Alison0704 - I agree, the top right window doesn't look right. if it's deleted will the space look like its missing something? Nini804 - I want it to look more symmetrical as well Renovator 8 - I appreciate your comments and am sorry that my postings seem so disorganize. I was posting as I got new drawings and can't seem to get more than one picture at a time in a posting. Will get rid of the brick ledge and use just one siding element. Am hoping the next drawing will open up the front a bit. Annie Deighnaugh -I think the overhang is a detail over the garage doors. Circuspeanut- I hope that the rooflines will not be staggered! I am assuming it looks like this now because it is just a sketch . An update - I spoke with the architect today. I suggested we pull the garage more to the right and have just a corner of it attach to the house. He agreed that that might help to place windows in a more symmetrical fashion. He was going to try to have something back to me today, but I didn't get anything yet. Thanks for all your helpful comments!

IMO your first PaintShop effort was the best. The pediment shaped center cross gable becomes an impressive feature once the little gables are gone. But I would modify the fussy spindle-turned Victorian posts at the entrance. The paired windows and pediment gable are typical of the Colonial Revival style so using a strong lintel over Classical round or square columns would complete the transformation. It would also help to pull the paired windows apart 3" or more so they would look like traditional windows instead of the modern nail-fin kind they are. I would add a sub-sill to avoid leaks and improve the appearance. Stone is fine as long as it extends to a floor or roof lie instead of stopping in the middle of a wall as if it were superficial decoration instead structural. I'm curious why your architect hasn't tuned the exterior up yet.

That slope looks nice to me. Not sure if they would fix ours but I think I should at least ask. I like that house. We own the property and we are planning to do construction management. The guy who was selling the lots does the management- all of the houses in the neighborhood have been built that way so far. He is able to keep costs down since he has many of the contractors on site since there are a number of houses being built. We were originally thinking we would have the architect bid out the project. We told him our budget before we designed the house. When it was done he got an estimate from a contractor he uses and it was SO beyond our budget (like almost double I think?) we were infuriated. It seems even though we continually stressed that we were on a budget, the architect ignored it. We went to the construction management guy we were originally going to use and he was able to get the cost into our affordable range. From what my husband tells me, the tradeoff is that we are assuming a lot of risk. Which is particularly why I think we need this plan to be as good as we can get it, so things can move quicker once we start. The architect has no relationship with the manager except that we have put them in contact a few times- the manager has been helpful in pressuring him to move along faster. The architect's contract says he will make some site visits and things during building but I don't think I trust him anymore. We are hoping to keep the price down to 550. The manager thinks we can if we stick to the budget. He did price everything out roughly to get an estimate. From what I can tell there is no way to e-mail you directly from this site? I could send you the details then... Since we don't need to bid, I suppose the spec isn't as important. I am just concerned that a contractor might see it and assume it is what we want and move ahead with it rather then asking us. In our current apartment (we are in a brownstone in the NYC area) I see that our windows are not aligned with the door height and it looks fine to me (I never noticed it until this thread, just measured it all to get an idea for the house). We have 8' ceilings, the windows are 6" from the ceiling, 63" or so tall, and the top of the sill is 29" form the ground. That sounds like the same sill height and maybe even windows height that you are describing? I guess that gives me a good reference! So it would basically be exactly what we have here but almost 1' of additional ceiling above the window. Is there a standard or typical sill height?

Hi Abby - I'd be happy to help with your project. Please give me a call or email some details, my contact info is on my profile page. - Eric