I meant to post the details yesterday, but my sick toddler had other ideas. :( I did leave out details of "my" house, because I was trying not to get information overload, but here are answers to your questions. I will add pictures of materials below.

• Smart siding, not stucco. (I'm a CA native and I just can't swallow the stucco panels they use here in the midwest)

• The garage doors are high insulted steel with hammered iron hardware that I had planned to paint the same color as the house.

• My stone is a veneer from Canyon Stone, a style called "Canyon Ledge" and a color combination called "Autumn Blend". The stone will go on later this month, right now the bottoms of the columns are just framed. God pictures of the stone are hard to find, but I actually found some here in the new construction forum.

• Exterior colors - I had planned to pull from the stone. Either basing them on the oranges & reds, or going a completely different direction and basing them on the deeper greenish/bluish/gray stones.

• Our front door will be the one on

  the bottom of the three pictures, with the three vertical windows. It is fiberglass, so can be stained or painted. I had planned to paint.

Here are some pictures of the materials:

Stone veneer in ledge style, my color choice is "autumn blend" which ranges from greys and blue/greens to rich golds and reds. Good pictures elusive, but I ran into some posts on gardenweb where someone used the same stone... here is a {{gwi:1515551}}. That seems to have been taken on a cloudy day. In person the colors are brighter and more saturated. A few more pictures on that person's blog. Just scroll down a few lines to the second row of pictures. We will have the same stone inside on a floor to ceiling fireplace wall. I've also added it in the kitchen above the range hood to the ceiling instead of a half upper and wall space.

These will be the exterior lights. I was thinking 20" flanking the garage and 16" by the door.

Garage door, but without windows, and a different style of hardware.

Two directions of palette I've been considering, but these aren't final colors. The greener set would have a red/orangier stain on the woodwork. and fewer colors overall. The orangier one would have more of a true brown stain. Again, just thoughts. I really like some of the combos people photoshopped above.

And hre is *my* actual house... as of Wed. It has the roof now.

I meant to post the details yesterday, but my sick toddler had other ideas. :( I did leave out details of "my" house, because I was trying not to get information overload, but here are answers to your questions. I will add pictures of materials below.

• Smart siding, not stucco. (I'm a CA native and I just can't swallow the stucco panels they use here in the midwest)

• The garage doors are high insulted steel with hammered iron hardware that I had planned to paint the same color as the house.

• My stone is a veneer from Canyon Stone, a style called "Canyon Ledge" and a color combination called "Autumn Blend". The stone will go on later this month, right now the bottoms of the columns are just framed. God pictures of the stone are hard to find, but I actually found some here in the new construction forum.

• Exterior colors - I had planned to pull from the stone. Either basing them on the oranges & reds, or going a completely different direction and basing them on the deeper greenish/bluish/gray stones.

• Our front door will be the one on

  the bottom of the three pictures, with the three vertical windows. It is fiberglass, so can be stained or painted. I had planned to paint.

Here are some pictures of the materials:

Stone veneer in ledge style, my color choice is "autumn blend" which ranges from greys and blue/greens to rich golds and reds. Good pictures elusive, but I ran into some posts on gardenweb where someone used the same stone... here is a {{gwi:1515551}}. That seems to have been taken on a cloudy day. In person the colors are brighter and more saturated. A few more pictures on that person's blog. Just scroll down a few lines to the second row of pictures. We will have the same stone inside on a floor to ceiling fireplace wall. I've also added it in the kitchen above the range hood to the ceiling instead of a half upper and wall space.

These will be the exterior lights. I was thinking 20" flanking the garage and 16" by the door.

Garage door, but without windows, and a different style of hardware.

Two directions of palette I've been considering, but these aren't final colors. The greener set would have a red/orangier stain on the woodwork. and fewer colors overall. The orangier one would have more of a true brown stain. Again, just thoughts. I really like some of the combos people photoshopped above.

And hre is *my* actual house... as of Wed. It has the roof now.

I meant to post the details yesterday, but my sick toddler had other ideas. :( I did leave out details of "my" house, because I was trying not to get information overload, but here are answers to your questions. I will add pictures of materials below.

• Smart siding, not stucco. (I'm a CA native and I just can't swallow the stucco panels they use here in the midwest)

• The garage doors are high insulted steel with hammered iron hardware that I had planned to paint the same color as the house.

• My stone is a veneer from Canyon Stone, a style called "Canyon Ledge" and a color combination called "Autumn Blend". The stone will go on later this month, right now the bottoms of the columns are just framed. God pictures of the stone are hard to find, but I actually found some here in the new construction forum.

• Exterior colors - I had planned to pull from the stone. Either basing them on the oranges & reds, or going a completely different direction and basing them on the deeper greenish/bluish/gray stones.

• Our front door will be the one on

  the bottom of the three pictures, with the three vertical windows. It is fiberglass, so can be stained or painted. I had planned to paint.

Here are some pictures of the materials:

Stone veneer in ledge style, my color choice is "autumn blend" which ranges from greys and blue/greens to rich golds and reds. Good pictures elusive, but I ran into some posts on gardenweb where someone used the same stone... here is a {{gwi:1515551}}. That seems to have been taken on a cloudy day. In person the colors are brighter and more saturated. A few more pictures on that person's blog. Just scroll down a few lines to the second row of pictures. We will have the same stone inside on a floor to ceiling fireplace wall. I've also added it in the kitchen above the range hood to the ceiling instead of a half upper and wall space.

These will be the exterior lights. I was thinking 20" flanking the garage and 16" by the door.

Garage door, but without windows, and a different style of hardware.

Two directions of palette I've been considering, but these aren't final colors. The greener set would have a red/orangier stain on the woodwork. and fewer colors overall. The orangier one would have more of a true brown stain. Again, just thoughts. I really like some of the combos people photoshopped above.

And hre is *my* actual house... as of Wed. It has the roof now.

I hate to say it, but I agree with you. I think what you got is lovely, but the one on the left looks more in keeping with the rest of the house.

We'll see what everyone else says!

I agree with you. It looks a little unfinished because of it too.

Has anyone actually 'done the math' to explain both options?

If you painted your porch ceiling the right color of blue and left it finished as is, it would be stunning.

I don't think it's out of proportion - the door and colors on the left work well with the design on the left. The door and colors on the right work well with the design on the right.

To me the one on the left looks unfinished, like this is the skeleton and it needs more of the siding. I think the proportion for yours is ok, once you've got your landscaping in and add a nice light in the porch (I see a hanging lantern). Like the idea of painting the porch ceiling, too.

Maybe it's the color of the wood that looks off. Consider painting it your trim color perhaps?

I like the second one better. The horizontal boards in the first one looks unfinished in the pic. Like it needs trim or something.

Great house, either way.

On the painting - interesting, I hadn't considered it. But can you (anyone) explain to me how painting would make the scale seem right, rather than bringing more focus to it seeming wrong? I don't know the theory there at all. :(

For the light - code in our area apparently says there has to be a light by all exterior doors, as in wall-mounted. I thought about doing both wall & hanging, but was concerned it might be light fixture overload since I've selected a light with fairly significant visual weight. 16" version of this for by the door, and 20" version flanking the driveway.

Neither one is right to my eye on a quick glance but I have to really study it to figure out the 'why' and what would need to be addressed. But the off-center door is going to be tricky to work with since it's not centered under the peak and the detail of your overhang accentuates the peak. They're kind of at cross purposes visually.

Why in the world would the builder make a porch like this that just accentuates the offsetting door? I think that is exactly what is wrong.

I think the one on the right gives a better view of your entire front door - which I like - maybe have the builder add the trim work that is on the roof on the left and you will like it better.

Beautiful house but there's more than just the porch outline that's making it appear different from the house on the left. The left has clapboard siding & the porch piece ties it together along with the vertical pattern in the door. Yours looks to be stucco (can't really tell on my monitor) so I doubt if a clapboard piece would make it look right. Also the paint on the left is the same color on the porch ceiling & trim (except windows)as it is on the siding. Yours is an accent color & it draws attention to the area over the door & that's what is out of scale. I would consider painting the door, the trim around the door & the porch ceiling a much darker shade of the siding color, making the area above the door blend when viewing the house from the sidewalk, i.e. through the 'skeleton'. Just my 2 cents.

Yeah the offset door really bothered me at first, but the innards were good enough to overcome and moving the door, when we investigated it, was going to be prohibitive on several levels. At this point the door is what it is, I'm hoping to offset it a bit with the light and some tall/substantial potted greenery.

A co-worker gave the the idea of darkened copper sheeting put behind the "triangles" made by the beams. Or just putting a large piece of faceboard behind the beams, and painting it to compliment the front door...

Isn't it interesting that people can have such different tastes and opinions, but that's part of what makes this forum interesting (IMO.) Now I love "your" beamed entry....way better than the one on the left! I think the sideways piece of siding over the one on the left looks cheesy, but your wood-stained beams have a beautiful arts and crafts kind of look. I think antiquesilver's idea of painting your door and trim and porch ceiling dark (I'd do the same color as the garage doors) might make all the difference. I wouldn't do the hanging fixture if the one mounted by the door is nice-sized to give good visual weight. I really like your entry better than the one on the left!

I truly do appreciate the varying opinions here. I'm an analyzer, so it's critical for me to have a very broad view of what's going on. My opinion is open to change. :) I am constantly saying, "Here's what I think... now help me see what I'm missing!"

More than a few times I have come here thinking, "No way I can get this to work, but I'd love to try..." and left having an IDEAL solution. I've called the people here magicians before, and in many ways I mean it. :)

I meant to respond here, and accidentally created a new thread... but I wanted to clarify that neither picture above is my house. The left one is how our porch was designed, but on a different house. The right one is how our porch was built, but also on a different house. I used that picture on the right instead of ours because it's close to finished... ours is still just beams stuck on porch, unfinished siding, no garage doors yet, roofing materials strewn about, job box blocking the porch window, etc. I wasn't sure that would help give the sense of balance.

Well I know now this isn't your home, but I prefer the full stained wood on the right, but would add a couple more pieces to get it where I liked it best. If you can I'd add an arbor of sort on the right side of your home to balance out the raw/stained wood, but I also "painted the current and additional wood so you could see how that would look.
The photos below can be enlarged by clicking on them individually.

Here's what I think you might do to make the frame you have work (I like the lightness and the structural quality of it better than the one you were supposed to have).

Have your builder install a matching beam across the door wall that dies into the fascia on the left and the wall on the right. Then run framing members like the one in front along the trim piece that outlines the peak on that wall. You will then reinforce the sense of framing support for the whole porch roof.

As you planned, use a big light fixture on the wall, and put a tall simple planter of some kind under it, with an evergreen that is happy in shade, to balance your door. The link shows you a really nice simple zinc one from Crate & Barrel.

Let your door trim match the rest of the house, but paint the door the deep warm brown of the framing wood.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tall slim zinc planters

Forgot to ask, is/will your home be stucco? Would love to see a photo of it if it's not exactly like the one you shared above as being like yours.

I love the planter bronwynsmom suggested for beside your door. I know you mentioned that's what you intended to do, but that's a neat one and I think would look great with the natural wood.
In looking at the home as a whole again I was thinking what you really need is stained wood garage doors. Now I couldn't make them look as knotty pine, but the color helps give you the idea of what they could look like.

Oh, I also painted the brackets above the double garage door and the gables ornaments to match the trim.

So I typed up this enthusiastically long response detailing materials, providing samples of color palettes, answering specs in materials, linking to pictures, etc. And my computer crashed!

I really appreciate all of your input, and I hope to see more! I will recreate my post o' information later tonight and hopefully give you all a little more to work with. I kept it light because I didn't want to innundate with detail, but I can see that I probably left out a bit too much. Gosh, I didn't think we'd get all into color and stuff. I'm excited! :)

I really like the one you got much better than the one on the left, but I haven't determined if you're getting plank or stucco, which might make a difference. The one on the right draws your eye over to the main entry and away from the garage. I have a thing about driving up and seeing all garage (something I'm dealing with as well.) Garage doors will recede if painted the same color as the main house or a little darker, which I prefer.

But can you (anyone) explain to me how painting would make the scale seem right, rather than bringing more focus to it seeming wrong? I don't know the theory there at all. :(

Hierarchy. Reasoning. Organization. Wayfinding.

The natural stain on those elements as opposed to the trim color assigns them a different level of importance and function. Painting the porch ceiling would support those stained details as important, entry elements. In a way, you could look at the apex design as an arrow pointing the way to the front door. Color it the same as the trim and you lose that. Interrupt it with an apron of siding and it's not only interrupted, but it doesn't relate as well to the front door that is on the house on the left.

I don't care for the apron, think you ended up with a very nice A&C look. The only thing that bothers me (other than the offcenter door, but this accentuates it) is the white trim "peak" at the top of the siding above (and not centered over) the door. I read that's not your house, if when they side your house they can keep the siding color the same and not add that white triangle of trim I think it'll look fine.

I like yours better...don't know why, I just do. I even like the painted version that justgotabme did. So if you ever got tired of the wood, you could paint it. I do agree with jab65, I would not accentuate the garage doors. Another thing that I noticed that was very different between the two is the stone. I prefer the one on the left, but this is totally a personal preference. I know others would prefer the one on the right. The stones on the left are a little smaller and have the raked back mortar, while the one on the right has the mortar even with the stone. Just thought I would mention it in case you have not figured out that part of the equation yet. As I said, it's just a personal preference but you need to make sure you get the one YOU like.

Your home is going to be beautuful! Hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

pup