BEFORE THE ARCHITECT – CONCEPT HOME DESIGNING
Craftsman: Farmhouse, Front Porch Designs
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In the genre of the Arts and Crafts Style Movement, this structure is a Craftsman Style-influenced farmhouse that has been altered here and there over the years, that is, it has characteristics of a Craftsman Style Home - likely fewer than in the original. Some farmhouse design points attract and hold our attention to the home designing genre — mixed exterior materials (for size and orientation, and widths within wood alone), big overhang at the eaves and gables, triangulated roof support brackets, mixed slopes wherein each is symmetrical within itself but between them they are different.
We'll bare this to the bone with a makeover that will cost fractions of what it could, and still alter the appearance substantially and in the home designing direction from whence it cometh, in order to respect the Craftsman and farmhouse roots and, in the offing improve both appearance and function with front porch designs.
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The area with which we'll be working is a 23' gable end story-and-a-half, facing east to the streetside. Plan views follow of what is, what stays, and what's added.
This is in plan view of what is for starters. The front face is vertically planar overall, except for a small, enclosed vestibule, or enclosed passage, or double-door entry. This is north country where it gets mighty cold. Steps lead to a small landing before the initial exterior doorway.
So as to make room for our new front face, we'll demolish the enclosed passage and steps, leaving the entire front face on one vertical plane. This in plan view is what's left after the haul-away is hauled away.
This is not a big demo deal. It should take a small dumpster and a couple of demo-hogs a morning.
Now, we've wiped the slate clean to start anew.
From this last in-plan view, take with you the concept that we're adding 6' of porch along the total length of the front wall. That's all you really need in order to move along. The house plan details are coming up once we switch to a 2d elevation and work on optional home design. This is in plan view of what will be, regardless of the alternative home design house plan details chosen to further substantiate front wall changes.
The reason that this is looking so simple in the home drawing? It is simple. The AG has eschewed complexity and expense in the totality of this home design. Because of the specific functional demands to be made of this space, the structural modifications and add-ons need not be either categorically numerous nor financially draining. But simple and cheap does not have to mean thinly marginal alterations and an ugly construct.
See for yourself.
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Here are views in elevation. Several. This first one is more or less that with which we started, before demo.
Told you so. Simple farmhouse face. Shed dormered on the south side to loose the confines of the rafter lines. Mixed vertical and horizontal siding (likely not in the original, but in keeping with the style). Note the unadorned roof brackets, and the humongous overhangs. Missing from these views are the exposed rafter tails – either real or faux – that run the eaves.
We already know that the entry is going away, leaving only one front-facing door, not two. And we know that the client is partial to a porch; however, it's not so much for using, rather for seeing. That plays well to the land available (not much, forward) and the gable-end constraints to roof structure upon which we touch in a moment.
Let's see the elevation with a porch consistent with the style. We'll reside the front, horizontal clad with a 4" exposure in accord with the likely intentions of the client. This is the in-elevation with the big diff; the other elevations to follow work off this basic look.
The old boy forgot to say anything about the windows. They're the same windows as before, but don't look it. It's that style thing again. Craftsman windows almost always have muntins (often with smallish glazes) over and open glaze under. In this instance, the geez split that 50/50. He cuts it closer to 25/75 in a later pic. Muntins of one sort or another can be retrofitted to virtually any window on earth by a competent carpenter. They're an inexpensive way to make anybody take a second look at the visual difference.
Of course, the entry door can stay, or it can go to be replaced with one better insulated. And it will be covered 6' forward.
Starting from grade level, the stairs are the same width as before, in the same orientation to the home structure as before, just a little farther out. They can be built of any suitable material. The rise drawn is 7", equal to existing. While not drawn, the stair width alone would generally require a handrail on both sides, most appropriately carpentered consistent with the porch railing.
The post, rails, and balusters are all to be squared, not rounded. No curves, arcs, and curving arches. The handrail is drawn at 36" over plank top of face. The balusters are drawn as 1"x1" (nominal) at no greater than 6" on center. The finished porch floor elevation is about 21" over grade, and can be adjusted in the field. Posts, rails, balusters, and all framing up through to and including the porch planks must be pressure-treated lumber overall, and their fasteners must be of an exterior grade. Space the planks at 1/16". Limit plank overhang to no greater than 3" unsupported.
This pic has a fascia, as do most others to follow, except one. In keeping with the style, it would be more representative of the home design type to let the rafters exposed, and, in the case you cannot resist a fascia, then fake exposed rafter tails.
The roof is pitched just a tad over 4-in-12. This is where the bind would have come had the client wanted a deep porch on which to party. We've only so much elevation on the front face house-wide, and this home drawing supposes to use it all. As the AG reckons it, that's about 2' up and 6' out, or 4-in-12. Please sheath and finish this low slope accordingly.
A wider porch would require a higher lift to the roof-to-existing wall joint. On site, there may be a bit more height with which to play. And there's nothing to keep you from running the porch roofline in from the north and south wall lines. Just be cognizant that in so doing, there's not a lot home designing authority behind you; Craftsman style porch gables simply do not run those lines, not that the AG's ever seen. Having cut you off at the pass, let's lay out an escape route: if you went up that wall farther with the roof joint, say for a bigger porch or you couldn't help yourself, and the roof joint line started to shrink up, you could hip the ends. Hip roofs are friends of this style. Call it an elaboration. Astound your family and friends.
One last point about the gable roofline of the new porch. Gustav Stickley himself would likely have been first to tell you, "Pick a slope, any slope. Simply be symmetrical." It just so happens that the slope of this gable end roofline is dictated by the rise of the porch roof and the width of the stairs from grade.
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Let's see what a difference a window configuration makes. Here's the exact same elevation as that with which we worked just now, except the windows are stylized another, style-consistent way. The glazes seem to appear smaller and higher; the open glaze is much larger.
Again, please note that we only altered the retrofitted muntins to make this difference in look, still staying within the home design style.
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Our last two shots are of home design house plan details as simple as that change in muntin arrangement, and just as remarkable in how curbside appearances alter with even slight modifications using house plan details.
Here's the same elevation (larger panes over), this time with the more stylish rafter ends exposed at the eves.
And, finally, the same elevation with shutters. Now shutters are not exactly au courant with Stickley and Greene. Then again, shutters are not exactly wrong, either. You just don't see much of them in this home designing genre. Once in a while, not often. The AG put them on because the client is partial to them, and because he could.
The drift with these shutters from a home design viewpoint is to keep them fairly narrow, in order to accentuate some height, or really stump them out boldly. Nothing average, thank you. The AG notes that there isn't a fawning move in this home design concept. Say you want to overstate the posts? Go ahead. Beef the rail? Go ahead. Expand the rake's width quite a bit? Go ahead. Got some stone you want to add here and there. No problem.
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Well, there you have it. Something for everyone on this lean list. Pick and choose. None of it's pricey for labor or materials. You can do some now, some later. Aided by powerful home design and home building savvy going in, you can come out with most of your bank account and a home that really doesn't look the same. It looks better. And it's got a story of style to inspire.
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