For the last couple of days I have been thinking about the exterior design of the house in terms of elements found in our neighborhood. My obsession with this may be the fact that the 3 largest features of the house are not consistent with the other houses. These are:
1. 2 Stories
2. Shed Roof
3. Upstairs Deck
So the challenge is, how would a 2 story, shed roof house with a balcony have been built in 1951 in Crestview. So we’re covering the house with patterns that are found all over Crestview.
This will be better with photos, but for now I’m just taking notes.
1. Notched roof edge, really wide eaves – Firehouse on Grover
2. 12 inch lap siding, 6 inch flat siding – everywhere
3. Mixed siding – many houses
4. double hung windows with wood frame screen – everywhere
5. Casement windows – slightly common, maybe 1/4 of houses
6. mixed casement and double hung – common on all houses with casement
7. painted front door – only replaced doors are wood grain
8. low slope roof, 12:2 – very common and unique to this area
9. carport, no garage – attached garages are very rare
I realized that I had internalized this way of looking at architecture and had completely forgotten about the Christopher Alexander book that got me started. I’m thinking that clearly communicating the features that are designed to match the neighborhood might help with acceptance of the design by my neighbors. Maybe a sign or flyers in the front yard with photos from around Crestview.