Garage doors are often one of the ugliest features on the exterior of a house. There are now quite a few “carriage house” type doors to choose from that look much better than the traditional flat or raised panel doors. But those special doors come at a significant cost increase. There are other solutions you might want to consider.

    Garage doors are often an unsightly feature simply because of their scale. We human beings tend to prefer objects that are an appropriate size or scale to our own size. The doors and windows of your house will be most appealing when they are size-appropriate to the people who will occupy the house. They will “express” an interaction with other people. On a subconscious level, we can emotionally connect with architectural features like that. Garage doors must, by their very nature, be sized and scaled to the automobiles that must pass through them. Garage doors end up being the largest doors on your house. We find them unattractive for that very reason. (more…)

    Okay, here’s the answer to “Dream House Fumble #1.”     (more…)

    I promised you a photo quiz from time to time, so here’s your first one. In house design, often, the details can make a decent house awkward and “just not right.” I took this photo of a house I drove by the other day. The question for you is to try to see what I found so bad about these garage doors. I’ll post my answer for you tomorrow.

Bill Hirsch    

www.designingyourperfecthouse.com

www.williamhirsch.com