Terrific leftontheinside. Ok soapbox moment: If schools brought back the arts in schools instead of only teaching to tests, we might all be more visually educated. Ok off of my soapbox now. ;) Again I highly recommend the book I mentioned above. It helped me tremendously when I was designing my home, even though much of it I knew already. Then after reading the book, start visually looking at all homes in your neighborhood and on the internet to see which ones truly work and which ones are just visual messes. BTW: Here is one of the very first elevations that was given to me by my draftsman. The bottom is what I have now and I am hoping to make one or two more changes as per advice. That will depend on if it can be done or not. However, notice how the first one is again a mish mosh. I said craftsman and the draftsman threw every craftsman idea onto the house, except he didn't do true craftsman. He did what I call "builder craftsman". Our front door did have to move to the other street (I'm on a corner) because of zoning, but overall you can still see how just about everything changed and became more simple to give it more harmony.

Hi neighbor! I have thought about the fire issue... a lot! Our house is in a wooded area. Nobody talks about it much. I think many just think it can’t happen here. But with the warming, dryer conditions, it certainly should be a concern. Our son (next door), just built a home with all wood shingles. I asked him if he was concerned about fire. He thought it wouldn’t make a difference what siding somebody has on - they’ll all go up. I beg to differ. The county doesn’t have restrictions about siding material.... yet. But after much reading and discussion today, my husband and I will go with Hardie shingles. I think with some thought put into painting ideas, it will look nice. I did talk with the manager at Sherwin Williams this morning. She’s going to send me some pics of a Hardie shingle sided house that used a painting technique that lets some variation show through - similar to what you’d see on wood shingles. BUT it will only last until the next time it needs painting (~10-15 years). She’ll take pics of the house when she’s out that way tomorrow.

Shingled column bases down to the floor level, then brick to match the fireplace from there to the ground. If the two columns either side of the stairs are close together, consider a single larger base. Are you set on the arched windows/decorative elements? First thing I noticed and they seem more appropriate for a different style house. And you will probably get better feedback by posting here: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/build Cedar shingles are usually stained, so you may want to state that instead of asking about paint -- unless you do intend to paint. As for color, for me beige doesn't equal beachy.

If your keeping the stone pick horizontal or shingles, not both. 3 different types of siding on that small of an elevation will look off. Myself I would keep the stone and use the shingles.