Is this house a done deal? If not, I would not build a house where the garage is the focal point of the entire house. No one is going to notice any of your other charges with that huge garage up front and center.

Whichever you choose, have the garage painted the same color as the siding, not white, which appears to be the trim color. That will help the garage not be the focal point. And then paint your front door a nice bright color to draw your eye there.

Of your choices, I prefer the ones where you have the porch that breaks up the flat two story front. Admittedly, I have a bias against that type of 'style'.

I have to agree with Anglophilia. They all look like someone built a garage first and then decided to add a house to the back as an afterthought. Especially the versions with the gable end over the garage door. The only ones that have a drop of charm are the Norway traditional and the Tudor. If the builder is open minded, and you have a few extra dollars, hire an architect to come up with a couple of options based on the floor plan you like. Do that and for sure you'll have the best house in the neighborhood. An architect will probably end up simplifying the front. The options all have too much going on, and none of the elements work together. Good luck.

Angela, I have to agree the prominent garage would be a problem for me. It's just what builders do more of these days...grrr. As gthigpen said, paint the garage door(s) m the same as the siding...not white. Out of these choices, I'm leaning toward Norway Traditional.

I like the Norway Traditional but to de-emphasize the garage use the same material and color for the whole house and use color on your front door. I don't think the columns add anything to the look.

None of the above. They all embrace fads. Bad fads.

Could you do the Traditional without the weird dormer, and with 2 separate garage doors? And then maybe add the porch roof extension like the Craftsman?

Mrs Pete for the win - I'd just add the 2 garage doors. the roofline on the others are really bad - that 2 level thing is an unnecessary complexity that looks WEIRD!

+1 for what Mrs Pete mocked up....Norway Traditional with the extended porch.

Can you opt to not use so much brick? Especially those options where it shows brick all the way up to the 2nd story? If you just use brick on a lower 'band' it gives the appearance that it's there because it's part of the foundation. And instead of the builder just applying brick to the front of the house and then just siding on the other three sides, you could use that 'brick-saving' and do the band on all four sides.

To further add to the world's worst mock-up, here is my attempt to show what I'm talking about. Siding for 2nd floor and most of first floor. Just brick at the very bottom, but used on all 4 sides. I also attempted to insert a bright color door to show how your eye is now drawn there, instead of the giant front garage. Red used as just an example to illustrate the point, but any bright color will do. I think this is one of those situations where you can make this builder tract house, look less like a tract house.

I agree that the Norway Traditional with the extended porch (if you can get it) is the way to go here. Fade the garage door into its surroundings with the right color and pop the front door with your favorite bright color. The traditional's windows will also allow for proper shutters for a less "builder special" look. Be careful choosing the exterior light fixtures too - they can mess up a look. Set aside budget for better landscaping than any of the neighbors has right now. Get a professional plan made and install it yourself over a few years.

Norway Traditional minus the absurd dormer. Would only extend the porch if it doesn't result in a daylight bereft interior.

BTW, here's a hillside of truly traditional Norway homes:

Angela, I don't blame you one bit about the lake...nice! Also, I'm Norwegian so the "Norway" part has a nice ring to me. ;-)

traditional with no dormer. best combination of windows upstairs + shutters that are proportional to the windows, among other things. prefer lower garage roof. agree about nonwhite garage, even if you have to do that yourself after.

Snout garages can be designed in such a way that can reduce their offensiveness. A big part of not making it look like a builder's special is to select attractive garage doors, have single wide garage doors (not 16+ feet wide), and create interest with the wall space around the garage door.

Angela - I was just using Mrs Pete as my starting point and was just trying to match the siding color that was the default. If you like greys and blues, then pick gray siding with blue shutters and blue front door. I LOVE Mark's first picture with the cream color siding, taupe trim/garage doors and the blue shutters and door. That is a such a classic color scheme. And do you see how two pretty garage doors can turn an otherwise ordinary house into something special? And that house in that picture has no brick at all, which I'd ask your builder if that is an option. Keep your siding choices simple. One material is generally all you need.

I would go for the Norway Traditional; and definitely add on the porch if you can!

Garage doors: the largest and most scale-busting element on the face of a residential building. Nothing is as large or so obtrusive and visible.

If the garage door must face front, at least paint it to match the siding color of the garage (or even a darker value) so that the visual contrast is lessened.

What does this mean? Look at all your photos. The garage door is light, the surrounding walls are medium or dark values.

Ask your builder to paint the garage doors to be the same or darker value of the surrounding walls.

Better yet: take Mark's suggestion and make the single oversized door into two smaller and more interesting shapes.

Good luck!

Love Mark's suggestions!

DEFINITELY go with the suggestion to only use brick in a band around the entire bottom of the house, using siding the rest of the way. As these houses have been built in photos, they already look incredibly dated to me (like 80s-early 90s). I'd do the traditional, no funky dormer in the middle of the roof, brick band around the bottom (maybe in a red/dark brick), white siding, two separate garage doors with some sort of interest to them, and a really nice front door in a great color.

I'd try to make the house look as simple/traditional as possible to avoid dating it.

Brick houses are desirable; houses with brick only on the front are pretentious.

Hello. I like the first option.

Norway Craftsman if you could wrap the brick entirely around the front of the first floor and skip the shutters, or Norway Traditional with the brick wrapped around. All of these honestly look like a three year old was playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey but with siding materials. It’s the least worst.

And paint the garage door dark!!!!

I agree with 'none of the above'. None of those houses are the least bit appealing. Yes, the garage is the worst bit. A good architect should be able to design a house for that location that is much more appealing and likely functions better for your needs.

Mark's ideas help a lot but I think there is more that can be done.