The best place to put it and stay in sync with the architecture would be to align it with the horizontal break of the gable. Make sure the front board is the same width as your fascia board. To incorporate the roof lines it would be best to make larger than the inset and run to half way between the interior corner and the window on both sides.. If you just run it out from the inset it will end up looking like it's stuck in there. You need the wider breadth to match speeds with the roof lines visually. You also need at least 8x8 posts for the scale to look right. I'm also thinking that staining the pergola in a transparent stain in neutral (rather than the stain on the gable) will look best. it will blend in colorwise and tie to the gable but be understated. Painting it white like the fascias will make it jump away from the house. Nice job on the house, by the way.

After I had finished my Archi Masters I was working for an architecture firm who also did a small amount of work for a volume builder. They were actually a pretty good quality builder and at least got the orientation of their 'pre-designed' plans correct. We had the ability to make minor changes to every job and it pained me to see so many simple to implement passive options not being incorporated. Had most of their clients known that they would be saving MONEY over the longterm by making a few minor changes to suit their site, they all would have done it. The problem is unless someone can sell this idea to them as a financial/lifestyle choice, many just think it is about saving the world. It is a no-brainer if you have in interest in it, but for those who don't know, there is no-one there selling it to them, especially on the lower end of the market.

I'm in New Zealand ( as a lot of you know ) and our rules are different , and will maybe act as a warning . Councils seem to be left-leaning , and therefore see anyone with property as a continual source of money . They make the rules with that in mind . Of course , what they don't seem to be able to comprehend is thaat every action has an equal and opposite reaction . Anyone subdividing an existing section or doing a subdivision has to pay a 'development contribution' . In most cities this is $50,000-100,000 . Per section/title . so they think they are hitting the greedy landowner , but of course , it is the person buying the smaller property that effectively pays this -- I don't think most councils can appreciate that . As a slight side issue , one large company has bought several hundred rural acres , and are trying to build their own town -- factories for themselves and support businesses , as well as shops and groceries and takeaways and gas stations and the lot . 1000's of houses to buy or rent or rent to own . And they want to pay for their own streets , and sewerage scheme , and power , and water , and parks , and upkeep . The council involved , predictably , has spent $10's of millions of ratepayers money fighting them every step of the way , changing the rules , all the usual tricks . So a tiny home here isn't classed as a caravan , it needs to have permanent water and sewerage and power , so , yes you guessed , needs to have someone pay a development contribution . It needs to comply with all the building regulations , so you can't have it for only 'summertime' use or similar . In Aus , you have a lot of areas that are effectively off-grid , because power and sewerage would be way too impractical , but here you cannot opt-out . And even caravans cannot be 'lived in' permanently , with the exception of some caravan parks , and I think even then technically the caravan has to be moved once every 3 months or similar . Park a caravan at your house , have the grandkids stay for 2 weeks , you probably get away with it . But have them and their Mum live there -- you then need to permanently connect it to your services , and , you guessed it , pay a development fee ! Same with mobile homes and the like . My mobile home I have had it deregistered , and re-registered it as a mobile office , in my businesses name . This is because Mobile Homes are not allowed to park overnight and be slept in , on the streets or carparks in most towns . Of course , if I got a ticket and disputed it , the relevant council may show local CCTV footage , or ask for an accomodation receipt from a nearby business , but at least it will tie them up in court for at least a couple of hours or more -- they probably have lawyers on the payroll , but if they are paying $300 an hour , plus 3 or 4 council employees time , plus the Judge and court people -- its cost them way more than the $200-500 fine . So long story short -- tiny homes are a legal nightmare in NZ , as is almost anything that doesn't look like a conventional house .

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.