Roof extension/Portico to try and offset horrible layout
I purchased a home, to keep my children in the same school district. Unfortunately the layout of the home is horrendous. The front door is on all the way to the left of the house. I need to add some sort of pronounced extension/portico to try and improve this layout. Unfortunately moving the door is not an option. Do to poor planning/budgeting, the inside has been remodeled. I plan to add a flat extension as it is the most affordable, but I want to add some sort of decorative column/pillar to dress it up. I also plan to change the steps (or redo them if anyone knows how to make composite/vinyl look like concrete or stone, possibly tread caps?) and add a railing. If the steps cannot be transformed Please if anyone has suggestions as to a cheaper alternative that looks like concrete/cement/or stone that looks nice and is still affordable. I am really having a hard time finding any picture or design online of how to add the extension as there would only be a pillar on one side.... I am desperate to find a structure that will make the house look less awkward .... Please if anyone has any ideas for the extension/portico, or any pictures or general advice, I would really appreciate it.
Comments (15)
PRONatasha Shahram thanked Celery. Visualization, Rendering imagesRelated Discussions
DH made a concession... I tweaked my layout
Comments (28)I like the last plan too, but see equal advantages to having the ovens in either position. But the 18" whatever counter is going to feel awfully cramped if it's between the ovens and the wall. I'd make it a full height cupboard or stack of cupboards if it stays as pictured. You sound very pleased with the current plan, and that's most important. I can just see your grandson enjoying his time in the kitchen with you. As to cooktops (okay, this isn't the Appliance forum, but we're talking here), I think you'll find a similar amount of control with at least 12 power settings, better 17, on induction as you do with gas. Go for the 36" if you want it! With induction, which I've been studying extensively trying to find the right one, there are some standard configurations. The Induction Site is a helpful start, but not 100% accurate, so do your own research. Different companies call the same things by different names. A 10" burner can be rated for up to 14" pans, and an 11" burner can be rated for up to 12", yet they're the same inductors. Nine power levels can mean 9, or it can mean 17 (nine with half stops). Etc., etc. The 36" generally have one large burner (nominally 11") in the center, flanked by two paired burners of which one is medium (8-9") and one small (around 6.5", sometimes taking a pan as small as 4.5"). There are two standard layouts for nominally 30" cooktops (which in reality are 28+" to 31+"): Either they have the two flanking pairs from the 36" and no big burner, or they have the 11" big burner, paired with a 6" and a pair of 7-8". You can put a 9" pan on the 7-8" burner. From here the only difference is features. True timers shut off the inductor at a specified time. Some cooktops require you to first choose which burner you're controlling, then choose your power level. For the latter one, train yourself to remove a boiling over pan from the heat rather than fussing with controls. They'll all turn off automatically after a certain number of seconds if there's no pan. Most also have built in kitchen timers (i.e., they ring after a certain time). The number of power levels varies between a true nine and about 19. Nineteen usually means that besides 17 true levels there's a keep warm and a boost. They all have boost. Some are loud because of their fans. Some are loud because of the way they interact with certain metals in clad pans. They also require different amounts of clearance underneath. Some require 12", which is foul! Others as little as 2". Miele has the 11", has very little fan noise, you can program your choice of 9 or 17 power levels, true timers, and independent controls. If I can't figure out how to get a smaller one that I like, I'm getting this one (the Miele 30"). It's very dark black, however, and will probably show scratches really easily. But it requires less than 2" clearance underneath....See MoreBracing myself......here's my kitchen layout.
Comments (86)Sorting my thoughts about pantry -- I like to know what I have and be able to find it easily. It would irritate me to open up multiple storage units to find what I need or inventory what I have or need at the store. I'm kinda willing to open two and that's it. I would rather have stuff on shelves than drawers or pullouts for food storage. Don't want to be looking at the tops of the items (and I'm way to lazy to relabel them) or have to walk around something like an open pull out unit to be able to see what's in both sides. I'd rather just take stuff off shelves. Don't get me wrong, if it was a cabinet pantry v. no pantry, I'd certainly take it and be grateful. Drawers are fixed sizes and are just not as flexible. Want to buy that large size of cereal? Too bad, won't fit. Paper products, pet food, or stuff that comes in larger packages are examples of things that may not fit in drawers or pullouts. Some kinds of pullouts can be reconfigured, but that can be a pain - stop putting stuff away, empty the target location and adjust a shelf, bin or pullout, put the stuff back. In your original kitchen plan, the thing about using the dining room wall is that the food storage is a bit far from the likely prep area on the island - up near the range. This can be an ok situation for an organized chef - the type that gets out everything first and wouldn't mind carrying a basket to and from the pantry. But if that doesn't describe you, like it doesn't describe me, that kitchen plan is a recipe for a lotta walking and some frustration. Like 20 to 40 feet of walking for everyday stuff like a cup of milk or the forgotten can of chili beans. You can duplicate some items in a nearby cabinet. In fact, in the original layout, you have enough upper cabinets to duplicate most food products. Then the pantry itself becomes a place to store overstock and little used kitchen stuff. Lastly, everybody's interior image of "pantry" is different. My ultimate pantry is close to this... found on Design Sponge Each person will try to talk you into their internal image because it works for them. If you or your spouse has a completely different image, that's ok! I have no internal image of "butler's pantry". I'm kinda puzzled by why people who don't entertain a lot have one. Maybe if I had one, I'd figure it out, but I'm not in the price range for that!...See Moreplease help on kitchen layout (and house layout)
Comments (35)I'm offering the following as a devil's advocate. Both positions for your kitchen are viable choices with nice reasons to go each way. That's why you need to draw up all possibilities to consider. If the middle is right for you guys, this will end up reinforcing that decision. Versatility and size? That 15x30 room is looking very, very nice as it is, but the far end is prize square footage with all those exterior walls (light/views in up to 3 directions), and right now you plan to actually dine there very little--pretty but underused. If you put the kitchen down there, that addition would be used as intensively as it deserves to be. The living area for furniture placement would be the same, but it would be more strongly defined. Nevertheless the whole should still appear very spacious because it would still be part of a 15x30 room with kitchen on end and still be open to the north, which would extend additional living activities that direction, instead of east. The dining room might well end up used more for various activities in the middle of the house. In considering this alternative layout, how about a pretty door to the outside from a middle/dining room, French perhaps? And for that matter, are you sure you wouldn't have a door directly out from the kitchen? You have an entry in that end that looks as if it would need some reconfiguring too. Would it enter the middle/dining room? Last night I also thought of one other -- possible -- advantage to switching the kitchen and dining room: the step down. This could be a design asset for a dining room, setting it off as special as viewed from the living room. Since you don't plan to eat there a lot, even with young children you could have a nice rug under the table if you wanted it. You'd take that step mostly on the way back to the children's rooms--longer journeys. For the kitchen, you guys'd be making all the many, many little daily journeys between the living room and kitchen on a level floor. Morning sun in kids' hallway? Have sunshine everywhere and you eliminate the pleasure of entering a sunny room. A dim hallway is often a design asset because it makes the rooms opening off it all the more inviting. I can't see what that cabinet in the hall is, but with a little attention to attractiveness and interest, the hall looks pretty good to me. The only way I could imagine to improve it would be to extend it to come back around on itself -- children love to run in circles. :) As it is now, though, the hall enters a sunny middle room in the mornings, setting that room off really nicely, however it's used....See MoreHelp with home orientation + layout suggestions
Comments (43)@Columbus Custom Design Thank you for the feedback! You do raise a couple of important points. First, sorry for the resolution of the pictures. I tried a different PDF to JPG converter and I can read them fine. But when I upload to Houzz their compression is making it undreadable :( I will figure out a way to get better pictures in the thread but will look up your profile and e-mail as well. I agree the great room is a bit small. It's actually only 18 by 18. We modeled the size based on the room that we have right now, but it is not a main traffic area, like this one would be. We are definitely thinking about increasing it to 20x20. Perhaps also getting rid of the bottom walkway. Red-faced to admit it, but we never host dinner parties and the like, so dining area is used once in every 6 blue moons :/ We do however, for some reason (cough wife), have nice dining room furniture, so that's the reason for the dining room. With two kids, I agree that the mud room/drop area could be bigger. Right now the built ins have space for 3 slots. This home will be in the south, so thankfully coats are less of an issue and could perhaps be stored in the closet by the master. I did have that debate about merging the powder room and guest bathroom with my wife last night. Her point was "how soon till either of our parents come live with us?" In that sense I can see using the guest bedroom as an in-law suite would mean the powder room needs to remain. For the kitchen, the designer mentioned maybe shrinking the size of the hood, and getting another set of cabinets in. We are also debating the following: great room is vaulted, breakfast nook is vaulted, and kitchen follows the great room vault. This is creating some weird ceiling lines (maybe it's just the 3d software being used at the moment). We are thinking about maybe keeping the vault in the great room and breakfast nook, but doing the kitchen regular ceiling height (10 feet). This might give us a more intimate kitchen with the varied heights? As a bonus, it would allow us to make the 2nd floor BR4 a bit bigger too. The breakfast area, for us, is the actual gathering area. We have a large granite table (seats 8) that is our meal, homework, crafts, talking, etc table. Currently our morning room is 12 x 15.5 so this is a little smaller but I think still works. I agree, the sitting area in the master gives the house a lot of visual appeal from the outside. It would also have terrific views as it will be surrounded by nearly 120 degrees of lake view. For the foyer, we are thinking about dressing it up with wainscot on the wall that will carry on into the dining room area. It will just be a 10 foot ceiling. Maybe a coffered ceiling as well. I believe both the walls of the stairway up are load bearing, so I'm unsure if any 2 story features are possible. Thanks again for all the feedback!...See More
Natasha Shahram
4 years agoThank you all so much for the ideas! The brick is going to be white washed. The painter is just taking his time to get back to me :( I really hope to have some kind of
portico/ overhang just to make the front door more pronounced so people don’t confuse it with the side door(it’s happened) And to provide some cover when I’m fumbling with my keys. This picture was before the trim was painted
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoRight now the door looks like an addition and does not feel a part of the rest of the house. The trim on the brick entrance needs to match the rest of the house. Right now it feels like the brick front door is a separate entity as the rest of the house and they are one.
The circular stairs are also just strange. I would straighten the stairs so the three stairs run the width of the front porch. I would pour cement steps. Then, finding straight black railing for the left of the porch to coordinate with the other black accents. I would update your exterior light to a black fixture as well.
I would also add a brick veneer to the foundation of the white portion of your home which will help unify the the brick entry with the rest of the home.
I would also pour a walk-way that runs from your front door to the sidewalk and line it with brick. You will loose some grass but at least it will draw people to your front door. I would also line the walk with lights and shrubs on the grass side of the walkway.
Aedan 1-Light Black Swivel Wall Sconce Light · More Info
Hope this helps!Natasha Shahram thanked User Natasha Shahram
4 years ago- PRO
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoI wouldn't white wash the brick. I find the traditional brick charming and an asset to the look of your home! I would only add to the foundation and leave the entry brick as-is. Plus, you avoid potential upkeep.
I might also look to find a better color for the front door, like a sage green. One that has a tone that coordinates with the red brick. The blue door color is too saturated for the rest of the home.
Natasha Shahram thanked User Natasha Shahram
4 years agosuezbell
4 years ago
biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
4 years agoNatasha Shahram
4 years agoHi everyone! I am in desperate need of some advice. The last update I need to have done before the snow starts is updating the exterior steps of my side entrance. I have decided to wait on the front entrance until I can allocate enough money( due to unforeseen child medical expenses). I need to remove the old carpet from my side entrance steps and think of a solution to dress up the wood steps.
Natasha's Porch · More InfoI have to make a decision within a week, because next week they are installing the railing which needs to go on top. The entry steps sadly are wooden, underneath the old carpet. I am really hoping there is some kind of stone veneer I can put on top of the wood once we rip the carpet off. I really don't like the look of wood so I am hoping to avoid just going with the deck type material the person I hired for the project keeps insisting I use. I found a lot online about putting veneers on top of cement or concrete steps... or putting wooden planks on steps.. but nothing about putting stone veneers on wooden steps. If anyone has had experience with covering exterior wood steps with any kind of stone/concrete/ brick veneer, any advice or comments you could share would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has any suggestions of what products to use or anything at all, I would be grateful for any guidance. Unfortunately I have only found one person to take the job on, this time of year everyone is scrambling to get all home updating done before the Buffalo snow, and my experience with this person is that he only lets me know of the options that involve the least amount of work for him. I have to find out my options and the products and supply him with it or else he will do whatever is easiest for him, and he marks up the materials he uses like crazy! I just want some kind of veneer that doesn't look like wood... and I really would hate to put a carpet. Please share your experience or thoughts! Thank you!
decoenthusiaste
4 years ago
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