It is funny, but I did not change the garage door color. I used MS Paint and it did weird things to the roof too. Looking at it here, it seems like I made the top part brown.... I'd either do the garage door with the 2 light tones or keep it all white. I'd paint it last to see how it looks white first with the new house color. When I was working on the mock up, the lavender was either too strong or too light. I went with too light because the next step up was garish. Our lavender is sometimes very subtle, but when you see the nearby white, you realize it is not white too. It also looks different as the light changes throughout the day. I'll try to take an exterior pic of our house tomorrow. The landscaping needs a major trim, but the blooming trees out front are at their best. I work from my office Thurs-Sun and from home Mon-Wed (much fewer hours), so can do some work on them in the a.m. and take a neater photo ;) Although, it sounds like it is raining outside at the moment...

Westsider, Thanks for jumping in here !! Your place sounds great. I sure wish I was on your family list. ;) I also appreciate all of your comments. You have given me a lot to think about. More below to you (and anyone else who wants to comment)... I really appreciate everyone who is helping me with all of these ideas. Our builder said last week "That new layout looks good, sometimes it takes another set of eyes to see something, especially after you look at something for so long". That's what you guys are doing for me ... being my extra set of eyes and helping me think what is important to different groups of people. Good news from the builder ... he said yes to the bumpout behind the lower cabinets over the stairs ! That makes design #05 (a few posts up) officially ok from the builder. 1. have 2 or 3 outside beach showers ... do you mean hot & cold showers or just cold for rinsing sand off from beach ? We have planned 1 cold on the walk over the dunes and 1 hot & cold enclosed shower. 2, 3, 4. do you have some ideas for layout in these areas ? Would love to see what you are thinking. 5. weddings are probably not too frequent 6. Grilling - this is an issue. We will not be able to control if people ignore with portable grill, but rules will not allow a built in grill or homeowner provided grill on the deck. We have plans for the ground floor grilling area to be a fun gathering place though with a tiki bar, picnic tables, pingpong and foosball, horseshoes, in addition to the grills. Two grills is great idea !! Good idea also to plan storage for grill tools and mitts near the grills. 9. Will review to make sure stuff stored on high shelves is rarely used stuff. Looking like some of the high shelves will even be empty. Who knows - once it is unpacked, stuff has a way of filling the available space. LOL !! 10. Lot is 50 x 150 ocean front. With 7 foot setbacks for each side of lot, neighbor houses are 14 feet away from each other. 11. two washers & dryers - yep ! 12. elevators - will ask about property insurance - a neighbor has an automatic gate operator (which cost a lot extra) and had problems with renters messing up his door and lots of service calls, so he eventually disconnected his auto opener. We know now to not spend extra for the auto opener. 13. your property taxes are outrageous !! Luckily, we are on flat rate here ... approx 1% of home value. lakehouse, leaving now to go meet a friend for movie, but will check out your plans later. Looks like you are remodeling kitchen for a lakehouse you already own ? Thanks !! Keep the comments coming on all areas of the home !

If your house is well insulated, the darker siding shouldn't affect internal temperature, as nsc6 said. The only way you can assure you won't tire of the house is to use something like HardiPlank that you can paint in 7 to 10 years if you tire of the color. It's quite a bit more expensive than vinyl though. Will you be living here full time or is this a vacation home? If it's a vacation home that you won't be driving up to every day, I think it would be a nice change to have something a bit different than you see driving down your street to your home every day. If it's a weekend and vacation getaway, it should feel special. Honestly, it should feel special even if it's going to be your everyday home. You could leave the brown window trim. It would work well with the cedar siding.

Here is our house for reference- inside there’s lots of white, marble - crystal chandeliers, light oak floors, natural wood accents with polished brass and Pops of black metal here and there. And the exterior will be painted a creamy white soon.