Window Sizing and Placement on New Build
I’m new to this site, but wish I’d found it much sooner! I’m hoping for input mostly on windows sizes and placement on these plans. I’m very wordy but don’t know the house building lingo so hopefully this makes sense.
This is our first and hopefully only time building a house. We live in a house smaller and much more poorly laid out than this right now, so this is ample space for our family of three. I believe these plans are approximately 1850 sqft of living space.
The main living areas of the house, great room if you will, will be 10 foot ceilings. I’m also looking for input on whether it’s practical and worth the money saved to have all of the bedrooms, kitchen, and utility rooms be only 9 feet. We live under an 8 foot ceiling now and 10 seems so excessive to me for bedrooms/kitchen. Would we be able to save money by having lower ceilings in those rooms? Can anyone give a ballpark figure?
The major questions I’m having are about the windows. I’m having a LOT of trouble visualizing bc we currently live in a weird little old house with 6ft long by 2ft deep windows running at the top almost near the roof line. They’re awful and we get no light. But bc our house is so small, I can’t adequately visualize how big the windows on this new house plan should be, and where.
If the bedrooms have 9 foot ceilings (assuming we stick with 9 cuz I don’t even wanna THINK about how it would change if we did 10), what is practical for window sizes? I’d prefer the windows in the front to be much shorter and higher sitting obviously than the windows in the back of the house. But even 4’x4’ seems huge for a bedroom (like I said- only have our current house to go by), let alone 6’x5’, which is what I put on the two pieces of the house that stick out. The architect originally had two smaller separate windows in their places, but aesthetically we prefer the look of one larger window. Which is why I’m thinking slightly shorter and wider, so that the window can sit comfortably higher than furniture etc.
Then there’s the windows in the back. We want tall thin windows there. There I feel like possibly even 6’6 windows might actually NOT read as tall in a 10ft room. I also can’t shake that I don’t like the 2 windows together, then the 4ish foot space and another window coupled with a door. I would personally prefer to move the door to the corner closest to the master bedroom, then space, then 3 windows together. Partner doesn’t like this idea but reasoning is unclear. My guess is that this 4ish feet of space is where the TV would sit and he’d like that to be the middle of the “room”? (I say “room” bc I don’t actually think any real separation between the dining and living areas is necessary. We will probably have a small 4 seat table in the dining area that won’t take up much space. In which case, can we take out the notch thingies separating these rooms? Are those signifying structural beams or is this something on these plans for aesthetics?) An alternative idea I’m floating is double glass doors to the back porch instead of a door and a window. That sounds expensive- I’m assuming doors are much more expensive than windows? Would that be more aesthetically pleasing?
Background on these plans: We got these plans from our builder. I tweaked the plans a bit, moved the kitchen into an enclosed space, and slightly adjusted some room sizes. The plans went back to architect for computerization, and now I could use some advice on the windows. We were told to draw what we’d want AESTHETICALLY. The architect we’re working with (via the builder-we’re totally new to this) does not put a ton of aesthetic thought into the work, at least not what my type A personality needs.
House/location information: Not sure what information is relevant but we live in very south Louisiana. The house will be built on pilings. The house is a regular house- I don’t know the options for house styles? The land is flat and the lot is about 100x100ft.
I’m obviously not an architect. Please let me know if any other info is relevant.
Thank you so much for reading!
Comments (15)
5 years ago- 5 years ago
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PRO5 years agoI'd rethink the plan. All I did here is flip the right side to give you a visual, but it would obviously require more work. I would also work to move the hall bath so it has a window.
This puts the utility spaces like the laundry close to the bedrooms, and most important, opens up the living area so it has windows on 3 walls. The west wall will need shading.
Lovely Day thanked PPF.- 5 years ago
@Scott B why are you being so rude in every response? Are you ok? I literally traced the plans. I can’t find the version that I traced, but it’s very similar to this. I’m not trying to design a house by committee. I’m looking for advice on windows. I also prefaced saying I didn’t know the lingo so I’m so sorry I said “deep” instead of “high.” Please let me know if there’s anything else o can do to help you.
- 5 years ago
4 years ago
cpartist