Is there a more cohesive image of the proposed exterior instead of a cut and paste conglomerate?

What amess get a proper picture of that exterior and boy if that is it , it is all wrong. A pic of the house as it stands right now is how you will get help.

You sure do want a 20M house to look like you spent 10M.

Well I’m not an architect and I’m trying to see what kind of doors I want to use? Why the rude comments?

Need help choosing doors

It will be a difficult task with only a color palette in trying to make the elevation look "soft transitional European." The bones of the house isn't doing any favors for that, I would say the alliteration of dormers and overall proportions of them don't lend well to that style. Your cut-n-paste render actually has slightly better proportions.

I like the taupe better than black, which is too stark and too trendy. You could split the difference with a bronze, though. I like this door

Keller Custom Home · More Info

I think windows in your garage doors would be good, too.

Thank you for the suggestions please help the make this better. The order from windows left to the right (guest,laundry,staircase,office,closet)

If you have suggestions of window placement - the exterior will be an all white brick.

Do you think there should be Parisian metal roofing over certain elements, should we have a balcony? Should we do the black iron sores

Doors**

Lauren, I'm sorry a couple of people made such dismissive-sounding comments. I'll go out on a limb and guess that they were reacting to the image and description and didn't intend to be rude to you personally—but in your place I'm pretty sure I'd take it personally too.

I do think the cut-and-paste graphic obscures more than it illuminates, but now that you've posted a clean drawing of the exterior, you're starting to get more useful feedback. I hope that in the end you get what you need. Hang in there!

Is there no architect involved here? Or is the design as Frankenstein butchered cut and pasted? The large amount of investment that a home like that requires, in that location, also requires an actual investment in real architect.

Money spent up front on design is what saves money during the build, and for the life of the home. Money unspent on design is not ”saved”. It is spent over and over and over on cut and paste bad designs that you are forced to live with. Design is only secondarily about the pretty things decorating the space plan. The organizational space response that fits the property comes first.

Still designing. Recommend any programs I can use on my own?

I have a real architect.

I would have your architect create the renderings based on what is possible - not being harsh I just don't think it will be helpful to have you noodle with the design.

In my mind, the owner's job is to think very critically and very specifically about how they will use the rooms/space in the home - making that come to life is your architect's job

Are we being pranked? Must be. That is NOT a house that anyone can remotely "design on their own". Not even close. You don't even understand how ludicrous that is. That location will have some very onerous hoops to jump through. You'll need 14 different engineering reports and impact statements to start. No homeowner will have a clue. Hire an architect. Even with professional help, don't look to move in until 2030.

A drafter with a gaming computer and a marketing degree, living in his mom’s attic, is not going to cut the mustard here. No how, no way. Find a local CA licensed architect whose work shows breadth and depth. Put down the 500K retainer to get started with all the many reports needed to start to design a house. Playing paper dolls doesn’t help you at all here. It is a disservice to your expectations of what is physically possible, and budgetarily possible.

Or go buy an existing home. It is much cheaper to do that.

Craig S Hampton is not an architect. Architects are licensed in the states in which they practice. If he represents himself as an "architect" check your state licensing division and talk to them about him.

Look, you instinctively know that you got conned by that derivative McHack, and he isn’t a real architect. Otherwise you wouldn’t be doing any of the playing around yourself. That is so NOT what happens when you have a person of talent driving the process!

Cut your losses here. It’s a sunk cost. You cannot move forward and get what you need, with a terrible McHack design. . You need someone else. A real licensed someone else. More importantly, you need a real talented someone else.

https://www.cab.ca.gov/cons/archs/lic_search.shtml

I know you didn’t ask, but I find the exterior busy, not calm.

Too many dormers and the inclusion of the arched window and entry door doesn’t seem to go with the style of the main windows. Since you’re still in the design phase, you may want to consider revisiting the exterior, unless what you have shown is what you like.

Good luck. I know how tough the design is. I’m adding an addition and I’ve struggled with so many decisions. Fortunately, the process is going slowly so with some good recommendations from the design team, I’m getting something far nicer than was initially planned.

Lauren, the genuine architects on this thread have pointed out, quite rightly, that you do not have an architect. I have looked at Hampton's website, and in the pictures I see an awful lot of egregiously-"designed" McMansions, rife with details that are unrelated to function, and equally unrelated to each other, and a lack of concern about proportion. Your drawing doesn't look quite so bad, but it doesn't (IMO) look good.

I will not say that every architect is perfect, nor that you cannot, in the end, get an architect-designed house that does not meet your needs and your aesthetic preferences to your satisfaction. But you will put the odds vastly in your favor so far as function and safety is concerned if you get a genuine architect on your team, and you will probably come out ahead on aesthetics as well.

If you want to, you can start a useful educational journey here: https://mcmansionhell.com/101

I am not myself an architect, nor a formal student of architecture. I'm not a designer. I have a lay interest in home design, a genuine desire to be helpful, and a lot of opinions. I say this so you can consider the source in deciding whether what I say is worth anything to you.

I'm sorry to say this, but I think what you've got right now is a real stinker in the making. In your place, I would not keep throwing good money after bad. I'd find a genuinely qualified, licensed architect and start over.

You can go with Urbane Bronze SW instead black or taupe trim.

We do not know the context of how this design came to be the OP's. The OP may have paid for only a standard plan that the designer made a few changes to, and the OP would select finishes on their own. That is a common scenario. Not all services include specification of every finish or renderings. What is important is that the OP gets what they want, regardless of who does it. The OP may want to do it on their own, so the mob should put their torches down at least until you hear the call of "Vive la France."

What I tried to point out earlier is that the design does not seem to fit the look that the OP desires. Most styles of houses do not define themselves only in colors and tchotchkes, it is inherent in the flow of the floor plan, the proportion of elevations/windows/roof massings, slopes of roofs, types of finishes, etc. And to complicate it, "European" has many eras and differing traits if there is a look the OP aligns with. Examples of inspiration from the OP would greatly help us help her.

He is an architect and we are trying to find the right exterior look.

I checked each state he claims to have designed houses in (California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii) and each state does NOT show Craig S Hampton as being licensed in their state.

If you care to check for yourself here is the site I used:

https://www.ncarb.org/get-licensed/state-licensing-boards/architect-lookup

Many states have laws against practicing architecture without a license or claiming to be an architect in any way. You may want to contact your State Police.

Be careful. He is not an architect by definition in any state, and it may be illegal in your state for him to call himself an "architectural" designer. Here is part of what the California Architect's Board has to say about it:

"California Law: Defines the practice of architecture as the planning of sites, and the design, in the whole or in part, of buildings or groups of buildings and structures. Any person who uses the title of "architect" (or any term confusingly similar) or advertises to provide architectural services in California must be licensed as an architect by the Board. The Board has a helpful Design Limitations Chart for Professionals that specifies the types of projects that may be designed by an unlicensed individual. It also specifies the limitations placed on other licensed design professionals." See https://www.cab.ca.gov/docs/publications/can_i_call_myself_architect.pdf

This is for your protection.

Tell your designer to get licensed in your state. It only takes about nine years.

Because being a FRAUD is how you get to be a state licensed architect? Nope. Education. Years of monitored work, and a state test is how you claim that very difficult to acquire title.

Very carefully skirting around the state controlled licensed title is intentional and meant to deceive. Marketing yourself as something you are not IS fraudulent, and also prosecutable. That alone proves that ethics are not on board. The poor quality of the drafted end product, and a homeowner scrambling to DIY the job of a professional proves that not enough architectural education is on board. No matter what he tries to call himself and to say he is something that he is not, he is NOT it.

And it's totally weird that so many are defending that fraud. If this was a "nurse" who is actually a medical assistant in a nursing home, people would be up in arms. Same thing. Someone claiming to be a professional that they are not, is not kosher. The product of work produced shows deficiencies, and that should be enough to discharge him, without the fraud.

I’d take a $1 bet that an offshore Fivver drafter was paid $1.98 to copy the above home. Unsuccessfully. With much generation loss of a less than ideal form to begin with.

I just viewed Craig S. Hampton's website, and nowhere does he claim to be an architect. I also read the Design Limitations Chart for Professionals, and it states that an unlicensed individual may design a single family home of not more than two stories plus a basement. So if he hasn't been cited in 30 years by the state of California I think it may be okay.

Know your state law as it pertains to the practice of architecture. According to California State Law anyone claiming to be an ”architectural” Designer or "Design Professional" must be licensed to practice architecture in the state. There are also state laws that regulate the "sealing" of drawings that were not prepared by the licensed individual.

In Michigan:

(1) A plan, plat, drawing, map, and the title sheet of specifications, an addendum, bulletin, or report or, if a bound copy is submitted, the index sheets of a plan, specification, or report, if prepared by a licensee and required to be submitted to a governmental agency for approval or record, shall carry the embossed, printed, or electronic seal of the person in responsible charge.

(2) If the overlapping of the professions of architecture and engineering is involved in a project, a licensed architect or licensed professional engineer who seals the plans, drawings, specifications, and reports may perform services in the field of the other practice if the services are incidental to the architectural or engineering project as a whole.

(3) A licensee shall not seal a plan, drawing, map, plat, report, specification, or other document that is not prepared by the licensee or under the supervision of the licensee as the person in responsible charge.

California may see his website as making the claim the he provides "Architectural Design" services (which it does), which requires one to be licensed as an architect.

Most of the puppy mill churned out McPlans are not created by architects. But most also try to imply that they were. That's disingenuous at best, deliberately attempting to be deceitful at the worst.

When one is proud of the achievements that they have earned, they generally put them front and center. This person is a real architect, does great work, and is a very nice gentleman when I worked with him. Notice the AIA apendage. And the fact that he uses that title in his website. http://johnjonesarchitect.com/

Mr. Jones is a very talented, versatile architect.

There you go, he even began his career in architectural design firms in Memphis and Newport Beach, CA.

Poor Lauren. Her thread has been hijacked, and all she wanted was help picking some doors. Not that she hasn't gotten good advice here; she has. But it's a bit overwhelming.

I have found that many people do not know what an architect is or does.

Even fewer do not know that to be an architect a person has to earn a four or five year degree (Bachelor of Science in Architecture Degree or a Bachelor of Architecture Degree) from an Accredited college or university. Then they have to work for three or four years under the supervision of an architect. Then pay a license fee every two years or so.Then they have to take a 32 or 33.5 hour exam. Then they have to take continuing education classes every year.

Even fewer yet are aware there are laws that each state has that regulate the practice of architecture. it is grueling and not for the faint of heart. Half my college graduating class dropped out before the sophomore year started.

All that education, all that experience, all that testing, and all that continuing education is meant to protect anyone that builds or uses a building.

Would like this post removed.

You should be able to flag it.