Hey folks,

We have been doing an interesting renovation. It is a quite humble '50s era rancher that we are slowly transforming into a craftsman-like cottage. We are using reclaimed materials in some cases (heart pine floors, reclaimed tiles, some salvaged windows) and the exterior has shed dormers with standing seam tin roofing among other stuff.

What I'm currently grappling with is what type of columns to use on the front porch. There will be 4 columns holding up the shed roof and we will probably go with Permacast. My initial choice was the basic 8" round columns that were common on Colonial architecture but also showed up on early 20th century bungalows and 4-squares. I am very drawn to the Craftsman-style heavily tapered colums, but they are nearly 3x the cost and we are over budget. So the other option that is nominally more expensive are square columns.

Take a look at these photos and let me know what you think would be more architecturally pleasing - round Colonial-type columns or the square type? Any thoughts on diameter of columns - I had considered using larger than 8" for a more dramatic effect, but don't want to overdo it too much!

Here is before:


and current:


Thanks for any ideas!

I think square would look best. I see square elements all over your house, there are right-angles throughout your house, so I think continuing that theme would look best. Also, throwing in some round feature on a house full of square features might look out of place.

AM I LOSING MY MIND ????? THIS SAME HOUSE WITH THE SAME QUESTION WAS POSTED ABOUT 9 OR 10 MONTHS AGO. WHO IS THE CONTRACTOR ? SO I MAKE SURE I DON'T THEM. GOOD LUCK ,AT THIS PACE YOU'LL NEED IT.

quote:

Originally posted by BUNGALOW MAN:
AM I LOSING MY MIND ????? THIS SAME HOUSE WITH THE SAME QUESTION WAS POSTED ABOUT 9 OR 10 MONTHS AGO. WHO IS THE CONTRACTOR ? SO I MAKE SURE I DON'T THEM. GOOD LUCK ,AT THIS PACE YOU'LL NEED IT.

BUNGALOW MAN,

I posted a similar question about my house (yes it is the same house) less than 3 months ago. It was buried in a more broad thread back before I was ready for columns. Maybe you are thinking about someone else 9 or 10 months ago.