As important as the elevation may be, you don't live on the outside, you llive inside. Where is the floor plan ?

"We are close to breaking ground" ............................

That's the point. Every possibility is still available to you.

Do not make it a personal goal to not be a PITA. Make it your goal to get the house you deserve. This ain't it.

Your builder needs to be bugged often in a new build they are not god. As for the exterior I don’t like the 2 different “gables “, you need 3 windows or the posts need to be moved and the door is too small. Where is your architect in this mix. The shutters are the wrong size why not forget the shutters and widen the window trim. All things are possible at this stage of the game.

The cheapest time to fix this is now :)

How will it function? Where I live, houses with doors not centred on the porch are very very common, but there isn’t usually a peak overhead. Do you have to walk the length of the porch to get to your door? In this area where all the houses were based on one plan pretty well, the door is on the exterior wall side.

Don't confuse "looking right" with conformance with the conventional. No offense to greg but placing 2 windows and a door exactly between the posts is pretty ordinary. A simple house needs something to give it some personality.

The porch posts are supporting the short rafter span of the small front porch so the load is light and the the number of posts is arbitrary. Small houses don't need a lot of porch posts and removing one solves the alignment issue without changing the house plan.

But the more serious problem is that the wall between the windows is too wide and we can't adjust the windows without a floor plan. Full width shutters would help but before you can expect better solutions you must first define the limitations.

Also, an elevation drawing is a convenient fiction that shows the materials and dimensions of a facade for construction but you will never see the house that way again. Even for a simple house you need a perspective drawing. A post in front of a window is likely to only bother you when viewed from the inside.

I think the off center door could be charming and I like that none of the windows align with the upper story window so show us a plan so we can make it better.

You also need to correct the mistakes on the elevation drawing before you order the window for the upper level; its not going to be that tall unless you raise the dormer ridge. If its a bedroom you may have difficulty holding the sill to 44" AFF.

I wouldn’t want the column in front of the window. Could that be changed?

Get rid of the shutters, make the shutters operable, or at the very least size the shutters as if they were operable.

Detail the vinyl siding and trim to eliminate the need to using J-channel and add interest through frieze boards, band boards, drip caps, corner boards, and a variety of mouldings.

Also remember that it is next to impossible to view a building as it looks in elevations. A perspective may be a better tool to understand the relationship between windows and columns, and the building's form and proportions.

I would highly suggest Get Your House Right to help with your elevation. Here are just two examples that I was able to find online but the book has much more that you could refer to.

I think there is room for improvement in the plan. Pantry seems rather convoluted. Refrigerator might be better left of stove.

Quick alternate exterior. Guessing there is a bonus room above the garage only on the 2nd floor.

Oh, my goodness, PPF, what an improvement!

@RES -- Did you see the plan posted above?

I agree with RES, there is a lot of room for improvement in the layout.

UPDATE: first, thank you all for the input, suggestions, and ideas. I can’t figure out how to edit my original post from the mobile app, so I’ll have to update thru a comment. I got up the nerve to ask my husband if we were past the point of being able to change things and needless to say, we were able to meet with our builder this afternoon. He made a few changes to the floor plan Inside that allowed us to center the front door. I’m so relieved and much happier. The changes he made to the inside actually work way better too, imo (it reconfigured the pantry and got rid of the “horseshoe-like” configuration. He also told me to speak up if there’s something that I don’t like- that It’s much easier to change something when we haven’t done anything yet

Thanks again!

Love PPF's redesign on the exterior. Your pantry is really bothering me... I would move your refrigerator down to where the pantry door currently is (and set it into the wall to make it counter-depth) then put the pantry door straight off the corner. You avoid the awkwardness of corner cabinets and fix the weird pantry problem. Also, make the powder room straight instead of an L to give you more shelf space in the pantry.

if you can still make changes, here are a few items that jumped out at me:
the master bath is huge, but spartan. and, that toilet sits out there in the open , as a throne... the bath could be much smaller than the current empty dancehall, and afford you much larger closets.
and, what about that quirky, twisted entry to the master wing? how do you move big furniture and a king or even queen sized mattress thru those two doors and the turn?
the guest wing baths could both be ensuite, instead of that wierd shared arrangement that most people learn to hate... you have plenty of room for two small, but full, baths.
good luck. glad you can take a breath, and a step back to really wslk around the plan in your head.

Where is your coat closet? Can you move the wall between master bath and office to the left, making the bathroom smaller then use the extra couple feet to make a closet in the foyer.
The bedroom windows look small

I think reevaluating your plan while it's still in the tweaking phase would be helpful. Take the needed time to get it right. I don't know what you have changed after your meeting, but I might take a second look at some things.

-the master bath has lots of wasted space and the shower seems overly large

-the hall to your master bedroom might be difficult with furniture

-the dining space is small and will be quite awkward with the walkway to bedrooms

-i don't see any coat closets by the front or back entry, unless the one by bedroom is one

-with the screened porch, the living areas might be somewhat dark

-windows seem minimal, I would try for more light into rooms

best of luck

Start a new discussion asking for input on your floor plan. You will get a lot of good useful comments. It will be very beneficial for you and your family. There may be comments that you do not want to hear, but you will better off if you make changes to your floor plan.

Looks like you need to rework your pantry area. I would move the office to the right, you could still have your pretty french doors. Then place your front door in between those two porch posts centered. You would need to turn your shower so that it is flat against the closet wall horizontally instead of vertical like it is and your toilet could turn. Then you would have space for a little foyer and your door would be centered! Maybe move your fridge and hide your pantry behind to the right of the office and inside of a cabinet!

You have a huge master bathroom with double sinks. I would put the toilet in its own little toilet room so someone could use the toilet while someone else is at the sink or in the shower. Also, no tub? Maybe you hate tubs, but it is hard to imagine a big beautiful master suite without a bathtub. I would also want a sit down vanity somewhere in the bathroom or bedroom.

I did a smaller but just right for us master bath. The no tub was a no brainer. Ton of money and space down the drain if you aren't a floater. I barely have time to sit much less soak.

I would extend screened porch wall to end of great room wall. Then I would put fireplace

in center of that wall with two double glass doors on either side of fireplace. Great focal point. I agree about moving toilet in master bath. It’s going to be the first thing you see.

Hopefully you can make that a more private area. I would not want my half bath right off foyer for several reasons. Hopefully you can redesign that bath and the pantry. And I definitely would reposition columns on front of house so none of then are in front of a window. Exciting times to be building a home.

I think the OP has left the building and is not interested in changing what she has.

PPF has it right. : )

No, I’m still here and making notes of all the suggestions. :). I just thought it would be obnoxious if I commented a reply to every one of them. Again, I’m new here, so I was just taking it all in.

Some of the suggested changes were implemented when he made the changes yesterday. (Including reducing the master bath which was way too big). But I don’t have new plans to show yet as he just made the changes in pencil on the plans.

I commend you for your willingness to consider critiques from the peanut gallery. I have been very impressed with some of the advice given by the posters here.

There is no better time to discuss changes than when they can still be fixed with an eraser

May I suggest you will get more out of this conversation if you interact with those who reply.

When someone asks a question, or proposes something, it's normal to answer the question, or comment on the proposal.

Imagine posing a question to a group gathered in your living room, then walking out of the room without a word, leaving the group with no one to respond to. Returning a day later to make a statement, then walking out again.

It's up to you to steer the conversation so that you get the most out of it.

@PPF, point taken. My apologies.

It looks like you "still remember the old tricks."

Now if they will allow someone to fix the inside.

It's nice to see someone else submitting a concept, and always interesting to guess their location based on its architecture.

It took months and months to come up with a house plan that had everything we wanted, or mostly everything. We have tweaked and picked it apart and gone back to the drawing board more than once. Just when I thought it was almost perfect, I posted it here (desperate for an opinion on the front door) and you’ve made me doubt and question it all over again :)

To answer some of the questions/suggestions that have been made (since I was just lurking and not responding):

The front door is now centered between the posts and under the faux gable (which is right where my brain thinks that it should be).

The house is a 1 story with 4th bedroom, full bath, and bonus over the garage.

The roof is trussed.

We did discuss window sizes yesterday and making them bigger. I would like taller windows along the front and I’d like to add a window to each of the bedrooms.

In the new plan, the master bath was made smaller (which it really needed), creating a little bigger foyer. The office was moved over to the right. The pantry and half bath were both squared up-doing away with that off horse shoe configuration Which works much better.

With regards to the master bath, it had a toilet room and I hated it. It was small and claustrophobic-like. I also don’t want a tub-while they are beautiful, for me it’s a waste of space and money.

I like the ideas given about moving the fireplace to the wall with the windows and making a focal point. That side of the house (with screen porch) will overlook the pond. I don’t like the corner fireplace and had already asked about moving it. If we do move it, then it would make sense to extend the screen porch down to the end of that living room wall.

I, too, am not crazy about the dining area. I think it’s going to be awkward walking thru there. But that was a compromise I made and will live with.

We currently live in a very small 3 br, 1 ba (maybe 1100 sf). We are a family of 5 (plus a black lab) and this new house has been a long awaited dream of ours. We are all very excited but nervous and desperate to get it as right as we can. Our goal was to build something affordable, and Goldilocks sized (not too big after the kids move out and not too small until they do! So your input about how we can “fix” our floor plan is very appreciated. (I got way more than I bargained for!) I’m willing to fix what I can, but I’m not willing to redesign the whole thing.

I love your gables! They are beautiful and classy!

I like the idea of a centered foyer and office moving to the right. You could do French doors from office to the foyer and id deffiently have some glass in the front door for some natural light.

Longer windows would look better but think about furniture placement. You don't want the Windows going much further to the ground. Especially with kids is be worried they'd knock the glass out while running around. So if you make them longer go up..

What bothers me even more is that middle window hidden behind the column. I like PPF's rendition. Not only is the middle window centered but the door is centered beneath the new smaller entry gable. Good luck!

RES- that’s it!

Well...not trying to be critical, but to offer some suggestions for continued improvement...

Does it bother anyone that all of the windows on the front facade are exactly the same size and they are all equally spaced, including the entrydoor? Does the 2-? Does the 2-1-2-1-2-1-2 rhythm seem...well..rather overly repetitive? And boring?

How about some different and more varied mass-space rhythms? Why would windows in the garage be identical with those in the living room? Would paired windows in the living room be an improvement?

Would a change in the continuous front facade wall plane help improve the front facade? For example, would it be an improvement if the wall plane between the garage and the living room was recessed 2-feet?

Just some simple changes which would make a significant improvement to the facade...

My initial thought was to move the garage wall out to break the flat front, and to maximize the space above the garage.

Some of the creative design tools available to architects and consumers includes the use of mass and void, and the simple changes in wall planes and roof directions. Notcho and bumpos are another simple architectural tool for relief of unappealing shapes. These simple tools may often turn the ordinary into something extraordinary:

Architectural design tools, such as mass and void, wall plane and roof plane directions and changes, and notchos and bumpos, and many more, are simply tools available to an architect.

The tools are neither good nor bad. They are simply tools for use. It's their use (and their user) which makes them appropriate or inapproriate.

Those notches and bump outs are very pretty but also expensive! I agree with the idea of the recessed area between the two gables. Kind of reminds me of this house near me!

Well...I don't want to get into the "corners are expensive" discussion. It's pretty clear that a few well chosen corners, within reason, which enhance the overall design of a house are certainly worth doing...and as far as expenses of corners, look at many of the builder's houses: they are full of corners, so obviously corners are not cost prohibiitive at all.

The cry, "corners are expensive; reduce the number of corners for a better design" is simply an over-rated consumer generalization which really can't pass the test of strong design and construction.

As far as what sort of design devices make sense for strong architectural design, eveything depends on the architect's intent for the design. One cannot generalize about design tools. There are probably no universally applicable design tools.

For example, design tools one might use for a Colonial Revival design may be far different than those one might use for an International School design. All architects know this.

I completely agree that too many and/or inappropriate details will distract from the strength of a design. This is why strong architectural design take both creativity and experience.

As far as the OP's posted design, it is simply too vanilla and unappealing for me. All of the posted illustrations help to make the design stronger and more interesting; each has aspects worth further exploration. What we are seeing is the difference between a consumer posting a design, and the designs of creative and experienced professionals.

This is a good thread, and I hope it's educational and helpful for the OP.

So many interesting ideas. I am in awe of architects.

So many interesting ideas. I am in awe of architects.

And these are just quick ideas from them...

Imagine what they could come up with if they got to know a family, their interests, how they live, what the need..... and they worked on that project with them collaboratively!!! :)

Totally agree with you doc5md. When we built our vacation home, and whenever we renovate, we use an architect. Clearly some are better than others, and one of ours was AMAZING. He had been a builder prior to becoming an architect, and he had a very good grasp of building costs and techniques. He and I also took into consideration the furniture layout when designing any room, and so I had a good idea of what I needed to purchase even before we broke ground. Finally, he was a wiz with pencil and tracing paper. His off-the-cuff perspective drawings were works of art!