Oh boy. I just read the "trends you don't like" thread. My house willed be filled with those trends. Ha.

Lol. I read that post too and it really boils down to personal taste. The greatest part about building is that you get to decide what goes in it :) if you love it then that's all that matters (trend or not).

The garage(?) windows look too small; 2 double windows could look a lot better.

I am not sure about that smaller round window. You could try something different there.

Is that a column or some wood panelingl (by the little round window)?
Can you show the floor plan?

If you do not find anyone else, send me an email.

That's true, Karen. And since this will be our third house we've built in addition to three renovations, we definitely know what we like.

naf, we've already made changes to a couple areas including the ones you mentioned. I'll try to private message you so we can exchange emails. Thanks!

I do a lot of that type of thing but I usually use the 3D CAD model and not Photoshop. It would be fairly simple to show some rough ideas in Photoshop like pasting on double doors but I would guess pretty time consuming to try and make it look as real as a CAD program could do.

Colors on the computer are still very hard to get right because monitors vary quite a bit.Often the manufacturers do not provide great sample pictures.

Here is a project I am currently working on - 3 low income house renovations.

And a lot more of my work here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cspics/sets/

But I am about to be on vacation for 10 days.

Chris,
There are things that can be easily done using Photoshop alone.
In most cases, it is best to use AutoCAD (or a similar program) and then, finish the rendering using Photoshop for more realistic texture and colors. The OP requested changes require both programs.

You do not need to use the full Photoshop program. In many cases, Photoshop Elements would do it (it is about $90, well worth it). You should give it a try.

I can not post my work here as it is my understanding that the forum rules do not allow members to promote their jobs.

Yes thanks, I understand how photoshop works I just do not think that it is the best way to do it. It would be fairly crude in comparison to a CAD programs ability to do a near photorealistic rendering which can be viewed from many different angles.

Yeah, I did not actually read the terms of service, I guess if they have a problem with it they can remove it.

Can someone give me a price for creating this for me?

I don't really care what program is used. I just need to decide on an entry door! :)

Based on this photo and a few other photos I found on houzz, I decided on double craftsman doors with heavy trim instead of the sigle door with sidelites and transom.

Part of my reasoning is for privacy, so guests and passersby can't look into our great room since we won't have a separate foyer.

I love the exterior of your house! We are also building a coastal style home (in the pacific northwest) and it sounds like we have a lot of similarities. We just broke ground last week, so we have lots of decisions ahead of us!

I also have Edgecomb Gray as a possible exterior color (with white trim of course!).

I am planning a double door with 3/4 lites in a stained walnut to break up the gray and white.

I will be following your progress, as it looks like you are a bit ahead of us on your build. :)

Here is the exterior elevation of our home (one story with daylight basement):

This will be fun, mommytoty, to follow one another's progress and bounce ideas around! Even though we've built and renovated several times, we kind of forget just how many decisions there were to be made. Kind of like how we forget the pain of childbirth regardless of of the number of kids we have.

Beautiful home!

This is our first build, so we are rookies and learning as we go! :) I'd love to bounce ideas around though! What area of the country are you building in?

We're in West Michigan, building on Lake Michigan. I'm still trying to learn and navigate GardenWeb. Do you have your floor plans posted anywhere?

No, I haven't posted my floor plans. Just joined today (though have been avidly following posts on here for months!). The only electronic version I have is not very easy to read because of all the lines, but I've posted them here. Let me know what you think!

We are a family of 4 with a boy and a girl in grade school. We plan to make this our home until we our kids are out of the house and we decide to downsize/retire. Currently in our (very) early 40s.

I saw your main floor plan in one of your other posts. Do you have the other levels posted?

Well, can't figure out how to post more than one picture at a time, so here is the lower level:

And here is the back elevation!

You will have a beautiful family home. How nice that everyone gets their own bathroom and walk in closets. You've optimized your water view with all those gorgeous windows on both levels. Will you have exterior stairs from upper to lower? Your family will live around that large kitchen island; so much happens right there. It would be nice if you could plan now for water to be run in one of your LL storage areas in case you want kids to someday be able to conveniently do their own laundry. It can be such a big battle/chore, especially since your mudroom will serve many roles.

I wish I could read the dimensions better; it seems nobody's plans upload very clearly on this forum. What's the total length of your kitchen/dining/lining area? In our last house we had more than 50' for this area, and we've cut that back to 40' on this build. I'm a little nervous but it is what it is. I have to keep reminding myself that our goal was to DOWNsize.

Here is my lower level. Changes from what's shown: the closets will be relocated and enlarged, the bathroom enlarged and hardwood throughout. We have a patio out the back with hot tub and large enclosed shower so that in the summer when we have many guests, people can shower outside before coming in from the beach.

My west and north elevations.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments! We are also downsizing from a traditional 4700 sq ft house (with formal living/dining) to 3600 sq ft with a great room design, so it is taking some getting used to, but we really wanted a house where we used every inch rather than having all these extra rooms we rarely used. Our old house was large, but didn't use the space the way I would use it--my laundry room was tiny (a closet really) and the bedrooms were large but the kids rooms had tiny closets. So, with this house, we made made sure the kids still had large rooms like they were used to and got larger closets and their own bathrooms to boot (my son doesn't really care, but my daughter is super excited to get her own bathroom and walk in closet :)). Once they move out, we'll have mini suites downstairs for guests.

The kitchen/dining/living area is 41' long. Looks like we will be working with roughly the same area for those spaces. :) What is the total sq footage of your house? Of our 3600 sq ft, there is about 1930 for the main and about 1670 for the LL. Nice that you were able to fit 3 bedrooms downstairs and still have a nice sized rec room and play area. We will also have a wet bar down in our rec room. :)

Great idea about adding water line in one of the storage rooms for laundry! We do plan to add stairs from the deck outside but just couldn't decide where to place them so figured we would wait to make that decision at the time the deck is being built so we could see what it looks like.

I love that you will have an outdoor shower. Love those! We plan to put a hot tub on the deck right outside the master. Thought about putting it down on the LL patio, but my DH really wants it on the deck. Gotta give in to what he wants every once in a while ;-).