Scene from the street: What's wrong with this picture?

Out on my daily walk around a golf course community, I watched this Craftsman house being built. I watched it being framed and plastered and sided. I watched the windows go in and the roof go on. (This is the back of the house, the angle I see from the walking path.)

All the while, seeing that it had Craftsman architecture, I looked forward to the day when stone facing would grace the bottom of those distinctive tapered columns, and perhaps on the bottom of the walls as well.

But when the house was finished, the stone did not appear, though a "for sale" sign did. It may have been a "spec" house. The builder may have run out of money. I'm not sure if it ever sold. It sits vacant to this day.

My very strong feeling is that this house needs stone. It's crying out for it. And so to help the owner (who may very well be reading this blog), I've taken the liberty of photographing four different types of stone facing I've seen my walks. They are below.

If this was your house, and you were charged with choosing the desperately needed stone facade, which of the following four styles would you select?

Comments

[Helen]

I think what's really wrong with this house is the location of the front door. And what happened to the front porch?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
KPR: Thanks for pointing that out, Helen. This is actually the back of the house, and I added that into the posting. Thanks!
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

[Helen]

OK then. #1 looks too fake. #2 & #4 look pretty nice. But the materials are not indigenous to southern California. So my vote is #3.

[dilbert dogbert]

I think the horizontal lines are wrong. lower the line on the house to match the fake supports and yes put some stone on the lower. It is the back of the house so all these comments are sort of like who cares?

[Brent]

I'm with Helen. Even though this is the back of the house, where's the porch? Those columns ought to support a porch that extends along that whole side of the house. They look vestigial and no amount of stone facing will fix that.

[Carl Heldmann]

Hi KPR,

This is why builders (including me) shouldn't design houses!

If you (or your readers) would like to see a few nice Craftsman-style bungalow home plans, I have three as "Cost to Build in OR", "Cost to Build in SC", & "Cost to Build in CO" on my website.

By the way, Stone veneer #'s 2 or 4 would slightly improve this house, as would bring the siding on the house all the way down to the foundation.

A steeper roof pitch would be the ultimate improvement, but it's obviouly way too late for that.

KPR, I'm going to toot your horn..you do a great job!
Carl

[riley]

The dark trim looks cartoon-y -- especially on the columns.

The house is a bit too "beige" for Craftsman -- it is more transitional as it lacks the rich handcrafted and thick-beamed touch that this style of architecture demands.

My vote of the four goes to 3 if the house is transforming more toward Craftsman.