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biondanonima

Resizing window - weird exterior appearance?

I am in the planning stages of a kitchen remodel and am considering a layout which would require one of the windows (on the back of the house) to be made narrower (the layout would have narrow windows on either side of the range). My house (1898 Foursquare) has a stucco exterior, but as luck would have it (maybe), this window is located where I believe the original back door was, under a portico and surrounded by wood framing. Photos:







The existing window is 31" wide and would probably be reduced to 12" or so. The matching 12" window would be approximately 8" from the edge of the door. Would this look super strange from the outside? I would have room to add an additional narrow window on the other side of the door to balance things out a bit (although I was considering widening that doorway for a French door, in which case I wouldn't be able to add the additional window). Obviously I am more concerned about interior function than exterior look, but given that we use the back entrance 95% of the time (parking is in the back), I don't want to destroy the "curb appeal" of the back facade. Thoughts? Thanks!

Comments (13)

  • fridge2020
    3 years ago

    You have currently have a window where a door should be, and a purple door with red trim. There's no curb appeal to destroy. Put some more trash cans in front of it.

  • latifolia
    3 years ago

    Your plan doesn't sound very attractive but maybe you need to do a sketch. Could you move the door back to its original location, fill in the purple door and put the range there with a vent to the outside over it?

  • emilyam819
    3 years ago

    What you describe does sound weird. Take the opportunity to re-do the outside while you are moving windows.

  • suezbell
    3 years ago

    Because of the shelter above the window, It actually appears someone may have swapped the window and door locations. I'd remove the roof over the window and its supports and create trim for both the window and door that match painted white rather than red.


    Budget permitting, consider creating a 6' deep concrete floor porch with a roof that covers both the door and window -- has the door and window centered beneath it. You could center the ridge of a forward facing gable roof for that or create something like this:


    https://www.thespruce.com/porch-ideas-4139852

    biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley) thanked suezbell
  • biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    Thanks all. @latifolia, here is a photo of the entire back facade (taken before we painted the trim this summer), with the windows I am talking about photoshopped in (badly).




    As for the purple door - that is just for fun, while we wait to replace the hideous white vinyl windows. When we do, the windows and doors will all be black or dark charcoal. We could put the door back under the portico, but unfortunately that would really limit the potential layouts for the kitchen, which I'm sure is why the previous owners moved it. The portico actually comes in very handy for keeping my smoker out of the rain, so I'm not opposed to leaving it as is, I am just wondering if there is an attractive (or at least non-offensive) way to frame a very narrow window inside what was obviously once a door opening.

  • latifolia
    3 years ago

    Have you talked to a kitchen designer? Often a good one will come up with ideas you may not have considered.


    Another idea would be to consult an architect about putting a porch across that side of your house. Is it a single family home? Is there space there to add on?

    biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley) thanked latifolia
  • biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    We haven't talked to a kitchen designer yet, but I have gotten a lot of excellent suggestions from the folks here (including some pros). The problem with the old door location is that given the internal foursquare layout, the kitchen connects to all of the other rooms only at the point kitty-corner from the old door, making for an awkward path across the kitchen to get to the rest of the house.


    It is a single family home, but because it is built into a hill, there really is no room for a proper porch on the back. We have an 8' deep concrete patio that butts up against the first of several retaining walls that form the structure of our backyard. That retaining wall could be pushed back, but it would be prohibitively expensive.

  • biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    @suezbell, we have considered adding a porch roof over the back area as you suggest, but it would make the back two rooms (kitchen and dining) very dark. The house faces west so the kitchen has north and east exposure, and with the portico over the east window it is already fairly dim in there. I was hoping to get more light in there with additional windows and/or a French door.

  • Isaac
    3 years ago

    Definitely remove the portico if you are going to change the windows so dramatically. @suezbell has some good ideas.

  • suezbell
    3 years ago

    Have you considered adding a flat or nearly roofed pergola or with green house roofing?


    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481463016415483665/

  • suezbell
    3 years ago

    You could even create a shed roof back porch with greenhouse material.

    biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley) thanked suezbell
  • biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley)
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    @suezbell, thanks so much for those ideas. We have talked about putting a pergola across the back (though not with the clear greenhouse material, so thank you for introducing me to that!), but we felt like removing the portico and repairing the stucco, etc., was probably more trouble than it would be worth. However, if we are going to be changing windows and doing stucco repairs anyway, that would be the time. We wouldn't be able to extend it all the way across, though, unless it were quite tall, because the stairs leading down from our parking area (they lead directly to the portico) would require some headroom. Still, something to think about if we decide we want to change the windows drastically.

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