@David McGee and @cpartist. Interested in your opinions, this thread is really interesting! We are thinking of doing a half board and batten design, where the b&b is on the 1st floor. The first picture is one of the only examples we've seen in person. Any thoughts on the 2 pictures of the design shown below? Should we flip the b&b to the 2nd floor? This design seems like a bold move, and having a hard time picturing how different color choices/configurations will look.

Thanks so much everyone for helping me. Wanted to update that things went well. Met with the builder. The wider trim was included. He does 3" frieze board even though it did not show one. Asking to upgrade to 6". Changed it to traditional returns instead of porkchops and we went over a couple other small things. The roof he was aware of long time ago. He said he does not do 2/12 roofs. Asked specifically for 4/12 and he said he is working that with the framer who will be starting soon. Am hoping that he uses the technique that JDS so kindly drew above. Like the idea of better insulation. Between that and using 4' window in the back could be enough. If not as a last resort was thinking we could upgrade to 9' ceilings upstairs. If we do all that then front porch can be 4/12 too. This is a small town and he is on site a lot. The framer has an office next to his. They are friends and work closely together. Feeling confident that it will work out in the end. Do have one question. He asked me about how I wanted the trim to sit around the windows. He said sides and back can be done like the picture on left to save money. Not sure how much though. It looks like the window sits on top of the trim vs inset a little bit. The one thing I don't like about it is the trim and window are not the same color of white exactly. With it inset a little bit it looks much nicer to me.

Square peg in round hole? If your ACC doesn't want much siding for aesthetics reasons, is it really a good idea to try and circumvent that aesthetic? Your ACC can make life hard for you because rules are always subject to interpretation. And I am sure there are other rules. Is stucco common in you area? Because stucco done by amateurs does not have a great life span. In my area, stucco is rare and stucco is usually poorly done. I would look carefully at who your ACC is and what powers they have. Can they, as an example, see what you are trying to do and rewrite the rules? Addendum: stucco that looks like board and batten is subject to the 25% rule. Do you want more delays fighting the ACC?

My preference would be for all walls to be board and batten. As to the colour/flow question...my take is that the rest of the items in the room can bridge/unite the individual rooms together IF that is what you like. So that Blue Veil tone might make an appearance in the bedroom in the drapes,or a fabric pillow or a throw etc. Maybe in a big way,maybe a small one. The idea that 'every room must have colour on the walls to flow' strikes me as odd as 'no room can have colour on the walls if you want flow'......and btw as you know, "white" is a colour :-)