Actually I have seriously considered building a home of light clay and may do so someday. Ideally we should not be building with materials that will not, when we are done with them, be able to return to components that existed in the environment before we intervened. Stone, wood, metal, even ceramic or concrete can eventually break down to ancestor substances. Many plastics will not. The ones I personally object to most vigorously are the vinyls and the styrofoam-related ones. On the other hand, plastics can do wonderful things that other materials simply cannot match. My personal code is that they should be used only when they are the best material, and not when they are merely the cheapest. But I do not make decisions for others, or even want to. You will note that I said what I would do, not what Larimie should do. (In fact, it is just now that I am noticing what an old thread this is. By now the decision has long since been made.) As always, each person must make his or her own decision. It is a wide world, and there is room for difference of opinion. Rosefolly

keep the ideas coming. geokid--since the mudroom is to corral 4 people's shoes and coats in very cold and snowy New England--keeping them in the garage is not an option for me, too cold, dirty and dusty. The picture is lovely, but realistically, it would be that clean only once. :) When we redid the kitchen/FR, I added a "built in" wardrobe/coat cabinet just inside the garage entry into the house that matches the kitchen and built-in around the FR fireplace as my answer to lack of mudroom/coat closet space. Shoes still end up in a pile inside the door, though the coats do often make into the cabinet. It's a solution that never really worked. snookums--the second has a gable roof over the porch to break up the rooflines. would love to hear your thoughts on window placement! The siding I am leaning towards is a vinyl shingle in a medium to dark grey with white trim. I want as low maintenance as possible--roof would be prob a dark grey. The current siding is cheap white vinyl over what we think its T1-11 from some work we had done. I'm tired of the clapboard look, but still, nothing definite. More eyes really help me. But all this may be a seriously moot point as they are proposing a casino in the next town--about 4 miles from my house, and they just had a really heavy hitter sign on to partner it. I can only imagine the property values plummeting if it goes through. thanks

You're right Kevin. Also, I was paying some attention to the other old homes in the area and I noticed a few other colonials with the same verticak detail, and one house with the same door and tiny window set up...go figure, the house was all white. The more I think about it, I will not include the trim around the small vertical windows in the trim color. I will keep them the same color as whatever the house will be painted. I think it will be less distracting.

Looks like a good start. When you design the new windows for balance, also design the interior window coverings. With triangular window tops, planning in advance can make a wide variety of options possible. That is, if you are going to have curtains, leave stackback space for when they are open. If you will have blinds, make sure there's space for them to pull up. If you are going to get stationary custom blinds to partially cover the windows, think about where the stationary part will end relative to where your eyes will be.