The person who built this house actually bumped the garage out 2 feet to the side (when looking at the house) so that may be why it looks wide. We are not doing this at all, instead we brought the garage out 3 feet toward the street. We are going to use board batten shutters that WILL be wide enough to cover the windows (well, to look like they could) No shutters on the porch windows... Should we scrap the shutters all together? Now that you say that, they will look silly on the window to the left of the foyer, since it's also a double... The whole front stone is not an option = too much $$$ We have considered stone around the foundation... http://picasaweb.google.com/jlanrowilkes Those are pics of our ACTUAL house that is currently being built... We did upgrade the windows, using all ANderson 400 series and we aren't using those half circle things anywhere, our windows will just be rectangular everywhere except the foyer one will be slightly rounded... WORTHY - i love the idea based on the photo you posted, but unfortunately we are already under construction so we are somewhat limited on what we can do now. Here is another photo of a house similar to ours, let me know what you think of this one:

ro man we have very similar homes. Last summer we resided our colonial so this can give you an idea of how brown would look with black shutters. Ours is considerably darker than what you are considering, though. Our roof is a mid tone gray but you can't tell because the sun totally blew the color out in this photo. You said the sun damaged your current siding but it looks as if you'd have a lot of shade like we do with all your trees. I hesitate to suggest a color from your link because the computer makes color look much different than real life - in fact my house looks far more red (on my computer) than it does in real life - it's actually a dark greyed brown! Landscaping will make a HUGE difference and really bring your home to life. What planting zone are you in? I'm only familiar with plants that do well for me (z 5ish - 6, Chicago area) but would be happy to make suggestions if yours is similar.

I hope this works awm. As I noted, we're in the midst of some major landscape reno. The county is finally putting in sidewalks so our street is a construction zone! We took advantage of that to redo drainage and put in new hardscaping and landscaping. Today, in fact, we're hoping to make some serious headway into getting the footings for the wrought iron and stone fence put in and the lamp post relocated. We're also going to put in an outdoor electrical receptacle so I can finally have a dedicated line for my fountain and christmas lights instead of running an extension cord from the garage! We will be repainting so the house color will change. We're not committed to the brick facade either, but that won't be for at least a year before that changes out.

So sorry for being such a slacker!!! I didn't think I'd get so many replies! THank you! You defintely did not confuse me more and ABSOLUTELY helped! mrsjay2u - my MIL actually bought me that magazine between the time i posted this and now when I checked it! Like you said - no help right now but SO MANY good ideas for once we're finished. SO here's where we are: We are using vinyl even though I know many people are horrified by it. We live in Northeast PA and it's very common here and easy to maintain! Plus we are only in our late 20's and we're either going to live here forever - so we'll change stuff out for better stuff down the road when we can afford it... OR we'll build again and get all the up up grades then. Looks like it will be Certainteed's Carolina Beaded siding (little thicker with a decorative edge) on the back and sides. It will also go on the front (bottom part of garage) and by the foyer window. We will use the Certainteed vinyl cedar impressions siding in the 2 closed off peaks (near attic window) and over garage. We're going to use the same color as the Carolina beaded siding above (natural clay) but it will appear a little darker because of the ridges in the shakes. Here's a sample of a different color: Then we will use cultured stone ONLY around the entry way. The big question is - what to do with the front porch by the windows. Not sure if I should keep the stone all the way across or do Carolina beaded or cedar shakes there. Here's the most current pic of our house: Ok so now that I've totally confused YOU... What do you think? LOL