Hanging house in the Southwest Palatinate - Our House Construction 2.0

I generally have the fear with plaster facades, especially colored ones, that they won't look good for long. That was another reason why I found clinker bricks so great. In Lower Saxony, you can find 120-year-old farmyards with clinker bricks, and although weathered, they still look nice. I don't know of any plaster house that still looks good after 120 years.

I can only fully agree with that ;). But it just doesn't work otherwise.

My landlord plastered in a kind of gray-white and painted the window casings in a stronger gray. With white window frames, but it's an older house. By the way, the narrow windows use this Viennese muntin bar, so it's not divided panes, but also not internal. The plaster hasn't visibly deteriorated after about 8 years. Still, it will be the case that at some point you'll have to redo it, paint, possibly repair plaster.
By the way, the right half was not finished yet ;)

Yesterday was the sampling for the windows, etc.

The windows and window sills are now supposed to be white on both sides instead of anthracite - this will result in a credit because white is apparently cheaper.
The whole house is supposed to have sash windows except for the large fixed glazing in the hallway, sort of as a highlight. Additional costs for that are about 1000€.
For the window sills, we are currently at white aluminum. We could also get artificial stone for a small extra charge. Is it worth it? Visually it doesn’t matter much to us.

For the veranda door, we are leaning towards the lift-and-slide system. It already looks a lot more valuable. Also, with the normal sliding window you can lock yourself out. I can see myself doing that. :D The additional cost would be about 1500€ exactly.
However, due to the installation depth, we would have a visible roller shutter box inside, which I absolutely don’t want. Therefore, we are considering moving away from a roller shutter for the wide veranda door towards an outside blind. That would add another 600-1000€ depending on whether we split the blind into two parts or not. But of course that would also have practical advantages. You could shade without making the room completely dark, depending on how you adjust the slats.

I think I could also live with the normal sliding window. But we also have another garden door (normal door) right next to it. That would save a considerable amount of extra cost (around 2500€), then we would only have the additional cost of the sash windows, which more or less offsets itself with the cheaper color choice.

I don't really understand the appeal of (lift-) sliding doors. Because next to them, you always have an even slightly larger fixed element. When the movable part is wider than 1.5m, it also becomes cumbersome. Then better two sashes with a mullion. Or directly a folding system like . But everyone as they please. My tendency here would clearly be towards the cheaper option, although I would still recommend the venetian blind to you.

If the appearance from the outside regarding roller shutters everywhere and only blinds at one window (besides the price, of course) doesn't bother you, I would find that a good solution. It annoyed me with our old house to have roller shutters instead of blinds in the living area; in the height of summer with heat, we often sat inside in the dark.
And we will also do two-part this time, which we didn't consider the first time. I often wished to shade the fixed element while the other one was open, and that was actually decided for me this time.

We will choose stone for the window sills; the rain drops on the aluminum sills bothered me, such things drive me crazy, and I can't block that out. We had a window appointment yesterday, and we were also advised to go with stone, but we don't know which one yet.

I don't know if I'm a good advisor for you. Because of the barrier-free aspect, I'm clearly in favor of a lift-and-slide door, because of shading options for blinds, and also for the window sills because of noise, stone is better—unfortunately, all premium options.

With more than 1.5m width of the movable part, it already becomes cumbersome.

We have tried even larger ones, which were surprisingly easy to operate, they slid very smoothly as if by themselves. But there is probably a whole range of solutions there as well, which again reflects on the budget.
In my opinion, with a large window element, you have no choice but to go for a sliding element, you don't want a huge window sash standing in the room.
Or a folding system, but then we're talking about different prices again... Although personally, I would also be bothered by the folded glass elements on the side and insect protection is no longer possible there (or only very expensive).

I don’t understand the appeal of (lift-and-) sliding doors. Because next to them you always have an even somewhat larger fixed element. With more than 1.5m width of the moving part it also becomes cumbersome. I’d rather have two leaves with stulp. Or immediately a folding system like

What does "with stulp" mean? We were shown a door like that with a rotary handle. When you turned it 1/4 turn the window opened on tilt, if you turned it a bit further it popped out at the bottom and you could slide it away. To close you turn the lever back to the 1/4 position and when you push it closed with some momentum the door pops back in at the bottom (basically into the tilt position). If you do that stupidly from the outside you’ve locked yourself out.

If the look from the outside regarding shutters everywhere and only one window with venetian blinds (besides the price of course) doesn’t bother you, I would find that a good solution. What annoyed me at our old house was having shutters instead of venetian blinds in the living area; in the middle of summer with heat we often sat inside in the dark. And we will also do two parts this time, we hadn’t thought of that the first time. I often wished to shade the fixed element while the other one is open, and that was actually set for me this time.

That’s good to know or a good tip. The window maker also advised us on lift-and-slide & venetian blinds. Because of the price I had never considered them, but especially for the large living area it would be nice. Although ours is not facing south, so probably not so dramatic. But we should definitely do the division, because that makes sense.

We will choose stone window sills; the rain drops bothered me on the aluminum sills, that sort of thing drives me crazy, I can’t ignore it. We had a window appointment yesterday, they also recommended stone to us, but we don’t know yet which one we’ll take.

Oh, are they noisier? I really like the rain pattering, but I don’t know that on aluminum window sills. I think I’ve never been in a house with such. Definitely a good tip. As far as I know they wouldn’t be particularly more expensive. The window maker said aluminum has become so expensive that artificial stone hardly costs more. Only real stone would be a significant extra cost.

Don’t know if I’m a good adviser for you.

You are :)