Thanks to everyone who contributed. I have to say that I'm very pleased with the answers from everyone and that Emmachas was reading my mind. I am going for a Louisiana style home based off of the designs by the Louisiana home architect A. Hays Town. No offense to those who don't like the design but it doesn't bother me. Everyone has different tastes. I just wanted to see if the home conveyed what I wanted to express and it appears that it does. My wife and I are from LA so just like this home we are a mixture of several different cultures. I'm half French acadian with a 1/4 English and 1/4 Scottish while my wife is 1/2 Irish and 1/2 English. I think this home is a perfect proportional mutt just like my family. It takes beautiful designs from all the contributing cultures and matches them in a way that works. Worthy's post made me smile not only because of his backhanded insult but because my lot is a wooded lot and I'm glad he could see my home in such a setting. Seeing that he is from frozen Canada, I couldn't see him appreciating a home designed for the hot and muggy Louisiana climate. It was also interesting to note that the posters from up north thought the house looked odd and out of place while those from the south thought it was a beautiful design. It makes perfect sense considering no one in their right mind would build a house like mine for a northern climate and if they did it better match the uniform culture of the area. This house with it's tall ceilings and large overhangs is for the deep south and the multi cultural elements point to Louisiana Thanks for all of the help and interesting posts. I'm very happy with the results. Here are some pictures of the home again and of the 11 acre lot on which I plan to build. By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-10-05 By bb19 at 2009-10-03 By bb19 at 2009-10-05 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-10-06 By bb19 at 2009-10-05 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19 at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-10-06 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-10-06

You could easily create a handsome finished product with those pavers. Rather than the contrasting color, edge stripe being set in a distance from the edge, you could just make it the edge and it could be a full 8" width stripe. With the charcoal grey, I also like the plain concrete color, which is much lighter, as the contrast stripe. It is a sharper contrast and looks dressy. Whatever colors you consider, get samples, enough to mock up a simulation which you can appraise from a distance with the house in the background, and base your selection on seeing it, rather than just guessing that it will be right. I've seen steps made of mortared pavers that I didn't care for, especially if the tread is a brick laid flat. This is too thin and makes the steps look cheap. The exception, as I mentioned above, is if the paver has a bullnose end (which is often used for pool coping) and the riser is the same material/color. The the riser and tread reads as a solid unit with a decorative edge (the bullnose) like a molding applied to trim work. Notice in your picture of pavers how thin the step treads are -- like tile. This makes the steps look cheap.

As Beth said, move the cars and take photos that scan the entire width of the property. Stand on the public sidewalk approximately opposite the front door and take a series of photos without moving from one place. Start facing the left property line and rotate your body to take a series of slightly overlapping photos that goes across the front of the house and any associated front landscaping until you get tot the left property line. Being able to see The Who front of your property will give us more to work from and get you more helpful suggestions. You can just add the photos in that follow up comments.

A DECK needs A PERMIT AS WELL. Your photos wont allow anyone to advise anything. Wait until you OWN the house, and get on site help. This isn't the forum for the question at the moment. Not everything can be designed online. Nor SHOULD it. A landscape/hardscape PRO on site. If altering roof lines? You need an architect on site. Anything else is "wind spitting".......or a thousand meaningless suggestions that suit not budget or site. Don't put a buggy ahead of your horse: )