Have you considered a shed dormer?

If you make the porch bigger then the roof would extend higher up and raise the dormers slightly. That might take up some of the blank area above the dormers.
But when I look again... Your roof seems too steep or too high. What are your other dimensions. You said 36 wide, how deep. What is the roof pitch?
What is the first floor height and what is the second?
What are your window sizes.

Jen

We are building a similar style. I don't have a current head on photo.

The middle section is about 36' x 39'. Main floor is 9' ceiling height and upstairs is 8' in the middle.

She said the pitch is 12/12 in the middle section and the two outer sections I think are 8/12.

Here's a pic of the main level.

I second the shed dormer idea, however, I am partial to them since I have one on my own house...

Like this?

Here is a link that might be useful: [shed dormer[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-exterior-traditional-exterior-charleston-phvw-vp~54605)

Oh, you picked my most favorite dog trot style house ever! Yes, I like it:). I also think you could consider a shed without a gable for simplicity. You may like the interior roof/ceiling lines the gable provides though.

I like that one but I agree, a simple shed dormer with no gable.

Link to one I like below

Here is a link that might be useful: [shed dormer[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/old-hill-house-traditional-exterior-bridgeport-phvw-vp~1358389)

It does look nice with the gable. I'm not sure if it would work for our plan because of how the rooms are divided upstairs. It might work if it's just a shed without a gable. I need to find a pick of one of those to see if I like it.

Here's our upstairs.

With the upstairs being 36' and needing a window in each bedroom at least, would this be right?

-Start the shed dormer 6' in from each side of the middle section of the house. That would make it a 24' shed dormer right?

The reason I chose 6' was because we need a window in the small bedroom on the left and I just figured it would give that bedroom a little over 4' of the dormer.

If the dormer was 24' we could put in 4 windows. One in the small bedroom, one over stairs (which would be nice) and 2 in the big bedroom. Any suggestion on size of windows?

Do you think this would ultimately cost more or less than what we have on the plan now?

Just saw your post sweetrev - I like that look as well. Thanks for the link!

Do you think it would look weird with so much window on top and just those 2 on the bottom?

The classroom and music room need more windows. They will be dark room as the porch will block some of the light, so another window will make a big difference.

I think if you beefed up the posts and railings on the porch, enlarged the two front windows in the class room and music room, and got rid of the one sidelight on your door (it's awful), you would be pleased with the appearance of the exterior. Try that first before you start messing with the roofline. :)

A narrow dog-house dormer doesn't add much more than a window to an upstairs room. IMO three of them in a row are better suited to a formal colonial house where practical function is traded for historic style.

For this less formal design I would expect to see a more practical use of dormers as others have shown: central large dormer with flanking shed dormers or two dormers connected by a shed dormer or two larger dormers.

I agree with Chispa that the music room and classroom need more windows.
I also think you need some more height to the porch to balance out that roof. How tall are your 1st floor ceilings?

What nini804 said. Also, what height are your windows at under the porch? You may want them to go higher as well.Traditional 6'8" entry doors with no transom above and 9' ceilings leave a lot of blank space above them. When you place the windows at 6'8" as well you have the same problem. You're paying extra for the additional 1' of ceiling height--make the most of it. Add a transom to the door or go with a taller door. The transom look is what Jennybc shows in her pic above. I've attached a pic of ours below where we went with a taller door (it was actually a cost savings vs. a transom for us). Next, go with taller windows, set them higher to match the door and then add additional windows to the two front rooms.

Looking at window placement across the front of the house, what if you did twin windows in the front room and divided windows in the master and garage? It would allow for better natural light distribution across the garage, and it would allow for more furniture placement options in the master. On the other hand, you could do like Jennybc's house and have split windows in the front rooms and keep the twin windows in the garage and master. The way the windows are now, they appear low & squatty as well as unbalanced given the wall space available, so either option would help balance things greatly. I would delete the window on the side wall of the master in either case--it uses up valuable wall real estate, makes the room asymmetrical, & pushes the bed off to one side.

Your dormer window size looks right to me. I would not change them as long as they meet egress code. They appear to come down onto the porch roof from the angle of the picture--they need to slide up so the bottom line of the dormer lines up with the transition point from main roof to porch roof. Dormers seem like they should be an easy housing component to design, but as you look around at houses with dormers, you see how difficult it can be to get the size, proportion, positioning, window size, and overhangs just right.

If you wanted to go with the gable shed dormer look or even a traditional shed dormer look, you could add egress windows to the bedrooms on the side of the house vs. the front of the house. I can't remember who it was right now, but someone else had a thread on the 'Building a Home' forum not so long ago with a gable like the one in the linked pics above. One of the things they were exploring in the thread was window placement in the gable. It may be worth searching for. I'll repost if I remember who it was.

Hope this helps!

Thanks! She just sent me new pics with updates. I posted in the forum.