Need window size, number and placement help

9 years ago

Hi everyone: We are hoping for some ideas on how many windows, what size windows and where to place the windows in our new home. As you will see in the attached file, There is a window at the top of the house. That window is in a great room. We were thinking of putting 2-double hung windows together (similar to the window at the top of the house), and leave it at that. Those windows would each be 36 inches wide so the 2 of them together would be 6 feet wide. The house is 26 feet wide with a 6 foot wide front porch. So I guess we would be working with about a 20 foot wide wall area between the front door and the left side of the house. We are also thinking about the possibility of installing shutters. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! P.S. We are trying to keep the costs down by avoiding the use of bay or bow windows.

Featured Answer

Architectrunnerguy

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Your elevation has been pinned up on my wall’s “to do” section for quite a while along with some other Houzz stuff but finally got a chance to look at it this weekend.

You mentioned costs so regarding those: On Houzz, a fair number of posters write “I want my house to look great, but don’t want to spend any/much money”. In this wacky world we live in, generally if there’s no/little money budgeted for an endeavor, the result is c**p.

So, with that said, here, I know the framing for that box bay will be about $300 in labor and the metal roof (better then asphalt shingles in such a small area) will be another $300. Probably an extra $500 in all the other stuff so figure on a grand +/-. We put this level of stuff on very cost sensitive housing all the time in “for profit” housing where budgets are always a major concern. You have the same choice as those builders do, spend a little extra money now or not spend a little extra money and live with the poor result. And the bracket supported door cover I show in all likelyhood costs LESS than the columns and the out of scale portico so that will help.

And interestingly, while the bay window shown not only adds some very much needed relief to the front, it also provides a nice little shelf in the inside, conveniently located next to your eating area. The extra glass area is about 5 SF. The additional glass helps not only the elevation, more importantly, it gives more needed daylight into your interior north facing kitchen.

And as an unrelated aside, normally we like to orient the living spaces to the rear of the house so to connect to potential outdoor private living spaces better. On your lot that would be ideal as the rear faces south. The kitchen and eating area would get more light, it would be away from the wind and it looks towards nature and woods instead of the street, asphalt, concrete, cars and other houses.

Now, don’t get hung up on plan specifics of the plan below (all I could find in my files quickly) as it’s not anything like you want so look past plan details and focus the plan concept of showing how living spaces can be oriented to the rear. And simply organizing the house that way doesn’t ADD A DIME to construction costs.

Hope this helps and the best of luck in your build. Exciting times!!