A deck on the second floor that cute Dutch Colonial? That would be a mole on a supermodel. And not the sorta cute sorta repulsive Cindy Crawford style mole. The misshapen cancerous hideous kind.

Ouch! Tell me what you really think, Holly. : )

I was afraid of that.

Is it my nomenclature (deck? balcony?), the style or just wrong no matter what? If there any version whereby we can replace the windows with french doors and not be repugnant to the trained eye? : )

Is this photo, which is closer to what we'd do, any less jarring?

{{gwi:1492528}}

Pretty house!

Don't mess with it...

But is aesthetics the only measure here? It would vastly improve the master suite, IMHO. How do you weigh that against the hit to the aesthetics?

Go for it! I like your balcony version (above) with the little round window. The other side of the house has the higher/three windows, with curve in middle. I think the bedroom would look great with the french doors.

How you live in your house is the most important thing! Life is too short, to worry about what the neighbors think :)

Lavender, I haven't seen you in forever? Is this where you've been hiding? How are you?

Hi! I've been gone a lot, with my husband sick...but now he's home (YEA!) and I've been on the forums more. He's doing so much better, but still needs someone home with him, until he gets his balance back. He has some strange form of neuropathy, but the good news is, he's getting better :)

Your house is beautiful! I could definitely imagine you sitting on your new balcony, sipping a drink and looking out at the ocean. What a view!

Well, it is good to "see" you and i am glad your DH is on the mend.

Thanks

If you look at the depth of the porch roof compared to yours, you only have maybe 18"-24" of room for a little juliette style balcony. Certainly not enough room for even a bistro table! I don't think that's enough of a gain to be able to justify altering the existing pleasing facade into something that, well, isn't as pleasing. Not to mention the horrendous headache of potential moisture infiltration issues that such an alteration would create for you. Even if you used ice and water shield over the whole thing, you'd almost have to deconstruct the entire porch, the entire gambreled gable roof, and the exterior wall of the room, to be able to do a good enough job to stand up to Nor'easters or other situations that a coastal home should be able to withstand.

^^^^ Agree.

Unless you extend the veranda, which has its own problems, you have a very narrow space.

It's not worth the hassle

Beautiful home! I think you could do something tastefully that would really make the house for you. Talk to a couple really good architects and see what they come up with. The next guy can always restore it to its original form if they want.

It's your house and it should be the way you want it. I think I would only do it if it could be big enough for maybe some loungers for sun-bathing (if that interests you) and/or at least a small table/chairs with a little room to spare. I would not bother to do french doors with just a railing...don't think you would be gaining that much.

I would consult with architects who work with old homes...then you will get a better sense of what is do-able and what is not.

Gorgeous house BTW....

I am going to say that what you want to do is feasible, and the result does not have to look out of place, if done right.

You need an architect or a home designer that can make a few sketches for you so you can see how it will look and go from there.

You can not place the balcony as shown in your idea pictures because you don not have enough overhang, but you could do something like this pic. or you could add a porch connected to the existing porch to make it look like your idea pics.

Looks like you could place the door between the 2 windows. I have a sample on my Pinterest, it should be on the top of the board (see link).

Here is a link that might be useful: My pinterest board.

Boy that is an option I would look into - I can see that it would be great as a walk out balcony from the master. I guess it would depend on how much space you would gain if done well - is there going to be enough room for seating etc? Consult an architect.

Love the house !!!!! Much better than the previous one you considered. But that being said, once it's yours, do what works for you :) I say that because I have great faith in what you will do based on what you have done! And if after you are done, you don't like it, you can always give it to me ;)

I think it could be done carefully (and expensively) and not look out of place.

Without knowing what the view is from inside, I don't know how much you would gain by dropping the sill height and putting in French doors only to put a balustrade in front of it.

I think the yellow house is diminished by the slider.

My flat roof terrace has a drain that runs through the house and because you are doing something like this over a "dry" area (yours is a porch, mine is a bedroom) there are complexities to getting it right compared to a deck out in the air or a porch over the dirt.

My first homeowner's insurance looked at my house on Google Earth and sent me my check back, because they would not insure completely flat decks or roofs over living space.

When I read the description, I thought YUCK . . . but I liked the picture. I think the key is to keep it small. Just enough space for two comfortable chairs and a small table. Since it's off the master bedroom, I'd see it as a small, private retreat. And definitely it needs to be "tucked into" the roof so that it looks integrated with the whole house.

I also like the picture naf-naf posted, but I like the OP's picture better.

I love Naf-Naf's picture.

You could get away what they did with the yellow house, but it does not enhance the appeal off the house as the balcony of the gray shingle house does.

Just my opinion.

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful and thorough (and honest!) input. It is invaluable.

I didn't notice at first the difference between our house and the yellow house, and the impact that would have on available space for this feature.

I think we will discuss this with an architect, more along the lines of what we are trying to do (add light views and air to improve the MBR), rather than how it might be done, and just see what they say.

If it's on the coast of New England, it's a traditional "Shingle Style Cottage". I see no problem with what you want to do but it will take a skilled architect to make it look right and drain properly. Ice and snow will be the most difficult issue over an unheated space. Much depends on the location.

French doors will not bring light deeper into the room or increase the view, in fact the guard railing will be inserted into the current view (a shingled solid guard with shingles will look best but would seriously reduce the review of the water). IMO the only reason to do it is to be able to sit out there instead of on the porch below.

Nice house.

Thanks so much, Renovator, for your input.