It would be helpful to see your house -- all 4 elevations and/or renderings.

It depends on the style of the house, the site, and you; things the architect should know. Generally the lower the window sill a better view of the ground is achieved.

A couple of things to note on the elevations: changing door style, adding window on side elevation on other side of chimeny, windows in rear with arrow are 6ft windows, the majority of the rest are 5ft. The 3D rendering is more accurate. PDF, I think it was you who suggested some time ago to extend the ridge line and make the front symmetrical. That is not reflected on either the elevations or the rendering, but we are doing that. We are also doing 6 columns in front rather than 8.

My my thought is to leave the upstairs windows at 5ft (would be an issue with porch roof anyway to make those bigger) and increase the lower level to 6ft. Unfortunately my architect was maybe not the best fit for us and so I’m flying by the seat of my pants at this point.

Typically, for 9 ft ceilings, we'll set the window heads at 8 ft and use either 8 ft tall exterior doors or 6'8 doors with transoms so they align with the top of the windows.

I infer from the differences between your plan and the rendering that you're modifying a stock plan. What do those plans indicate?

Not a stock plan, plans show 5ft windows aligned with 6’8” doors.

We have 9 ft ceiling, standard doors with transoms on the exterior ones and windows that reach up to 8 ft from the floor. Everything is orignial in my 1906 house. I don't think it looks weird at all to have standard height doors and taller windows.

I love light and big windows! I think the two windows on either side of the chimney on the ground floor look fab and would look great all across the ground floor front. Obviously, the ones above the porch have to be smaller, that just makes sense.

Early 90s was the last time I used anything less than 8' tall entry in new construction,

Mid 90s I think 8' interiors became affordable so we adopted that standard.

If I were building to sell or advising a client it would be 8' doors w 8' window heights. It is a worthwhile and value driving specification.

This what I showed last November.

You have no updated drawings?

I think being able to see your various options -- from inside and out is key to making an informed decision.

Nine foot ceilings: eight foot head for doors and windows.

Remember, the higher the window head, the more natural light in the house. Lower window heads mean less natural light.

Bigger is better! I would always choose bigger windows

Virgil, would you recommend setting the windows higher even under a covered porch?

No updated drawings— any changes that were made after those plans were between the builder and us. None of the changes required a change in permit so we did not have drawings redone. We discussed the ridge line that you recommended and worked out the details with him. I appreciated your input greatly, it was more than we got out of our our architect!

Yes, I would set all windows with an eight-foot head!

One additional point on windows. Consider what window treatments will work on your window sizes, depth and wall space on sides. A continuing problem in design these days.

Always make upper floor windows smaller than lower floor windows. It a visual proportion thingey!

I prefer 6’8” or better yet, 7 ft header height ( if 7 ft doors are in the budget) with 9 ft ceilings.

If you have no intention of doing crown molding..ignore me. But I really dislike the look of beefy door trim almost touching beefy crown molding. And it makes it very difficult to use crown molding which consists of several pieces.

I would not use 8 ft doors or windows at 8 ft header height with 9 ft ceilings. No expert..I just know what I like.

PDF, thank you, will review with my builder. Love that house Virgil!

We have both 10’ ceilings and 9‘ ceilings with our windows on a 8’ header height so they all align visually. They are 6’ tall in height and I think they look fine.

Thank you @shead, 8ft doors?

@M R, our front door is 8ft tall but on our interior doors, we used 6'8" doors. For our back patio doors, we used 6'8" doors with 12" transoms on top. It was going to be crazy expensive (to us, anyway) to get a 12 ft wide by 8 ft tall four-panel patio door (like over $7K). Plus we had another 9ft wide door unit off our master that would've had to match.

Yikes! Another change we made to our plan is switching out a couple windows for a 4 panel sliding door to back porch- so we may need to look into the transom! I figured that would cost even more than an 8ft door.

Our doors are fiberglass and made by a company our builder uses about an hour from here. They don’t make 8 ft tall doors so their only other option was to special order a Marvin one. You might have other options but those were all our builder gave us. The transoms were $1600 ($800 for each door unit).

My BIL has 8 ft tall doors that are steel. Our builder would not warranty any door not ordered through his specific supplier :/

Ah, I see. We don’t have any specific brand we have to use so we may fare better price wise, but I’m sure the transoms would be equally lovely!