It's a beautiful home and it's going to look great whatever you paint it. I know you didn't want grey, but I love this grey and red combo. Have you thought about a barn red? Or any greens? If I had to pick between the two above I would go with the blue.

Between the two, I like the white. One reason for my preference is that the front door stands out all the more.

White also gives you nearly endless landscaping/flower/window box/pottery options.

If you were looking for a truly timeless farmhouse look, you wouldn't be factory ganging the windows, but instead each SH window would be their own entity with a true mullion in between. Also most likely it wouldn't have board and batten only on the gable ends but the whole house would be either board and batten or more likely narrow clapboard or a section would have board and batten if it looked like it was added on later. And your front door would be more simple.

I'm mentioning this not to disparage your house, because the house you are building is absolutely beautiful! However, it's technically a more modern construct of a farmhouse.

Nowadays so many people are doing the modern farmhouse with white siding and black windows. So what does that tell me? It says to me that the white with black is a trend. And what happens to trends? They tend to date a house. (Oh that white with black windows was so 2000 teens.)

So if you want to be more timeless, I would do the blue exterior. Personally I also prefer the blue. It feels more homey

"If you were looking for a truly timeless farmhouse look, you wouldn't be factory ganging the windows"

Do you mean not grouping them together? Just trying to learn what not to do :)

PS: As chat mentioned, I could also see a red for the house or even a soft buttery yellow which was used a lot in the past.

Providencesparrow, not exactly. Windows can still be grouped together, but nowadays all too often when windows are grouped together they are done at the factory which gives the window mullions a narrower profile between windows.

Old windows used to have a pulley and weight system in each window to move the window sashes up and down. That pulley system needed extra room on the sides to hide them so when the windows were installed, the builder needed to account for hiding the pulley system inside each window.

Here's a drawing of a bungalow you could have bought back in the day. Notice the windows were all separated from one another.

While the windows on my house are new windows, I designed them as separate windows so they looked more like the windows ganged in the ad above. Each window is a separate single hung window.

Here is a picture them ganged together. Notice the wider mullion between the windows? That is because these are actually separate windows, which is more labor for the builder.

Now having said that, I'm not saying windows ganged together in the factory are bad. I love the look of the modern farmhouses. I'm just saying when windows are ganged together in the factory, it's a different and more "modern" look.

Congratulations on building your beautiful home! Having lived my entire life in farm country I can tell you that white farmhouses are not a trend!! I would surely go with white knowing that you can easily change trim colors down the road. Your landscaping and hard scaping will give you plenty of opportunity for color and variations, too.

I totally agree with CP about the windows. And I totally agree with Grapefruit & Mr. Virgil about the white. :-D

My sister has an old farmhouse, and let's just say that color is very, very difficult to get right on an older home (*and* modern farmhouse homes), in my opinion. Going with white is a safer choice -- less likely to get messed up and look "off."

Of course, there is always the option of consulting with historical architectural societies and residential architects who specialize in old house restoration, if you really want a great (non-neutral) color!

Oops, posted from my husband's account before... that's confusing so I'm reposting and deleting the old one:

Thanks for all the feedback already! To clarify a few things:

We are not factory ganging the windows (at least not as far as I understand it.... each is already framed out individually as I write this and we are ordering them individually, though they are close together in clusters and are sized larger than you'd see traditionally. )

The black on the windows in option B is not something we'd be likely to change down the road because we're looking at Anderson 100 Fibrex windows, which have the color baked in, not painted on. It concerns me that the white+black strikes some as trendy. We like it but we really haven't paid attention to home design until the last year and the temptation is to think that the majority of houses on houzz = the majority of houses! But Houzz is skewed towards what's been built in the last decade for sure.

@Virgil Carter Fine Art: Thanks for weighing in. I appreciate your expertise all the more since we are so amateur!

If we were trying to stick to farmhouse roots, my understanding is that smaller, individual windows would be called for. The porch doesn't actually wrap around, that's just a section of the house that's single level over there and we kept the roof pitch the same to give a similar feel.

A porch is definitely pricey but ours will be simply styled and heavily used as we have gorgeous views out that side and our kids love to do their schoolwork outside (even when it rains!) In other words, we didn't add the porch to match a farmhouse look though it does evoke that style to me! I am sure I'm not as well versed in historic farmhouses as you are.

An attached garage was a functionality decision ultimately but I'm with you on the high roof that joins the two. It bothers me but we got so far along in the design process before that became apparent and the draftsman didn't offer any alternatives. An architect would have been incredibly helpful then (and all throughout) but we didn't use one. It feels a little messy to me over there and it sure seems like wasted space, but I'm embracing the attitude of making the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time and we did that there.

We are not factory ganging the windows (at least not as far as I understand it.... each is already framed out individually as I write this and we are ordering them individually, though they are close together in clusters and are sized larger than you'd see traditionally. )

Ah good then.

The question then becomes what do you want? The other option is to do white windows and then paint the trim around the windows a color.

Our interior trim and a lot of the flow of our house were inspired by this house designed by Sarah Susanka: https://www.facebook.com/SarahSusanka/photos/a.10150490554114539.393868.95254584538/10150490558609539/?type=3&theater . )

I like many of the interior details in that house.

Option B is more quintessential farmhouse.

No, neither is farmhouse. Too complicated, and the windows are throwing it off.

It's a beautiful home and it's going to look great whatever you paint
it. I know you didn't want grey, but I love this grey and red combo.

I love a grey farmhouse with a red (or burgundy) door. I also like the buttery yellow mentioned above, and I like several shades of blue.

However, being an actual farm girl, I can tell you that 100% of the actual original farmhouses -- not new houses with a quasi-farm look -- in my area are the same color: White. Roof colors vary, but the exterior walls never do.

Nowadays so many people are doing the modern farmhouse with white siding
and black windows. So what does that tell me? It says to me that the
white with black is a trend. And what happens to trends?

Totally agree. It's not the white farmhouse that's a trend ... it's the combination of white farmhouse with black windows. Well, it's the black windows.

Do you mean not grouping them together? Just trying to learn what not to do :)

Yes, farm house windows aren't doubles ... they're singles. Like this:

The long, rambling (and very expensive) front wrap-around (?) porch is hardly something a traditional farm house would have.

Thinking back to the houses that've been in our area forever -- and I know the old farmhouses 'cause I'm related to everyone in this county -- farm houses are more likely to have multiple small porches on the sides of the house. Farm wives wanted porches on multiple sides so they could always work on the more pleasant side of the house as the sun moved, but that doesn't mean that wrap-around porches are unheard of. I have memories of riding a tricycle allllll the way around a relative's house and thinking it was soooooo cool.

@cpartist: Bless you for saying that. :) It's truly going to be a great home for our family because we were able to tailor the inside to the way we live, but we're so wrapped up in the project it's a bit of a relief to hear from someone else that it looks decent!

I really appreciate the option C you suggested as well. Ill have to consider other ways to add interest if we go white/white.

You model looks good. Have you visited the Home Designer forum?

https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/

----

Why the small gable right of the larger one?

What's up with the smaller square windows left of the garage?

@PPF: Honestly, we just thought the second gable detail looked good. :)

The windows to the left of the garage are a powder room (high) and e-space/desk area (lower). I wouldn't necessarily have put them there on the exterior but it was a bit of a trade-off because we wanted light and views there inside.

I haven't spent any time on that forum. Is that tech support for the program I've used? What do you recommend there that would be beneficial? (Quite honestly I'm up to my neck in details and decisions so just idle interest wouldn't draw me to dig in there right now but I'd love a specific recommendation...)

It's a user to user forum where people like me help people like you. Sounds like you are well into the build and not needing any help with the model.

And I vote white.

Oh I thought the house wouldn't have the smaller gable. Please don't put lipstick on the pig with the smaller gable that has no bearing on the way the house is designed.

Ok here's another option: white and white

The 2 gable wall windows look small (and are not centered). Are they in a space that does not need larger or more windows?

The white siding looks great with the black windows. I myself would never tire of that classic combo and far prefer it to the blue.

The house overall looks beautiful, as an updated and modernized farmhouse style. I do agree the porch is on the huge side....I might consider shortening it to avoid an overly long space that may not get used, and allow more light into select windows.

The treatment of windows, and in fact the facade and plan overall, is modernized and that's fine. This is 2017, it would not make sense to build Aunt Em's Kansas house here (the house was described as "small" and "ramshackle").

Interior style doesn't need to feature butter churns or horse collars turned into mirrors.....it can be any non-extreme, non-lavish contemporary, traditional or transitional style that you prefer, ranging from New Mexico Territorial to mid-century modern to Pottery Barn to Shaker to ?????, or any coherent blend of the foregoing. Cleaner lines and simpler shapes will tend to work better, and then you can add an occasional piece that falls outside the clean-lined mood, as an accent.

Beautiful house, wishing you good luck in the building!

@PPF: Ah, yep that forum probably helps a lot of people like me! My modeling skills could be improved but I do think I'm past the point of investing more time there.

Do they look uncentered in the real elevation or just in the model? They are in a laundry room and a shower room upstairs. They are smaller, but proportional in terms of the lites. They could be reframed at this point of there was a glaring problem but they look ok to me? The same size is on the top of the garage, incidentally.

@cpartist: Yep, I actually forgot that extra gable was on there until I was writing this up. I would lose it if I was deciding today but that ship has sailed with the trusses that are already up. :)

@qam999: Thanks for taking the time to look and for the encouragement. We are going with solatubes to help lighten up the interior because we recognized a deep porch can darken the interior. We also can't change the porch at this point, but you're certainly right: it's looooong.

I love black windows - i painted the bay window in my kitchen black when I couldn't afford the steel/bronzel windows I coveted. But having said that, if the windows are black OUTSIDE (mine are NOT), then they should be steel/bronze windows, not wannabes. Black steel/bronze windows and doors are very hot today on super-high end construction/remodeling. And they can be utterly stunning! There are problems with some, and one must be very careful when choosing them or they can be cold and drip constantly. But in the end, while a classic look found on many, many old buildings and houses, it is a "LOOK" today.

And then came the wannabes! The price of steel/bronze widows is in the stratosphere. They're perfect for the backs of historic houses in the West Village or parts of Brooklyn where the cost of the house itself may be 8 figures! What's another half a million for windows! Heck, let's go for it, says the hedge fund manager. But when they appear in solid vinyl on subdivision houses, one knows this is probably a look that is going to die quickly as they just plain don't look right. Steel windows have very thin muntins (the strength of steel makes this possible). They are wonderful for allowing in light and not distracting from the view! But the wannabes are just like regular old windows with wider muntins. And it's a LOT of black! A historic house near my neighborhood did this with some very expensive wood windows. I drive by there multiple times each week and it just doesn't look right. It looks like they were trying to be "hip"..."trendy" and they ended up just looking sort of silly.

This is a look that is going to severely date a house very quickly! And since they're not simply painted, it will be there for a long time and not easily changed. You are building a sort-of, inspired-by farmhouse, but your taste is more industrial modern for the interior. It's a look that I quite like, surprising as that may be to others on GW! But I would not try to mix the two on the outside.

Go with white and white. That's what a traditional farmhouse actually has, unless it's an old creamy yellow one. You cannot go wrong with this.

As for my bay window...I'm very happy I painted it black even though it's definitely a "wannabe"! I'm amazed how the muntins disappear and I see far more of my garden outside. But it can easily be white or any other color someone after me might want. And it's INSIDE.

I like the blue one it feel warmer. But it doesn't mesh with the inside look of the sample you posted but neither does the white one. Personally i like white and forest green or sage and forest green. I also like red doors. I think if you want to have your inside vision mesh better with your exerior maybe look into buttercream exerior with natural wood colors.

Nice article in Fine Homebuilding Sept issue on The Beloved Farmhouse. Looks like you'll have to do a free trial to read it online or buy the issue at a local store. Details on Traditional, Transitional and Modern Farmhouses and hallmarks of each.

I realy like the white with black windows. It'd be fun to see it mocked up with red and light yellow as some suggested.

Was in Door County WI recently and saw an absolutely LOVELY light gray farmhouse w/Dark Gray trim and yellow door. It was absolutely gorgeous!

We just had our Anderson 100's installed. They look and feel great. Ours are black outside/black inside. We are building a modern prairie home. I do think black windows lock you into a style.

The white would allow more flexibility in color choices. In my area the modern white farmhouse with black windows is a HUGE trend right now.

I like all 3 options you posted. If I ranked them in order to my preference:

1. Blue with white windows

2. White with black windows

3. White with white windows

"Thank you" doesn't begin to cover it! What an awesome community. We decided to go with the blue & white option. Two important considerations which were raised here:

- The black grids and sashes only show up when they're backlit and we don't want our large windows to look like black holes during the day.

- They are both good options. The windows would have cost 50% more to go with black, and we would have been happy with either so we went with the less expensive choice.

Also, cpartist mentioned ditching the extra gable over the master and sure enough we went over today and it's not up yet and the roof looks better without it. So, we eliminated it! Thanks for that catch. :)

I'm glad you were able to ditch the gable. Gables should be put on because they serve a purpose and not for "decoration". :)