We too are thinking about the "rustic cedar" for our house. Our house is presently vertical Western Red Cedar and it is a real pain. Have you checked on the price of the Hardiboard?

ST

I haven't checked pricing on it, but it was specified so I'm assuming that my Contractor already did this and included it in his price. Not sure if there is an upcharge for Rustic Cedar versus other profiles though.

For what it's worth, I built a custom home and sided it with stained cedar. Looked great but what a pain to maintain. Never again! Later, I moved into an upscale home that had painted wood siding which was looking really rough on the sunny south and west exposures(there was some cracking and wood peckers had added holes, paint failing). We replaced those exposures with cedarmill hardi (same width) and repainted the entire exterior. That was a great decision! The hardi blends in with the cedar lap siding and the difference is not noticable. The house looks great and the paint still looks "just done" 7 years later. And the woodpeckers are enjoying the trees out back, not my house.

When we purchased a lake cottage with ugly cracked vinyl siding we looked at nothing but hardi because of our good experience with it as well as its good looks and longevity. After residing and a cheery yellow paint job, it's a cute, no longer dreary, cottage and should stay that way a long time.

The rustic cedar looks great. Be sure to base your choice of siding style on your architecture. It's great that they have a variety of styles to choose from or to combine.
I'd go for the hardi. Ask your supplier for addresses of some homes that have been done in the various hardi styles and drive by them with your husband. I'll bet he will decide that he likes it.

Here's our hardi. It came primed, but we had it painted, 2 coats BM satin latex outdor paint.

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Are you aware that Hardie Board comes in different reveal lengths? 6 1/4, 7 1/4, and 8 1/4 are standard; however, if you want to go 5 1/4 you can get that, but it's more costly.
And 5 1/4 is more of a historical reveal, if you're concerned with the historical piece of this (depending on your home).

Oftentimes, folks who use Hardie also trim their windows and corner boards in real wood. It makes a better looking finish.

Hardie requires a super sharp blade for cutting. The ends that are cut also should be primed before installation. I'd caution that if you go with a rougher/wood grain finish, you'll find that dirt/pollution gets caught in the finish and it looks grungier sooner. My preference is smooth siding because, if you think about it, when you cut a board, you see grain but the surface of the wood is flat. The siding that has the raised/patterned grain looks artificial to me.

Good luck in your decisions.

Thanks Brutuses and Patser for your responses. Burtuses, you didn't mention what profile yours is, but I'm guessing it's smooth(?) and about 6 1/4" lap(?). It looks really lovely and your color is about what we're going to use, with white trip.

Yes, Patser, we're going to use wood trim and I think I agree, after looking at some homes this weekend, I think that the smooth finish is best. The new "Rustic Cedar" looked pretty good to me when I saw it at a builders' show. Better than the other fake wood they've had before, but still... I think that over time the smooth will be the best. As far as width, I think the 6 or 7 1/4" are the way to go for us but I'm still wondering about the beaded lap, it looks also kind of more historical, depending on the home.

Checked with DH. It is 6 1/4" with 5" showing and yes it's the smooth finish. Thanks for the compliment.

Thanks brutuses, I think that we'll go with smooth. I'm not a fan of fake wood, but at first I thought the smooth looked to "plastic-y". Now that I've seen them more, I seem to gravitate to houses with this finish.