Floor plan self-designed - Realized single-family house

I would probably close the front side in a matching style. A carport is just not very nice (well, never, not at all) and you can also see it from your porch entrance. I would visually (if not even in reality :D) spruce it up into an outbuilding. That also fits the style of the time: the servant-driven car simply lives in the outbuilding.

That was actually the idea: the carport as a remise. However, not all sides are allowed to be closed, otherwise a building permit would be required. We plan to eventually change the sides to half-timbered style. That means the lower half with bricks and the upper half with wood. For now, we just needed a suitable and affordable shelter for 2 cars, garbage bins, and bikes as quickly as possible. Over time we will continue to beautify and adapt it. Since everything is being paid from current income, priorities and compromises have to be made.

I am glad when someone takes the surrounding buildings into consideration and even dares to build in a historicizing style. However, I would have carried the style through in the bathrooms; otherwise, it seems inconsistent to me and the rest of the furnishings then feel a bit like a backdrop.

I’m glad when someone takes the surrounding buildings into account and even dares to build in a historic style. However, I would have carried that style through to the bathrooms as well; to me, it seems inconsistent, and the rest of the fittings therefore feel a bit like a backdrop.

We thought long and hard about whether to adapt the guest WC, bathroom, and kitchen as well. We had already selected corresponding tiles and ceramics. Somehow, though, it then seemed too much like Disneyland to us, so we decided on modern or timeless as a contrast. The line to kitsch is very thin with such historicizing architecture. The resale value should also be kept in mind. I don’t want to live in the house until the end of my life, so you have to make sure you still appeal to a sufficiently large group of buyers.

… but it can get quite boring to see symmetry everywhere. Many use symmetry because they cannot achieve balance otherwise. But there are many who can. (For example, the golden ratio, yes…) And they no longer use symmetry or use it only sparingly. The dose makes the difference.

Good proportions also include that the symmetry of the arrangement does not "overpower" the proportions of the individual elements or slap them against the wall. The latter regularly happens when symmetry is used not as a spice and as assistance to proportion, but as a substitute for proportion. I often say, not without reason, that symmetry (or rather: "Sümmetrieh", meaning symmetry in the hands of Schantalles and Käwwins) is aesthetics for proportion dyslexics. Many builders - especially of imitation villas in the Hornbach style - interpret symmetry as an all-purpose weapon for an appealing house facade in a way that Dr. Oetker would have advertised to the housewives of the 1950s as a "guarantee to succeed."

Good proportions also require that the symmetry of the arrangement does not "override" the proportions of the individual elements or even clash with the wall. The latter regularly happens when symmetry is used not as a spice and as assistance to proportion, but as a substitute for proportion. It's no coincidence that I often say symmetry (or rather: "Sümmetrieh," that is symmetry in the hands of Schantalles and Käwwins) is aesthetics for proportion dyslexics. Many builders - especially of substitute villas in Hornbach style - interpret symmetry as an all-purpose weapon for an agreeable house facade in a way Dr. Oetker would have advertised it as a "guarantee of success" to housewives in the 1950s.

But often I prefer that to a building block where the windows look as if they were rolled like dice onto the facade. It is not entirely irrelevant how a house appears from the outside. Even if some claim otherwise. :)

I prefer that many times over a building block where the windows look as if they were randomly tossed onto the facade. It’s not entirely irrelevant how a house looks from the outside. Even if some claim otherwise. :)

There are also nice, successful examples of block houses. It’s a shame when a capable architect has put a lot of experience into the facade balance, but the client is suggested in a house-building forum that it’s rubbish and that he has the final say because he is the client. Then the architect complies, inserts the oversized window desired by the client, which ruins the whole view. Sigh ;)