Thank you Summerfield! Sorry it's taken me so long to get back. We've been out of town for a week. I am a mother-in-law now! After the wedding, we went to Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. Along the way, I looked at houses, and noticed some differences in houses in other areas. In my area, most of the houses that are about the same size as mine, have siding above the brick done like mine. There was a house in St. Louis that was almost exactly like ours with brick color, long front porch, and shutters, and they used a dark sand colored paint on the siding, and white on the trim, with darker brown on the shutters. It looked great. The house was also about the same age as ours, but the colors made it seem a lot newer. Most of the houses in Kentucky had brick all the way up the gable. Tennessee had a diving board between the brick and the siding on the gables, like in jakabedy's first photo. While I don't think it's possible to add a bigger face board there, I do think it will work to just paint the one we have in another color, like in Summerfield's drawing. It would help if the board were wider than the siding, but since that board can't be changed without redoing the siding, we'll just have to see what difference the paint will make.

Wonderful! I do agree with the wonderful suggestions above: a)Do consider ditching the screen door on the front door ... paint the whole front door area (door and sidelights) in high-gloss black and add a large pewter iron knocker ... b)Power Wash c)Add larger lanterns -- and garden lights. d)Add large black urns on each side of the front door -- and bright seasonal color (maybe orange mums?) plus add some taller bushes in the gardens on each side of the bay window. Add a fountain by the sitting area. Add an outdoor sofa and chairs to that area with a bright umbrella for the warmer months. e)Have a party! :) ((just teasing .....!))

Hi all, thanks for feedback. As far as bringing tiles home, trying at home, the whole thing is under construction. There are no frames yet, but we need to decide quickly and put an order in. I did not know about issue with water stains on granite. They are permanent stains? Is it like etching marks we get on Marble, but not from water? How bad is it? On marble there are spots from water, but not permanent, while on my marble floor we have etch marks (white) probably from liquids that were dropped. It's possible the housekeeper didn't use the natural product I have given her to us. Thanks

Before you go any further pick up the book What Not to Build. Trust me it will help you. I can say it helped with my build. I'm sorry but this is too complicated. The book I recommended will explain why in more detail. The thing that bothers me the most other than those oversized windows all competing for attention is the feeling that the second floor is going to crush the first floor. It feels taller than the first floor! And second floor windows shouldn't overpower the house by being larger than the first floor windows. There are 4 different materials on the front elevation and 4 different window styles which have no relationship to one another. The garage door wood is vertical yet the wood under the windows is horizontal. Then you have the chimney? sticking up with no relation to anything else. It just cuts the house in half and doesn't even continue up to the second floor. On the left first floor you have stucco above the windows but on the right side the windows continue up to the ceiling. Again nothing cohesive between them. There are too many competing things with too many materials and too many different planes. There is no focal point.