Portico- Here is a little project that I did with a friend. He custom built the house for a client, and they "just had" to have a portico on the front. It was to be "the pearl necklace" of the house. We were given a black and white photocopy of a completely different house with something similar on it, and told, "do this". So we did. It has a flat roof, and all material exposed to weather is made of composite materials. Nobody did, but if you ask me, a cape cod house with a federal style front porch looks downright wierd. But I don't design them, I just build them. I do think that it looks good, though, just not with this house. (The portico on the front is what I am talking about.)