I don't feel that the phrase "most straight forward manner" is a good summary of what the Craftsman movement was all about. My understanding is that it was primarily a reaction to the perceived stylistic excesses of the Victorian era and its use of mass produced ornamentation, and also struggling with the displacement of fine craftsmanship in both construction and manufacture. The quotation as given seems to imply a relationship with the need to fit into a prevailing style meeting the neighbor's approval, and misses the point of the movement in my view. Perhaps there are major differences between the development of the Craftsman style movement here in California and the East Coast USA versus what drove the style in England. The development of the style here on the West Coast was about developing an architecture with more basic expression of the materials being used, in combination with an approach to an indoor/outdoor lifestyle or at least muvh stronger connections to garden connections to take advantage of the milder insevt free climate. Japanese building techniques with wood and joinery featured and a simplicity and elegance of wood form and natural finishes unadorned by paint are also hallmarks of the style here in California. Beginnings toward interior room arrangements with more flow and less seperation by walls, large gracious front porches, outdoor sleeping balconies and integration of landscape architectural structures to integrate home and garden are key characteristics of the style as it evolved in southern California. I don't see how your quoted reference addresses any of that as the style evolved in towns such as Pasadena or my own town of Berkeley, California. We are fortunate to have many great examples of the style which continue to be cherished locally. While its expression was inclusive of many different influences; an attractive outward appearance, aka "curb appeal", was an important part of the style in responce to the mood of the times and in reaction to what preceded it. Personally I find interest in Victorian, Craftsman, California Bungalow, Arte Moderne, California Ranch, etc if they are done well; each have their place here and often side by side in the same neighborhood. That being said, I also really appreciate cities such as Santa Barbara which decided to require a unified Spanish/Mediterranean building style for all new construction when faced with major destruction of the town by earthquake decades after the big 1906 earthquake here in San Francisco. There was no such agreement on rebuilding with one unified style here in the SF Bay Area, and the urban areas here reflect that diversity of styles. Re:building costs versus architect's inaccurate budget estimates; it can certainly be the case, but doesn't need to be. Asking for references of built projects and budgets is always wise, and seeking out designers with design/build experience favors more accurate budgets and perhaps less confusion with planning and permitting. Taking the time to become informed and knowing to ask the right questions is also key.

I like #3 I think because it seems like it fits the rest of the house but still makes enough improvements that give it the curb appeal it so desperately needs. I can't put my finger on what style I would call #3 which is why I am not sure how to address the bump outs other then putting brackets under the right one (there is another matching bump out on the side of the house) and brining the left bump out down further towards the ground. I guess I could remove them but they add extra floor space in each room. They could be covered in shingles to match the body of the house- I'll have to try that. What do you think of adding stone just around the front door like #4 but keeping the metal slant roof on brackets to add shelter? Do you like the idea of a solid stain rustic shingle on the upper half of the house? I see the house as a color similar to what is shown in the mockups but should it be more of a taupe (not my favorite color) or grey (there are a lot of grey houses on my street)?

Great job! The pics emphasize the space and views, the house looks clean and livable. The text is much improved, too -- emphasis on size, quality construction and potential uses. Your sellers are lucky to have you as their agent. Fingers crossed your buyer shows up soon.

I am still trying to get an appointment with the building inspector to see exactly what is allowable here, as they obviously have the final say and it's somewhat unclear. There already is a crawlspace under the house that is actually deeper and more accessible along that front side of the house (via an access panel inside), and while it's hard to see from this photo, the ground slopes down in front of the house so the cantilevered bump-out would be further off of the ground than that part of the house. I will try to get more pictures posted as I know it's hard to see, but my house is also hard to photograph well because there are a lot of obstructions as I live in a heavily forested area. I'm not trying to be confusing here, but it's a confusing house, trust me, as many older houses on weird lots are. For the bump-out and the scope of what I'm asking about here, I'm really talking about a microaddition (of 36 inches bumped out on 2 x 10 joists, by 10 ft wide) as described here in this Houzz article: https://www.houzz.com/magazine/micro-additions-when-you-just-want-a-little-more-room-stsetivw-vs~1165961?share=clipboard The propane tank at the end, because it's an eyesore and there aren't other good places to put it, would only have a sort of lean-to over it at the end of the bump-out, it would not be enclosed in the actual bump-out but would be covered by the extended roof over the bump-out, and maybe have a hinged door on the front/visible side (if needed for access/ventilation) and be open around the corner to the right of this pic. Charlie, I understand what you're saying re: the need for excavating, but I don't think that's possible on this part of this lot due to extensive rock ledge here, hence why there was a crawlspace to begin with. I live in New England so footings have to be pretty deep, yet many of the lots where I am allow only for a shallow dig as they're pretty ledge-y. For additional perspective, this house is on a hill above a curved driveway, and this facade is the first thing people see. The rest of the house isn't that visible from the street besides a side view that looks (IMO) better than this. The reason for considering this bump-out now is mainly that the timing is right, as we unexpectedly had to repair some crawlspace joists due to drainage issues, and it will really improve a project already in the works, which involves in part dividing the 13.75 ft x 19.5 ft room there (to the right of the door in this picture) into two bedrooms of 11.5 x 9.75 ft each with closets filling the rest of the 13.75 side, which is fine but a little small for bedrooms. With the bump-out, these bedrooms would both be a reasonable average bedroom size (more like 130-135 square feet each vs less than 120 plus closets, and currently the house is a 3 bedroom with one of the bedrooms just shy of 10 x 10 ft, good for a home office but not great for a bedroom. There are already two doors to that big room (but no closets), as if someone before me envisioned it as two bedrooms that never got completed and just need a divider wall and closets. So, I see it as completely a pretty confusing objective of past owners as to how they imagined the home would be used (the master bedroom in the house, for comparison, is about 250 square feet with two 10 ft reach-in closets, so as it is now, the house has one huge bedroom, one medium-sized bedroom, and one tiny bedroom, and just doesn't make sense. I don't plan to sell this house any time soon, and don't have kids -- but if I did, I can't imagine they wouldn't be fighting over the fact that one kids' bedroom is more than twice the size of the other, and that this wouldn't be a major issue if I ever do sell. Again, I get this is all confusing and sounds massive in scope but the objective is really to reconfigure space that was already added on here as a seemingly not-well-planned addition, and to add this microaddition bump-out for slightly more space and a better floorplan. I have looked through old deeds and town permits to figure out when/why this addition was added, but no luck with that either, it's just clear from the crawlspace and attic that it happened after this house was built (and I think the space was originally an attached garage). A lot of DIY clearly went on here before I acquired the property -- some really well-done, some poorly planned and executed.