protection, unless the deck is finished with a solid and continuous decking material such as Dex-o-tex. A spaced wood deck material, which is the more common approach, will allow rain to penetrate the spaces between individual decking planks and saturate the area below.

You seem unaware or unconcerned with how you will spend your time inside your house, and the nature of the interiors of your house, with few views to what you describe in wonderful terms as your exterior grounds. If it was my house, I would want to spend outdoor time on a porch, deck or patio enjoying the early morning and/or late afternoon views of my wonderful and enjoyable property.

When inside, I'd want to see and enjoy these same views.

It's also the case that living in dark spaces can actually be physically and emotionally dehabilitating.

Finally, can you see the differences in attractiveness in the two photos above, with regularly spaced windows, and your photos at the top of this thread?

Good luck on your project!

I can see were I would add 8 more windows to your house plan. Those are the things that take a house from basic to wow.

chispa - 8 more windows... in the back of the house? Because this thread is about the back of the house, the cantilever specifically. ;-) I would love to hear how/where.

The mudroom is going to have floor to ceiling lockers / cubbies on the back-of-the-house wall. Can't put a window where the tub/shower combo is in the bathroom. We've already got a sliding glass door on the main floor in the dining room.

I think using the pergola two floors up will make things look a little nonsensical. The white band photo you've found seems to be a good, and inexpensive, solution.

You mention great views out the back. I'd encourage you to consider widening that deck to allow for an eating and/or lounging space so you can really enjoy those views. Your inspiration deck looks really nice and far better than the scaffolding decks (funny and accurate description), but I think it could be widened without losing it's charm. Good luck on your build!

Since the house isn’t built yet and you really dislikethe cantilever..... is there some reason not to just eliminate the ‘feature’.

I’m not trying to belittle anyone. Just curious if we couldn’t make it nicer by eliminating it. You’re dining room would get a little more breathing room.

Good suggestion doc. More breathing room in the dining space and more kitchen cabinets. That's never a bad thing!

It's your right to build any house you want and like, but when you post it on GW, it needs to be assumed that it will be critiqued. There are many pros on GW and a pro has years of experience that allow him to see that what someone thinks will give him the desired effect, may well not do so at all. We share this information in order to help those with less experience not end up disappointed. I'm an interior designer, but I'm not at Kitchen Designer, and I learned a lot of very valuable information on GW before I re-did my kitchen.

One can learn from constructive criticism and that is what is usually given here.

Building a house that is small does not negate a need for good design.

Hopefully everyone understands it is not the cantilever that is distracting in the looks of this house, it is the lack of fenestration and large expanses of vinyl sided wall.

I would consider finding out how much it would be to extend the foundation out and not have the cantilever. There would be several benefits to that besides removing a feature you don't find pleasing to the eye. I have lived in a house that had the cantilever part and the floor was always cooler on the edges as it is harder to insulate vs getting the heat from below. The foundation cost might still be more, but there is an extra cost for the cantilever still so straightening out the foundation would remove the full cost at least as your framing and any supports will be different.

If the above is beyond your budget still I'd go with the "exposed rafter" or the corbel look under there. With the basement below the arbor will look odd I think.

As for windows I also see lots of places to add windows. If at all possible I would switch the master closet and master bath locations and you won't loose much space in the closet anyways since most of it is currently just floor space that is unusable for storage. Then have closets flanking a hallway that leads to the master bath. This way you could have a window in the bath and some noise separation to the master.

I know you mentioned lockers on the back wall in the utility room, but I think you might want to draw that out and see how much space and storage you'd really get due to the width and corners and I assume you need washer/dryer in there too. I think having a window in the middle of the back wall and on one side add lockers and the other side the washer/dryer would give you more storage overall. Remove the side window and use the back window which will help the unbalanced facade on the rear a lot too.

I have some other suggestions that could help you too for a more efficient use that would not change the floor plan or add much cost as well as help with more windows. Let me know if you're open to those suggestions. One relates to the closet in bedroom 1. I used to have one with that arrangement in my current house and those wings on the ends were unusable except while my kid was little she could still get in there, but around 6 or 7 that changed. I never could get in there. Just adding another set of doors could alleviate that and it is an easy and fairly inexpensive item.

Remember some peoples delivery isn't the best, but at least consider what is said and investigate it and if you then feel at peace with your decision after that then you at least have made one that is best for you. Don't take your immediate reaction due to the delivery and throw it away as it may end up making things better in the end if you think it through or it may not because it will not work well for you after you work through it or it will be too costly even though it might work better. Everyone has to do trade offs, but it is really good to think through everything as it will be more costly to change anything after it is built and you realize something isn't working well.

You can do [Something Like This[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/custom-designs-and-model-renderings-new-york-phvw-vp~28679134) with a circular or a straight staircase. Keep in mind, you cannot attach a deck to a cantilever, so you will need extra supports or some sort of structural modification.

Good luck

I think if the action is out side the back of your house I would want more views from inside the house out that way. ?

"OUR house will be on a horse farm with 10 acres, and the back of the house is where the riding arena and spectacular view is." It sounds like a wonderful location!

I am wondering if you could flip the master to the back to take advantage of the views

• lyfia
  "Remember some peoples delivery isn't the best..."

Nope...

• Virgil Carter Fine Art
  You seem unaware or unconcerned with how you will spend your time inside your house, and the nature of the interiors of your house,
  
  (ouch)

It's also the case that living in dark spaces can actually be physically and emotionally dehabilitating.

Maybe that is what is wrong with me, living in a double wide mobile home for the past 18 years. LOL :-D

ANYHOW... back to the cantilever and the look of the back of the house.

We are completely fine with the interior floor plan layout. The sliding glass door in the dining with a deck should be enough for us to enjoy the view without having to move to a different floor plan / house. I'm sitting at my kitchen bar looking out my only, single, dining room window out to my barnyard and riding arena and I can see it all fine.

• palimpsest
  
  "I am wondering if you could flip the master to the back to take advantage of the views"

I don't usually bother to open the window blinds in my bedrooms (we are in NC and it gets hot as hell from May - September) - and I have a lovely horse pastures to the front and back of my house now. I also don't hang out in my bedroom (?). But I don't think flipping the master would be easy in this floor plan.

• lyfia
  
  "As for windows I also see lots of places to add windows. If at all possible I would switch the master closet and master bath locations and you won't loose much space in the closet anyways since most of it is currently just floor space that is unusable for storage. Then have closets flanking a hallway that leads to the master bath. This way you could have a window in the bath and some noise separation to the master."

We actually worked this up with the builder! :-) Husband and I actually do NOT like the idea of going through the bathroom to get to the closet so we asked for that change. They put in a tiny window. A tiny window that didn't match the window in bedroom 2. I asked for the same window size used in the bedroom

I posted it online and someone (a PRO?) said "You want a full length window right there with your toilet and shower for everyone to see?". :-\ I thought that is what frosted glass and/or blinds were for. *shrugs*

Back to the exterior back of the house / cantilever.

• lyfia
  "I know you mentioned lockers on the back wall in the utility room, but I think you might want to draw that out and see how much space and storage you'd really get due to the width and corners and I assume you need washer/dryer in there too. I think having a window in the middle of the back wall and on one side add lockers and the other side the washer/dryer would give you more storage overall. Remove the side window and use the back window which will help the unbalanced facade on the rear a lot too."

We're you thinking a large window to match those upstairs or a small window like the kitchen window?

I've left the shutters on the windows because I flattened the layers in photoshop.

I can move the lockers, the washer and dryer (with hotwater heater), per our choice due to our lifestyle, will be in the garage.

• doc5md

"Since the house isn’t built yet and you really dislike the cantilever..... is there some reason not to just eliminate the ‘feature’."

We had asked the builder, because they don't exactly like the cantilever either. Adding the sq ft was going to add about another about $10K+ (I can't remember price-per-sq-ft, but I think it was $90 X 2ft for cantilever X 30 ft length of house X 2 stories = $10,800).

And like I said above, we also have an entire horse facility to build (riding arena w/footing, barn, pasture fencing, etc).

We're empty-nesters. Kids grown and gone. We don't do a lot of entertaining. We're on a tight budget (again we need to get the horse amenities done). At some point you keep adding (husband wants the gas fireplace) and adding (we need a horseshoe shaped drive way for horse trailers to get in and out, and a carport for the horse trailer next to the garage) and before you know it you're $30K out of your budget and eating into other projects that need to be done.

The beautiful creek on the property also needs to be cleared out of some neglected debris build up. So that's something else the budget has to contend with. But so it is. :)

• Kathryn P
  "I think using the pergola two floors up will make things look a little nonsensical. The white band photo you've found seems to be a good, and inexpensive, solution.
  
  You mention great views out the back. I'd encourage you to consider widening that deck to allow for an eating and/or lounging space so you can really enjoy those views."

It all gets down to money.

Long sorted story, which there is another thread about that I abandoned so don't comment/reply about it but, the covenants require 2200 sq ft heated/finished. We are currently living in 1720 that we did a MIL in after the kids moved out which enabled us to have a tenant / roommate / farmsitter. So for the last 4 years we've been living in 2 bed 1 bath, about 1100 sq ft. We have minimal stuff and prefer to spend our time (and money) outside doing things vs having a large house to fill with stuff (and clean). Anyhow, the 2200 sq ft was a requirement, we have a tenant / farmsitter that is willing to move with us, so we converted space to a MIL. But because the land is significantly sloped by the time they added more courses for the footers on a 2200 sq ft it was close to doing this floor plan with a basement and having aprox 2,460 sq ft. So we did this, and now I can have my farm office in the basement and I am relieved of the expense of building an HVAC'd office with bathroom (septic etc) in my detached barn/stable (like I have now).

Since a tenant will be occupying some of the space in the basement we budgeted some money for sound-buffering between the main floor and the basement ceiling. PLEASE DO NOT comment about that, I already have a thread on that that a few of the PROs here had turned into a huge pissing contest among themselves. ;-)

I also know that when we move from our current farm to the new place I will lose all my clients (I teach riding and do horse boarding). So I will be somewhat underemployed and we don't want to tap into our emergency funding esp since we may have to carry two mortgages until our current place sells.

We're committed to this floor plan. We are lower-middle class (husband is career military, woot woot) so we are committed to our little floor plan / this house.

As it stands right now we feel like we'll put the deck on hold after my husband's next deployment, and just have them put what needs to be done on the back of the house (ledger board?) for the future deck and put a 'Juliet' rail on the sliding glass door. My best friend does construction and she advised against starting with a tiny deck with the thought of adding on to it. She said it hardly ever works out to wait and do the bigger deck when we have the funds.

SOOO, if anyone wants to talk about spending more money I'll gladly take PayPal, checks or money wires. hehehe ;-)

Good luck

Honestly if you are on a tight budget, I wouldn't fixate on the garrison overhang on the back of the house. It is what it is, I wouldn't spend money trying to cover it up or make it look like something else. How much time are you going to spend looking at it?

palimpsest - I'll be out in the back (in the riding arena or pastures) probably 2 - 4 hours daily, so I'll be seeing the back of the house quite a bit. I teach riding so I'll be working back there.

I met with the builder and we discussed some cosmetic solutions that won't be expensive. We're going to do the white border like garrison colonials can have and then we're going to think about a few corbels / brackets under the cantilever. I like the first one below.

Or just the white boarder on and below the overhang, and I actually like this too.

I am no pro, just an interested observer. On the corbel/bracket issue, I think your first sample looks like a molehill trying to hold up a mountain. Too insubstantial, in other words. I like your last sample. Plain, discreet, and probably budget-friendly. JMHO.

Bri Bosh, I never said anything about lack of windows (??). I wanted to dress up the cantilever.

Oh, you spend a lot of time responding to other people's posts to. What do you do for a living? I'd love to see your house. :)

Bri Bosh - go ahead and tell me where on the back of the house you'd add the additional windows, without changing the floor plan that is. :)

Google "eyebrow pergola" for a bazillion listings of sources...

I don't think this suits the style of the house; however, this does seem to be something that you could add later, especially since you say you're on such a tight budget. I say go ahead and build what you've planned, and then make a decision about this detail later after you've lived with the house a while.

I don't care about the side of the house as I won't be outside looking at the side of my house (?!) and neither will anyone else. So why spend money where I don't particularly care?

The point of windows on the side isn't just for exterior looks ... it's about bringing in more natural light to the house. When a room has windows on two sides, the quality of the light is much, much better ... it makes the whole room much, much nicer. Given that you don't have privacy concerns, it just makes sense to put windows on the side walls.

Hi Kaye, I'm a fellow equestrian. I get it! The life dream come true. I am very excited for you. I like this simple design for your cantilever.

Since I'm not seeing any very close neighbors, it appears you may well have a large enough lot to make your basic home a great one for indoor/outdoor living -- budget and building/zoning codes permitting.

Admitting a personal preference for porches, I suggest you consider adding an "L" shaped porch with a concrete floor (with a hip corner shed roof) that wraps around the right corner and is in front of the right half of the back of your home and the back half of the side of your house.

The kind of posts you choose to use for a porch can help define the style of your home the way you want it to look.

http://yellowmediainc.info/house-plans-with-gazebo-porch/house-plans-with-gazebo-porch-exterior-modern-wrap-around-porch-house-floor-plans-from-wrap-around-porch-house-plans-for/

For the left side of the back of your home, use the suggestion from the pic of shwshw to "finish" the overhang.

Something you might consider is creating a "gazebo" corner for your porch -- a wider square or octogen part of the porch on the corner.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354517801889199374/

Nice windows, Bri.

Bri Bosh - the need to be rude is a response to your rudeness... not just to me but from how I've seen you reply to others on their threads.

1. I was NEVER, in this thread EVER, talking about the sides of this house. EVER. Why you marked windows on the side is beyond me. Why we are even talking about this is beyond me. But since you brought up the side of the house (totally off topic), one side is facing the summer sun (we have had heat indexes over 100 for the past few days with no end in sight, and that is typical for our summers), and the other side has a garage where you put the window on the bottom floor. So a window in the garage? Clever you.
   
   2. The living room is going to have a full built in across the only full wall it has, the side walls. And personally I don't like a lot of light in the room I watch TV in. That is my personal preference.

3. You're going to expand the window over the kitchen sink... and... I'll lose cabinet space? You saw the size of the kitchen, right? LOL

4. And you should have commented on the OTHER THREAD because we are not doing any kind of pergola at all. This post was from back in MAY.

Stop with the windows already. Move on. This post is OLD.

HKO HKO - this is my... 3rd or 4th post on this website. I didn't realize this website was manned by 'retired professionals donating their time to help the poor surfs building in the lower class sectors'.

I had no idea the same 5 'retired' architects and designers would reply multiple times with insults about features of a house I'm building that I never asked advice for to begin with. I do NOT share their obsession with windows. I politely stated that on their first round of comments.

And hey, I get it. I get on forums to help in my profession (web development). I certainly don't get on there offering to help someone get a script running and then totally rip apart the look of their website. Kind of goes back to "if you don't have anything nice to say...", eh?

This post, for example, was about fishing for options for the cantilever. Not being a builder and trying to Google it is what did lead me to the term "EYEBROW PERGOLA" when really what I was reaching for was corbels or brackets/braces. What would have been nice was "Hey, did you consider dentil blocks if you want something to look at in that area?" When I met with one of the guys from the builder he sympathetically offered that and pointed out examples.

Wonder why I'm a bit, ungrateful? I had one of the 'helpful retired professionals' here tell me because my husband and I both WANTED our laundry in the garage that "Any new house that has the laundry in a garage, is a poorly designed house. It’s not responding to what you need. " (Thanks, Sophie Wheeler for knowing what my husband and I need, without even meeting with us! You Rock!)

I never asked about the bloody windows. And this post was back in May. Move on.

This is exhausting!! The OP is going to do what she wants regardless........

This thread is old??? Wait till it gets resurrected every year for the next 15 years.

I know this is an old thread, but did anyone mention if you can hang an "eyebrow pergola" or arbor or whatever it is called on a cantilevered room? I'm hoping to find a similar solution to improve the aesthetics of our cantilever.