Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Help! > I just bought a house that has a walkout basement in the front of the > house. The basement door is located in the front, and right above it > is the "Main" door to the house – problem is that the original owners > never put on a front porch, so right now the "Main" door is really the > "door to no-where" You just cant use it, because there are no stairs > leading to it. We want tp put in some type of entranceway/porch/deck. > I hesitate to say deck because I want it to look like the front of a > house, not a backyard deck. The house is a classic colonial. Looks > like a saltbox without the slanted roof. Does anyone have any ideas? > I’ve had a hard time finding pictures of similar looking houses. > Usually the walkout basement is in the back of the house, in which > case I would put a classic wooden deck on the back. Thanks for your > input! > Kristen > Consider the raised "Savannah" style with two sets of steps winding up > to the true front door with an opening thru to the lower door. They are > directly in line vertically, correct?
Yes, the two doors are directly in line with each other. THey are both in the center of the front of the house. Also there is a 3rd door on the side of the house – we have a staircase leading to that one right now.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Help! > I just bought a house that has a walkout basement in the front of the > house. The basement door is located in the front, and right above it > is the "Main" door to the house – problem is that the original owners > never put on a front porch, so right now the "Main" door is really the > "door to no-where" You just cant use it, because there are no stairs > leading to it. We want tp put in some type of entranceway/porch/deck. > I hesitate to say deck because I want it to look like the front of a > house, not a backyard deck. The house is a classic colonial. Looks > like a saltbox without the slanted roof. Does anyone have any ideas? > I’ve had a hard time finding pictures of similar looking houses. > Usually the walkout basement is in the back of the house, in which > case I would put a classic wooden deck on the back. Thanks for your > input! > Kristen
One more thing to mention, just for style’s sake. We live in the New England, Vermont to be exact.
Response:
The southern style dual stairs would still look right, as would a square porch in front of the upper door, with w-i-d-e steps leading up to it, and side entries under the porch to the lower door. (think courthouse or brownstone style). If light to the lower door is a plus, I’d go with the dual steps. You can do them up in wood, victorian style, either straight or curved, or if the house is more modern looking, welded up steel and/or concrete. Maybe a brick port-cochere in front of the lower door, with an iron staircase up to 2nd floor? Maybe a 2-story structure, with faux columns and a porch roof on the 2nd floor? Maybe landscape a hill in the frontyard, and do a ramp or bridge to the front door? Drive around your area, and see what the neighbors do. Really no way to make a good suggestion w/o seeing the house and site, to see what setback, driveway, traffic considerations are involved. Is the house rural, or in a built-up area, which often has design standards in NE? aem sends…
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> > Help! > > I just bought a house that has a walkout basement in the front of the > > house. The basement door is located in the front, and right above it > > is the "Main" door to the house – problem is that the original owners > > never put on a front porch, so right now the "Main" door is really the > > "door to no-where" You just cant use it, because there are no stairs > > leading to it. We want tp put in some type of entranceway/porch/deck. > > I hesitate to say deck because I want it to look like the front of a > > house, not a backyard deck. The house is a classic colonial. Looks > > like a saltbox without the slanted roof. Does anyone have any ideas? > > I’ve had a hard time finding pictures of similar looking houses. > > Usually the walkout basement is in the back of the house, in which > > case I would put a classic wooden deck on the back. Thanks for your > > input! > > Kristen > One more thing to mention, just for style’s sake. We live in the New > England, Vermont to be exact.
Response:
> The southern style dual stairs would still look right, as would a square > porch in front of the upper door, with w-i-d-e steps leading up to it, and > side entries under the porch to the lower door. (think courthouse or > brownstone style). If light to the lower door is a plus, I’d go with the > dual steps. You can do them up in wood, victorian style, either straight or > curved, or if the house is more modern looking, welded up steel and/or > concrete. Maybe a brick port-cochere in front of the lower door, with an > iron staircase up to 2nd floor? Maybe a 2-story structure, with faux > columns and a porch roof on the 2nd floor? Maybe landscape a hill in the > frontyard, and do a ramp or bridge to the front door? Drive around your > area, and see what the neighbors do. Really no way to make a good suggestion > w/o seeing the house and site, to see what setback, driveway, traffic > considerations are involved. Is the house rural, or in a built-up area, > which often has design standards in NE?
I think I need to see some pictures. We live in a rural area, on 30 acres. There are many older farms in the area, but none visible from our house. Our neighbors have a raised ranch. Light to the basement (bottom door) would definitely be a big plus because we have 2 full-sized windows on the front of the house on the basement level, and we will probably finish the basement off someday, so I think the windows are great for light. I have a picture of the house, let me give the URL. The top pic is a bad pic, but it shows you the front of the house. I can probably take a better picture and post it soon. I think the hill is out of the question since there is already a hill in the back that slopes towards the front and the basement would be blocked by a hill (I Think). We would like something with a decent sized porch to watch teh beatiful sunsets. I just bought some home-design software so I will play around with that and hopefully come up with something good. The dual steps idea sounds the best. I’ll play around with that. Thanks again! http://207.21.230.136/house.html
Response:
My last house had a situation which sounds very similar to yours. I thought I would point out, that you might want to hide the lower door as much as possible. In my last house, both doors were equally visible to any visitors. This caused them a lot of confusion as to which door was the "main" door. Most of them would guess wrong, and at least initially, knock on the lower level, basement, door. If you hide the lower level door, visitors should be more drawn up to the main door. As a previous poster pointed out, a large staircase going up to the upper door would look nice, and as an added benefit, would also hide the lower door. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Light to the basement > (bottom door) would definitely be a big plus because we have 2 > full-sized windows on the front of the house on the basement level, > and we will probably finish the basement off someday, so I think the > windows are great for light.
Response:
Kristen, If you go to our site we have a detailed explanation of the design process. It will likely help you as you make your plans. Basically, Start by defining your functional goals, judge the environment (architecture and landscape) you are working within and create a plan the meets as many of your goals as possible while enhancing your environment. — Wally Wilson Outdoor Designs Unlimited, Inc. http://www.outdoordesigns.net
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Help! > I just bought a house that has a walkout basement in the front of the > house. The basement door is located in the front, and right above it > is the "Main" door to the house – problem is that the original owners > never put on a front porch, so right now the "Main" door is really the > "door to no-where" You just cant use it, because there are no stairs > leading to it. We want tp put in some type of entranceway/porch/deck. > I hesitate to say deck because I want it to look like the front of a > house, not a backyard deck. The house is a classic colonial. Looks > like a saltbox without the slanted roof. Does anyone have any ideas? > I’ve had a hard time finding pictures of similar looking houses. > Usually the walkout basement is in the back of the house, in which > case I would put a classic wooden deck on the back. Thanks for your > input! > Kristen
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Help! > I just bought a house that has a walkout basement in the front of the > house. The basement door is located in the front, and right above it > is the "Main" door to the house – problem is that the original owners > never put on a front porch, so right now the "Main" door is really the > "door to no-where" You just cant use it, because there are no stairs > leading to it. We want tp put in some type of entranceway/porch/deck. > I hesitate to say deck because I want it to look like the front of a > house, not a backyard deck. The house is a classic colonial. Looks > like a saltbox without the slanted roof. Does anyone have any ideas? > I’ve had a hard time finding pictures of similar looking houses. > Usually the walkout basement is in the back of the house, in which > case I would put a classic wooden deck on the back. Thanks for your > input! > Kristen
Consider the raised "Savannah" style with two sets of steps winding up to the true front door with an opening thru to the lower door. They are directly in line vertically, correct?
Response:
Help! I just bought a house that has a walkout basement in the front of the house. The basement door is located in the front, and right above it is the "Main" door to the house – problem is that the original owners never put on a front porch, so right now the "Main" door is really the "door to no-where" You just cant use it, because there are no stairs leading to it. We want tp put in some type of entranceway/porch/deck. I hesitate to say deck because I want it to look like the front of a house, not a backyard deck. The house is a classic colonial. Looks like a saltbox without the slanted roof. Does anyone have any ideas? I’ve had a hard time finding pictures of similar looking houses. Usually the walkout basement is in the back of the house, in which case I would put a classic wooden deck on the back. Thanks for your input! Kristen
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