Love both the old and new house!

Hate to see that blue door go, but yes, I think you need an overhang over the new door. :)

Its a porch roof held up by brackets. I think it looks very appropriate.

I love the shape of your door...can you echo that as a pediment? It would be very cool.

And yes, I think your house needs one.

Thanks for the opinions. The blue door will definitely stay and we are working on figuring out a way to echo the shape of the door in whatever structure would go over it. It's the house's original door and one of those charming things that I just love about it.

Definitely.

I would like to see something that is larger, and peaks over the whole left side of the house. I think adding the pediment over the door orly highlights the imbalance between the door and window at one side, the expanse of blank wall in the middle, and then the huge amount of house on the right.

Or perhaps a pergola across the front, echoing the pergola on the right?

I guess what I seeing is extending the front steps and some kind of roof detail to create almost a porch feeling there, to make the lower part of the house all feel connected.

I actually think the "pediment" you have in your drawing is perfect for the house, both as a visual and architectural match, and for size/proportion.

The curvy door will be a nice contrast to the high gothic angles on your house.

I hope the remodel is going well, I've been following it!

Glad you will be keeping the door!

Obviously, I have not been following your remodeling. I have not been very active on this board lately. I am very interested in what you are doing, and would love to know more.

What's in the dormer you will be removing...a bath?

What color will the house be? From the plan, I am seeing a cottage with darker paint or stain for the siding, and stained shingles. White trim and pergola. Kind of like a Craftsman or New England style facade. Roof color?

What ever you do, I am sure it will look great, and I love it so far!

Thanks for the continued replies. I enjoy hearing a variety of opinions and they always give me something to consider.

Newhomebuilder ... I've been posting mostly about the remodel on the Smaller homes board so you can catch some of my posts over there, but here are the quick details:

The dormer is where this all started. It caused a nasty flat spot in the roof that created horrible ice dams and leaking that, according to multiple roofing and insulation pros, would never be completely solved without changing the shape of the roof. There was nothing in those dormers (there was a matching one on the back side of the house). Just unusable space that was 5'3" in the exact center.

The inset photo shows the dormer space. (Sorry for the photo ... I originally used it on my blog and I can't find a separate photo that shows just the dormers).

By removing the roof on the two-story portion of the house and putting it back on higher with shed dormers, we aren't gaining any actual square footage, but we are gaining a lot of usable square footage, allowing us to add a second bathroom to the house.

The house will remain boring all white for the foreseeable future. We will keep the existing vinyl siding and be adding white shakes on the new part. New siding is just not in the budget and there's nothing really wrong with the existing siding, other than perhaps that it's a bit boring. If I were residing it, I'd do light gray siding with white trim (and yes, the pergola on the deck will be white). The roof will be a dimensional asphalt shingle in the charcoal gray area ("Driftwood" by Certainteed).

This is photo from last week showing the new roof pitch.

Which is considerably better than how it looked four days earlier:

What an industrious project! I'd love to read your blog about it if you'd like to share. I think the porch is perfect, but it does look like you will need a downspout in front. Did you ask your architect how to handle the water? The only thing I can think is that you could possibly change the left side of the house to stone or shingles and use the break between the siding and the new facade to install a downspout.

I agree with Les.

I would tend to agree with the few comments that something larger over the door would help balance the large peak on the right. I love the idea of a porch with a peaked roof or a pergola.

I'll talk to the designer today about seeing some larger options on paper for that area. Thanks again!

I really like Les' ideas too. The problem with many houses today is that they don't draw attention to the front door. Also you need to balance the right side of the house. A wonderful book I use to 'talk' to my architect and get my design right is 'Get Your House Right; Architectural Elements to Use and Avoid' by Marianne Cusato and Ben Pentreath. See if they have a copy at the library. It helped me understand why some things don't 'look' right. It's written for the lay person. I pulled out the book last week to figure out how to align our pillars to the mudroom entrance. It would give you ideas for your entrance too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Get Your House Right; Architectural Elements to Use and Avoid

Is this a pediment that will have little depth or is this a gable that will offer some shelter at the front door? I'm working on the assumption that it's a gable but if not, than just ignore what follows!

I'm interested to see what the designer comes up with for larger gable options - somewhat larger might be good but I don't think you need to compete size wise with the addition gable. Not all houses need to be balanced - there is a lot of interest and charm created with 'good' imbalance, if that makes sense. The front door gable size is not the only thing that can make the entry important - it's also in the detail used around the door, like the brackets holding the gable, the landscaping, lighting...... It's a charming house and looks like you are focused on keeping that.

As for the downspouts on the entry gable.... maybe I'm not understanding something but why do you or your DH think that will be necessary? You can have a gable over the entry and as long as it is sized right in relation to the stoop, you or guests won't be getting wet when standing at the front door - other than in a driving rain. Don't put gutters on the gable and the rain sheets off the roof edge, into whatever landcaping or hardscaping you have to the sides of the stoop and stairs. That's how the gable over my front door works and it's never caused a problem. Our entry is an add-on and we went into it knowing we would not put on gutters or downspouts.

Dlm2000, if I understand correctly, it's the front gutter off the main roof that needs to have a downspout. As it is now, it drains down the left side of the house. By adding the porch, a downspout will need to be run somewhere down the front unless there's another solution I don't see.

I agree that the gable looks good... but that you need to address water routing.

How about using one of those chain "downspots" right on the corner of the new porch roof? If the new roof gable/pediment were larger, as has been suggested, it would look even better. There are several homes of a similar New England/Craftsman/Cottage vibe in a high-end neighborhood near here that use the chain spots, and they are soooo cool :)

dlm2000, you are correct .. it's really a gable with some depth (I can't tell you exactly how much depth because I don't have scale drawings here, but maybe 2.5-3 feet or so).

And hoosiergirl, you are also correct, it's the drainage for the main roof that is the issue. What I really don't want is a downspout running smack dab down the front of the middle of my house.

stacey, your idea of a rain chain is a good one and I'm wondering how we might incorporate it. It would be far preferable to a downspout. Can rain chain handle a large amount of water though? There will be a lot of water coming off the main roof there.

I think (although most of the people I'm saying this to are guffawing a bit) that the best case scenario is to run the damn gutter straight through the gable, leaving the downspout off to the left of the door as it is now. If you enclosed that gutter (say, in a PVC tube) to make it water tight in that area, then built a facade around it, couldn't that potentially work?

I think the pediment is called a Portico. I looked at some pictures of them online and there are a few the size you're wanting.

Just do a search on "Pictures of Porticos" and you'll get a lot of ideas!

If you do that search, you'll get some images too. I see one that has a downspout incorporated into it, off to the side of the portico itself.

I live in IL. While I love the idea of the rainchains (saw a cute one at Target) I too wonder if they can handle the typical Midwest deluge.

I love what the architect/designer has created. Have you seen and liked their other projects? If so, don't question their work too much. They might swerve, taking what can be extraordinary features to more ordinary. I think it's all in how you choose to look at the house.

I see it as more of a charming, storybook cottage than most of the houses we see built today. Its quirks and irregularities are its charms. That's what's great about old houses. Or, say, the old places in Europe. As mentioned by dlm2000, other design elements can be used to bring attention to the door and that side of the house. The layout of materials and colors used, moldings and other detail work, landscaping, etc. I also like the blank space on the facade because spots like that can be used decoratively, to advantage. Maybe they could show you some more comprehensive drawings, with color and landscaping added, if you're unsure.

You've got a beautiful and really charming home. I'll be following your blog if I can find it!

Ok - now I see what the gutter/downspout issue is. Inviting water into a space that is supposed to be dry - for example by running the gutter into a PVC pipe through the gable - is never a good idea. The whole idea is to keep water out and away from the house. I don't know what climate you're in but here in Chicago with the whole freeze/thaw thing, that PVC pipe idea would be an accident waiting to happen!

Having a downspout front and center on your house is not ideal from a design standpoint. There has to be an attractive way to handle this - how about a decorative leaderhead? I actually have an antique French tin one that I use as wall decor, so they can be very good looking and a great decorative element. Copper is commonly used and of course weathers so beautifully. It's pricey, but copper gutters and downspouts on the front of your house would be stunning. I have no problem spending YOUR money!!

Dim2000

Ooh copper gutters and downspouts .. now we're talking! Somehow I doubt the pocketbook is liking that talk though. But it would certainly make the downspout issue more palatable.

I'm just north of you up here in Wisconsin (and if we can avoid talking about the Packers/Bears game last night, that would be great) so I hear what you're saying about the freeze/thaw thing.

Spring-meadow, you've done a good job describing our home. It definitely has it's "quirks" which are part of the reason we love it. We definitely want to do right by it.

For those who asked, I've linked to the blog below

Here is a link that might be useful: My Blog -- The Impatient Gardener

Well, duh. If I actually paid attention to screen names the WI part would have been a bit of a clue ;-) Have to laugh at how you addressed me above - D i m2000...... ok so I'm not the brightest bulb! It's D L M - and honestly, I'm laughing, not complaining - can't tell you the number of times I've squinted trying to read names! So you are truly a neighbor - I'm 30 miles from the WI border. Will stroll through the rest of your blog with a cup of coffee on an afternoon when my garden isn't calling me! My plants are on wheels this time of year - too much to move/split and more grass to rip out. My poor back........ On with the pediment/gable talk.

ps - there was a Bears/Packer game? OK, I know about it. Don't care though - not much for sports in general and especially football. That's heresy in WI, isn't it?!

Thanks for updating me on your project!

As I said before, I love your house the way it is, and that included white. We have the Driftwood colored roof by Certainteed.

Going to look at your blog. :)

I have no advice but I wanted to chime in to say how charming your house is!

I like it; it reminds me of the one I built for this house when we were re-siding it.
{{!gwi}}
Yours has even nicer detailing IMO. ( I built it as the architect drew it)
Casey

yes!

sombreuil_mongrel

Thank you for posting that picture ... I absolutely love the looks of it!