Front door not centered under portico

4 months ago

We are renovating our home. Our front door currently faces the side and we are turning it to face forward. In that process, it leaves out door off centered. We cannot move the window to the left of the door as that is the living room window. Also, there is a covered porch on the left side of the house and the area to the left of the front door is what provides access to the covered porch from the front door (see side elevation below for clarity). Any ideas of how to make this look better? Or does it seem ok? Thanks!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

PRO
HALLETT & Co.
4 months ago
Your house is asymmetrical and always will be. No one perceives a door off-center in person the way it looks in a drawing. Curved path, great landscaping, door off center within porch will be a non issue.
April Bernstein Galena thanked HALLETT & Co.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 months ago
I do not find it bad or really off center The window to the left helps and the bigger window and the garage door add to the balance no symmetry needed MY concern is the stone look around the upper windows IMO stone on a home needs to look like it was needed for support not slapped on with no thought If you want that stone there thn it needs to have stone under it to make sense . Why 2 different window tops on the upper floor?
April Bernstein Galena thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
Related Discussions
Entry Lanterns...off-centered or centered w/ off-set front door?
Q
Comments (7)
I think that you should only consider sight lines. In your case everyone will be coming in the door and presumably looking dead ahead. you'll get the most bang (since I assume you'll have some fabulous fixture in your entry) if you centre the lights on the door. Also a centred light viewed through the transom windows above a front door is a great warm greeting from the street (if your door is surrounded by glass). I went through the build process recently myself (moved in two months ago) trust me, you can't over think this stuff. There are tiny details all over the place now that I wish I had given more consideration. They don't spoil the experience of my new house, it's not that bad, but they do draw my eye in over and over and over. One of those niggling issues is my dining room light fixture which is centred on the dimensions of the room per plan, but does not account for the fact that the dining room opens to both a hall and my foyer so visual appears much bigger.
...See More
Off center front door
Q
Comments (36)
It seems to me that the plan needs to be revised. The center bearing wall needs to be retained where possible or posts shown in the bathroom, pantry etc. As for the off-center front door, I would center it, add sidelights, add wood columns and find another location for the hall closet. It doesn't have to be next to the front door. I would try to create a more formal entrance to the dining room. I would also move the door to the bathroom to the hall out of sight of the dining room for the comfort of guests. Is a shower really needed for this floor? I don't see a guest room.
...See More
Front door faces wrong way AND not centered...on a huge square porch.
Q
Comments (37)
Re: painting, just remember this is not a room it is your exterior. Whatever color you paint it should go on your other exterior (non brick not trim) surfaces unless you close it in and screen/wall it. Just for fun, I really love this where steps go all the way around instead of railings. My deck is like this, I love it. It would look great in brick like this, with the brick pillar as well. Also like these, although any work like this seems like a great opportunity to face the stairs to the street as has been mentioned : ^^ no double columns for you (too fancy) but I love the brick walls and stair railings ^^Forget the style of the beams but the brick pillars at base of stair with white/cream railing returning to simple white posts would be nice What not to do: bulky pillars are all wrong for the house^^ ^^awesome with simple railing
...See More
Is the front door off center? Need opinions in new contruction design
Q
Comments (64)
Well...I don't want to get into the "corners are expensive" discussion. It's pretty clear that a few well chosen corners, within reason, which enhance the overall design of a house are certainly worth doing...and as far as expenses of corners, look at many of the builder's houses: they are full of corners, so obviously corners are not cost prohibiitive at all. The cry, "corners are expensive; reduce the number of corners for a better design" is simply an over-rated consumer generalization which really can't pass the test of strong design and construction. As far as what sort of design devices make sense for strong architectural design, eveything depends on the architect's intent for the design. One cannot generalize about design tools. There are probably no universally applicable design tools. For example, design tools one might use for a Colonial Revival design may be far different than those one might use for an International School design. All architects know this. I completely agree that too many and/or inappropriate details will distract from the strength of a design. This is why strong architectural design take both creativity and experience. As far as the OP's posted design, it is simply too vanilla and unappealing for me. All of the posted illustrations help to make the design stronger and more interesting; each has aspects worth further exploration. What we are seeing is the difference between a consumer posting a design, and the designs of creative and experienced professionals. This is a good thread, and I hope it's educational and helpful for the OP.
...See More
ci_lantro
4 months ago
The eyebrow over the left widows on the 2nd floor bothers me. Needs to match the other window on the right side.

I'm assuming the cladding around both of those windows is stucco?

The front door & portico looks good. No need to change that, IMO.
April Bernstein Galena thanked ci_lantro
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
4 months ago
last modified: 4 months ago
Taking away some of the embellishments on the house could only help it.

You probably can't fix the placement of the garage door but here it is centered under the window.
April Bernstein Galena thanked BeverlyFLADeziner
April Bernstein Galena
Original Author
4 months ago
Despite the fact that I don't have an updated elevation, we have changed the eyebrow over the left 2nd floor window to an pointed roof (sorry I don't know the technical name) to match the right side of the house. Thought I do like it flat like Beverly's pic above. Another change we made was instead of stucco/stone around the window, we were going to do a white decorative panel (see inspo pic below for the concept)
PRO
HALLETT & Co.
4 months ago
Great, house is too small for three siding materials (frankly I would skip the stone too)
cat_ky
4 months ago
The one post under the portico bothers me, as it is right in front of the window. Can that be fixed so that the one post can be removed. I dont like all the stone either. I see no reason for it. The house will be way to busy.
April Bernstein Galena
Original Author
4 months ago
We cannot move that post in front of the window. If you look at the side elevation it supports the part of the roof that is over the front door. We were thinking about removing the stone so appreciate the feedback there!
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 months ago
I would not add those fancy trims around the windows . I am not sure that changing that post would be an improvement. I am happy to here you changed tha window up top and are removing the stone but do not replace that with that decorative trim leass is more IMO for sure on exteriors . I think seeing the actual house coluld be a really huge help for sure . Post the pics here in a comment DO NOT start another post .

Front door not centered under portico

Comments (9)

HALLETT & Co.

Patricia Colwell Consulting

Related Discussions

ci_lantro

BeverlyFLADeziner

April Bernstein Galena
Original Author

HALLETT & Co.

cat_ky

April Bernstein Galena
Original Author

Patricia Colwell Consulting

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Front door not centered under portico

Comments (9)

HALLETT & Co.

Patricia Colwell Consulting

Related Discussions

ci_lantro

BeverlyFLADeziner

April Bernstein GalenaOriginal Author

HALLETT & Co.

cat_ky

April Bernstein GalenaOriginal Author

Patricia Colwell Consulting

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

April Bernstein Galena
Original Author

April Bernstein Galena
Original Author