GFJ, I think your project is very doable. If your masonry grid is similar to diamond steel mesh, or stucco lath and your underlayment is properly treated there are sealers that can be used to coat the plywood so it is more water repellent, it should work great. Or you could attach wodnerboard or durock (both concrete/cement boards) to the plywood You may need to apply a undercoating/scratch coat to the grid first before applying your tufa in faux rock form. You can form and sculpt tufa freehand. You would be able to work in small batches rather than trying the whole 7x7 at one time. If you mark out your grid and kind of bounce around it will look more natural. Try a small sample on a piece of plywood with mesh to get an idea. Dena

The addition of a roofed front porch could go a long way toward enhancing the curb appeal of your house. Nothing too elaborate, but perhaps a simple gable with a handsome, well-proportioned column at each front corner. You might also think about replacing the upper floor windows with some that more harmonious with those on the ground floor. An architect could probably sketch something out for you very quickly for a very modest fee. You wouldn't necessarily need elaborate plans if you have a good builder and if your local planning department didn't require precise drawings. Architects have an eye for proportion, which should be an important consideration. You'd want a porch addition to be properly scaled. What colour is the roof? Darkening the paint on the upper floor with a colour that harmonizes with the dark stone and the roof would tend to give the house a more grounded look and pull it together. As it is now, the second floor kind of looks like it's hovering above the ground. Finally, the little topiary balls along the foundation do little to make the house settle into its surroundings. They would be fine along either side of a front walk, but a better choice for foundation plantings would be some shrubbery in more natural forms at various heights. Good foundation plantings can dramatically alter one's initial impression of a house and give the place a look of being more nestled into the landscape. Have you thought of adding some trees to your front garden? Trees have a way of making houses look more established and always lend a certain grace. Your house is very appealing, but I think you're right, a little tweak here and there will enhance its appeal. Hope this helps. James

Personally I think the front is too busy and has too many elements competing. You have the dormers stuck on top, the one gable, the hipped roofs, the rounded front, the stucco, the stone, the bump out with the rounded windows on the second floor, etc. How about squaring off the living room so it matches the bump out on the other side of the entry, getting rid of the dormers, making the entry roof a hipped roof and making the whole house stone? Now your eye is not jumping all over the place and your eye is drawn to the entry with the beautiful window above the entry. Elegance is in the simplicity.

Lastly let's talk about the light or the lack of light. Since you said you're on the water, I'm assuming you're either facing east or west which is the worst direction you can face. With the exception of early morning (if the rear is east facing) or late afternoon (if the rear is west facing) you won't have much light entering the house. If your house were designed more to be an L shaped house, you could have your fabulous views and also get great southern light into the house to help not only keep the house light and bright all day but to also help with passive solar heating and cooling. Passive solar heating and cooling is what keeps the utility bills down. As for storage, I hear you since I'm in FL too. However do you really need 4 bedrooms and a study? Wouldn't it be better to have a house that conforms to your needs? For example, when we were figuring out our needs (we're a retired couple with a dog and sometime visitors), we decided to combine rooms to do multiple purposes. We wanted good entertaining space so our largest space is our kitchen/dining/living area. DH wanted an office that no one would use so he has his facing the rear and side of the house. I needed an art studio. My art studio can also double as a third bedroom since it will have a pull out couch. Our guest bedroom also doubles as our exercise room. We can do that by installing a murphy bed so when we don't have guests we can use the room to exercise. We managed to put our laundry downstairs by our bedroom which means we don't have to carry laundry across the house like you have to in yours, yet it's still only about 20 steps from the kitchen. I'd rather walk across my living room to change laundry than carry laundry across the house. And we decided we only need 2 1/2 baths. Master bath of course plus a powder room downstairs and upstairs is a bath for my studio/bedroom and the exercise room/bedroom. Our house is filled with light and is oriented north/south to get the best passive solar heating and cooling. My point being, design a house for the way you live and not for a generic builder family. If you do, there's a good chance you'll wind up saving money because you won't be putting on an over blown roof that costs extra and you won't be designing a house with rooms you don't need and extra bathrooms to clean.