We are looking at Centurion Rubble, but we are unsure of which color to choose. We looked at Kentucky Rubble at first, but we feel that it might be a little too dark. So you think adding stone to the area near the ladder would compete with the entryway?

Only add stone at the base. Not anywhere above the base. Stone should look like it's the foundation of your house so anything below the first floor. :) You don't need to add lipstick to this charming house.

Please post a picture of the stone you're thinking of. Doing an internet search doesn't show me what you're wanting.

To show what I mean, here's a picture of my house with stone only at the base. Here's my house and you can see the stone creates the "foundation". Obviously it doesn't in real life, but it gives the illusion that it is doing that.

Use stone only along the base. Same color on siding and shakes. Subtle and tasteful is the goal. Less is always more.

Here is a picture of the stone type and color we were thinking about. We just don't know if it'll look too dark for the bottom of the home. We have decided to keep the stone only on the bottom and on the inside fireplace. :) Now we just don't know what color stone to go with.

Only along the base, I agree. And I’d keep the cedar shakes the natural color, myself :)

So based on seeing the stone, I'm assuming you'll let the shakes weather to their gray color? I can see a soft pale gray for the house with lighter trim.

I personally think that stone is a bit dark, i would try and go with something more on the whitish-beige side of things. i like the idea of keeping the cedar shingles unpainted, but even if you painted them I would keep it a light color. In my opinion, I'd go with something more beige for the stone and then do a light grey(with a little bit of brown, I wouldn't do a blue-grey) for the siding with white trim all around including the windows. i would let the cedar shingles beneath the gable weather and turn grey, eventually it'll match the siding of the house and will look really nice. Having some "aging" on the facade of the home brings out a character you can't mimic. Here are some examples

What do you think about this color along the base? I'm nervous to let the cedar shakes weather and want to protect them. We are thinking about just painting them, but was unsure if we should paint them the same color as the siding or maybe a tinge darker. We have been going back and forth between an off-white and a light grey. We are definitely doing white trim around the windows. No shutters.

i like that color much better, If you paint the shingles (which is perfectly understandable) I would actually go lighter. As a rule with more traditionally styled architecture, you want to embrace the sense of "gravity"; visually, darker colors have more weight and should go towards the bottom, and as things progress they should get lighter. So the siding would be roughly the same tone as the stone, and then a bit lighter for shingles in my opinion. I'm not sure where you live but certain climates are good for letting shingles weather if you're still considering it. Out west where the climate is drier shingles will get a nice, silvery grey effect. On the east coast its a bit different and things can become "splotchy"

I'm glad you told me that! I'm on the east coast. Thanks for the tip! I will definitely do the shakes lighter than the siding. I'll pull the colors from the stone. :) This has been SUCH a huge help. Thank you all so much. I'm excited to see the finished product!

You can stain the shakes a color instead of painting them. It's a better option.

I personally prefer your original choice for the stone base because real stone isn't quite so light as the second version.

Do you have other choices for stone? The ones you show don't look very "natural" to me and seem very cement-like.

A really nice exterior color is BM Nantucket Gray. Which would look good with your roof color and white window trim.

Hmmm... do you mean in terms of color or style? We can choose from a few styles. Is it the color that’s giving it a cement-like look or just the shape of the stones?

I agree with the color! It’s gorgeous!!

Is it the color that’s giving it a cement-like look or just the shape of the stones?

It's a bit of both. Truth is that nothing will look quite like real stone but real stone costs more to install. My house is all real stone.

I think you can get a much more realistic cultured stone than what you have chosen. Some of the better manufacturers are Eldorado Stone and Coronado Stone. Lots of selections. Also, there are many stone yards that have thin stone veneers (real stone that is cut thin and applied just like their fake counterparts) and it’s sometimes just slightly more expensive than the cultured stone.