prgallinda

What to do about hideous pipes over front door!!!

Linda
3 years ago

Hello! My first post on here asking for advice! We have a very lovely, modest (2144sf) home on the water in the California delta area. Unfortunately, we also have one of the saddest entry doors in the neighborhood. I'm looking to go from this:


to something like this (a neighbor's new front door) (but maybe a single sidelight and slightly shorter transom if needed to fit my space):



My husband and a friend will probably be doing most of the work as we don't have a ton of $ for remodel projects. Stepson is a plumber. The issue I need help with - WHAT TO DO WITH THE UGLY PIPES OVER OUR DOORWAY? I think moving them is not going to be feasible - due to cost partly but mostly due to not sure where/how it could be done. The pipes seem to be coming from the upstairs storage in the garage (left side) to a narrow space of attic in the house (right side). The attic space is small because most of house has high vaulted wood tongue-in-groove ceilings. I believe these pipes are going into the attic over about a two-foot wide space above the closet in the guest bedroom. There used to be a pergola along the walkway (left, along the garage) that went all the way across the entryway under the pipes and attached to the house on the left, but it was dilapidated, crooked and ugly, so we took it down. Unfortunately, this was part of the placement of these pipes was part of the original design as I've found two other models of our house in our little town and both have these pipes. One of the other houses with in this model brought the roofline forward and down and stuccoed over the whole thing (no access to pipes if needed and can't have a transom window in that situation). I believe the other house left the walkway pergola up and has something similar to the original door I think. I'm really wanting the transom as we have beautiful inviting vaulted ceilings I'd like to show off to welcome visitors as they enter our home and I would like to bring more natural light in. I've thought about vines? or boxing it off with something more decorative? I welcome all ideas, pictures and resources. Thank you!

Comments (11)