I would just do stone on the area under the porch roof. The skirting type stone just looks odd to me with the way you have it all filled in on one side and not the other and just a partial wrap on the angle portion doesn't tie in well as you would view it.

I prefer to have stone where it looks like it would have been stone before modern construction came into place which allows you to put stone everywhere. Now for full disclosure I do have a stone wainscoting on our shop, but on the house we have it just under the porch roof. Unfortunately I wish we had stone covering our gable too on a spot where the porch wraps around only part of the front. It has stone underneath the roof, but would look more natural if it was continued across.

I am so sorry for saying this. I know you didn't ask this, but I really don't like the look of the two story garage. I really think you need some architectural feature on it. To me it simply doesn't flow with the rest of the house.

It seems like the kind of thing someone would do in an economy addition to an existing house. It may build beautifully, and please feel free to build your home any way you want, and I will admit that I could be absolutely wrong. But I would recommend just asking a few other people.

Take the money you were going to spend on stone and do something.... anything... to make it more visually appealing. It's really pretty bad in it's current form.

Since there is no basement because of a high water table, the area above the garage is going to be our storage area. If you constructive ideas, we'd be open to hearing them. We are looking for a simple, traditional, farmhouse look that will go with the old farmstead property we purchased. I agree that this house would not be an ideal design in an urban area. However, given that we are just about at the end of our power grid, I don't think it's too far off with the setting it will be built in.

I suspect you took a plan you liked and added some more features. It just doesn't mesh. Again, I apologize for this, please understand I am hoping to help.

I googled "ugly garage addition"

from ugly-house-thread

You did this same thing. You added a garage that simply doesn't fit with the rest of the house because it is really good space for you. Your house may end up better or worse than this, as you don't have the separation of the roof line, I can't visualize the final product well enough.

It has nothing to do with city or country. I love farmhouse homes, and certainly there is some precedent for this in farmhouse homes, as they were built and then expanded on. However, since, you are building your house new it should flow. I can't give you any constructive advice if you have to keep the space. My only suggestion would be a steep 1.5 story on the garage and separate the roof lines.

I would really try searching Donald Gardner for some ideas, just google angled floor plan," and Donald Gardner will come up early. Maybe something like Angled floor plan

Please ask other people, someone will find a good solution to help you.

bry911,
Thanks for the input. I understand what you're trying to say & appreciate your comments. It's something we can look into.

I'm sorry to agree with the others, but it's not stone that the facade needs. The house needs work to look attractive. Right now the massing is off, the angles are off, the porch roof is not good. I have the sense that it was designed for the interior, and the exterior was an afterthought.

Check with your architect to see if you can post the interior. If you can, I, and others more talented than I, will see if we can offer suggestions.

Perhaps an exterior more like these would work better. Notice the changes in rooflines and massing and setbacks to bring the overall structure into better balance.

Farmhouse · More Info

New Old Farmhouse · More Info

Westport Farmhouse for the Modern Traditionalist · More Info

With the original question about the stone veneer....I agree that less is more. Simple around the main house, under the porch - and all one height.

Reading the other remarks, and at the risk of being completely off the original question, we had the same challenges with our roof. Your main house appears very generous and a solid investment. The roof line continuing into the second floor of the garage really takes the eye away from your beautiful house. One suggestion might be playing around with the roof line. A small step down on the garage roof to break up the mass, maybe a shed dormer window instead of a full garage roof....if the space isn't for daily use, you'd potentially save money. Again, we did the same, thinking the garage was a prefect space to add space without increasing cost. But part of the tough work for us was to keep playing around to make the space work both on the inside and the outside. This website is great for suggestions, but also sometimes too many or contradicting ones. Build a home you love, and know all the suggestions are coming from well-intentioned places....

Thanks for the comments. We'll keep looking for more ideas. Neither of
us care for the dormer window look or the angled ceilings in the inside
that come with a 1.5 story. We also would like to keep the roof line
simple, & not have support posts in our garage to support the 2nd
floor. With all these requests, we're somewhat limiting ourselves &
are hoping to find other ways to help minimize the prominent effect of
the garage. In our opinion, the 45 angle from the main part of the
house does help break it up a little, but based on the opinions here, it
needs more.

Are there any ideas of using various siding
colors, stone placement, different windows, gable(s), a lentil, or even
flower boxes, something along those lines, to break up the 2nd floor
from the garage? We didn't care for all the stone under the porch roof
that was in the original picture I posted. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel
that it was too much & pushed your eye away from it & towards
the garage also.

I don't think angling the garage helps. I think it hurts. An abrupt turn would have done a better job of clearly separating your garage from your house. In fact, I think the best thing you could do is pull your garage 20 feet off your house and connect it with an enclosed breezeway.

Something like this

from brookewood.com

That way you don't destroy the farmhouse flow.

I agree with bry911 about the garage. If you want this to look "farmhouse" then separate it from the house a lot more. Maybe do a gambrel roof connected by a smaller breezeway structure. It doesn't have to be "barn red" but it's the place modern horses are kept, so it should look like an accessory building, not the home itself. As pictured, the garage is the most dominant part of the design, and not in a good way at all. It's shouting GARAGEGARAGEGARAGEhouse.

If you are going for a simple roof line that will be easier on the pocket book then what bry suggested may be helpful. We have an angled garage and I know that cost us more. I just thought my experience with that part of it might be helpful.