Looks like you have invested a lot of work into this project and it is looking great. You mentioned lack of funds, so I thought I would mention recycled brick as a possibility for a patio. I have a big pond on the south of the house and just a little one with a waterfall close to the house at the edge of our new patio on the north side. Love to sit there and watch the fish and bullfrogs. We got our rocks off the farm too. Water feature was our spring project 2010, and we only "bought" the liner and pump. DH made a sand filter for the water out of an old pail and :) you guessed it, sand. Works great. Whoops, also bought the funky looking water plant in the back of the upper section. Upper pond section is made from recycled wood frame with notch cut out for water to spill into lower section. Good luck with your project, have fun :)

Wow! I just got back from my grandma's 92nd birthday bash . . . Squirrel, I'm just speechless looking at the options, and I think that while they're all very nice that the barn door style (cross/buck panels) really jumps out at me (as both you and slinkey mentioned). They seem to tie in with the house windows so well. Also, they are in fact the Coachman style from Clopay, as described in the Nantucket sample you found. The lines really seem to blend very well with the house. It's just what I had in mind but couldn't seem to articulate in detail. It's great. As you mentioned, the others don't seem to jive style-wise (although I otherwise love the arches) with what we have now. The garage just looks so much better - more interesting than your plain jane (or should I say, plain jan? punchy tonight - it's late) variety. Slinkey, we do have two windows on the side of the garage (third stall), and even with those, it could certainly be lighter. So that's a great thought. We wanted the nice doors right away too when we built, but there ended up being certain things that we defined as "wants" over "needs", and the carriage doors fell into that category, plus, being Miss Indecisive here, I just didn't know which to choose anyway. Squirrel, I'm loving the walnut railing. My hubby is ultra conservative when it comes to color (note house exterior color), and he's thinking white. I like the contrast of the walnut and can likely persuade him, as I think it's a really interesting detail - something different. Higher or lower railings? Hmmmm . . . I'm up in the air about that. On the one hand, I think the lower railings open up the view of the front windows (from the inside of the house perspective) and the view of the yard from the porch perspective. On the other hand, the Nantucket looked really great with the higher railings, and maybe that's more true to style? I like both. What do you think? Also, are the columns in the Photoshop of the barn door style that we like square or round? It's a little hard to discern in 2-D. I actually like the garage doors in white, as you photoshopped, as our exterior trim is white. What do you think? Anyway, thanks so much again. Those doors are the cat's (and dog's lol) meow (woof)! I'm on cloud nine because those doors just really capture exactly the idea I'd had in mind. As always, your attention to detail is what makes all the difference. Jan

I totally agree with what everyone has already said. It just can't be "part Craftsman, part Farmhouse". Sort of like breeding a Cocker Spaniel with a Great Dane - you end up with a hot mess! I love the slightly industrial or vintage look of black steel windows. In fact, if I could have afforded it, I would have changed my kitchen bay to a box bay done with black steel windows. Alas, my money tree is looking pretty puny these days! What I did do, was paint the mullions/muntins of my existing bay black...but ONLY on the inside. The outside is white as are all my windows. In driving around, I'm seeing more and more people painting their exterior windows black - all on very traditional houses, mainly Cape's. Frankly, it looks ridiculous. With new windows, you are getting a factory finish so those windows will not need repainting for decades, if ever. The black exterior window fade is going to fade very quickly and then you'll be stuck. At 73 and having lived in the Midwest most of my life, I'm very familiar with what a farmhouse looks like and I've NEVER seen one with black exterior windows! Go with the simple and the pure and you won't have a dated looking house in 10-15 years. You can go trendy inside with color, easily replaceable, lower cost items.

start with some idea books about what exteriors you like. come back here and show us. Your pictures will allow us to help you speak the language and verbalize what you are trying to achieve. Your current elevation sketch, as noted, isn't southern really at all - it looks like the builder has a book of plans and he's showing the elevation options and asking you to 'pick one'. I suspect that his architect is a designer, and will make minor modifications to existing plans that get built over and over. Find what you like, then compare to where you are now and see if you CAN get to where you want or need to regroup.