That shape looks classic to me. Is the siding board and batten plus clapboards? Those have both been around a long time, too. I am also in your “neighborhood” and I don’t see a lot of white houses, but paint isn’t forever, so you could change it down the road if you wanted.

We moved out here from Sea a few years ago, and one thing I didn’t realize was that our house would need a good scrubbing every year! Right now it has a coat of pollen the Douglas firs just dumped off, plus the north side can get a little greenish after the winter.

I do agree that white could be high maintenance and that it is not as common in the area, although I do see it.

The exterior will be a combination of board and bat and lap Hardie.

The shape seems fairly classic to me, but the use on the material doesn't seem very consistent and could be more the issue if anything. Good news is that isn't hard to change though.

It is one thing to see the whole right elevation by it self, but how will it look when you view it and see both the right and the rear elevation next to each other. Homes on small lots packed next to another house can get away with this, but in reality when you are on acreage you will see several sides at once (unless you are in a heavily wooded area). This is very apparent in my neighborhood and even more so since the road is not straight so there are lots of what were they thinking on the elevation.

I agree with this, and we are considering the various options. I am a little bit worried that the board and batten with the standing seam metal roof will be just too much vertical pattern, so I think I want to break it up with the horizontal lap. Where, and how much, is something that I keep changing my mind about. I am not naturally a decisive person, as is probably evidenced in my post, so building a house is a constant fight against my nature to continually question my decisions!

If I want my house to veer more towards modern than country, are there recommendations for the siding?

Honestly I don't think the exterior shape reads modern at all, but rather leans more toward traditional. I think the most you can do is transitional. Maybe do lap siding on the bottom and board and batten for the 2nd/half story parts, but continue so around the house.

What do Washington State farm houses look like? Farm houses vary with the part of the country. The best way to avoid a house looking dated is to choose something that is indigenous to the area, i.e. no adobe houses in New England, and no New England clapboard farm houses in New Mexico/

When I Googled Washington State farmhouses, the pictures I found were mostly of two-story, somewhat Victorian farm houses.

It's funny as this one could almost be a twin of the house my own father (born in 1901, youngest of 10 children) grew up in in a rural area of SW Missouri.

I think your design looks a bit more like the kind of farmhouses one sees in Texas, although they might well be stone. I'd keep the materials consistent with what have been historically used on Washington farm houses, and I'd be sure not to make it dark inside. I assume most of Washington shares the often rainy weather that Seattle does, so light is very important.

Farmhouses have been trendy in rural areas for a long time, just over 200 years here in the US. Building houses that fit the site was trendy but is losing its popularity lately.

Your house design will be fine...it will look as good in 10-15 years as it does in your elevations today. Your left and rear elevations are rather bulky, but they are not a major problem.

The "best" farmhouses tend to be those which have small, simple forms, and appear to have been added on to over the years--a sort of "organic" growth of the house over time.

Avoid the "trendy" exterior and interior stuff and you'll be fine. Pay no attention to HGTV.

Seriously, do honest to goodness farmhouses look dated in 10-15 years?

Lyfia- the exterior is definitely traditional as you said, and transitional is the word I should have used.

Anglophilia- I have not noticed a predominant "style" for old farm houses out here. I think there is probably a mix of architecture from various places as people brought their local style with them when they migrated west. I am not an expert on local architecture though. In my small town there seems to be a lot of older Craftsman style houses in the historic district. Out in the country there is a huge range.

The board and bat and lap siding are both common here, with more lap siding than anything I think. The board and batten looks "fresher" to me.

Mark- Thank you!

Virgil- Thanks for the comment, and I don't disagree that the left and rear elevations being a bit bulky. After fencing and landscaping I do not think it will be noticeable, and almost no one besides us will ever see the back.

I am playing around with the exterior materials and with the thought that "real" farmhouses were added onto over time. But obviously I want it to look cohesive as a whole.

I have a couple of front elevations with different combinations, just ignore the dormer and window differences.

Your house is classic looking. I wouldn't mix up the materials. It doesn't need it. Choose one or the other. Board and batten or lap siding. It's like taking a pretty girl and tarting her up.

I think it is lovely. I would not do black Windows.

So on the front you have the added onto over time look with the different roof changes. Unfortunately that is missing on the back and sides which is causing the issue of it not flowing well with the material changes, although the back could be fixed as it flows somewhat that way too.

Don't do elevation D as that doesn't work since the change in materials don't have a natural stopping point. It looks like the house is wearing socks. My suggestion was if you wanted to mix materials to do something similar to what you have on the rear elevation on the left side.

Simple in general is better especially with a house that is nice looking to start with.

For a believable and true farmhouse look, don't "tart" up the exteriors with lots of materials and colors. Actual farmhouses were very simple shapes and forms, with a simple use of materials and details. That said, additions over time may well have different materials and colors.

Keep in mind that farmhouses are true vernacular architecture. That means they use the materials, and building techniques commonly known and practiced in their area. This is why New England farmhouses are so different from southern or southwestern farmhouses. Thus, for yours to appear authentic, you must study and use materials, techniques and finishes common in your area.

Here's a favorite true colonial-era farmhouse in Pennsylvania (I believe) which demonstrates the "add on over time" approach:

One can easily pick out the many "add-ons" over time, yet they all work harmoniously together, despite different scales, proportions, materials and colors. Pretty neat isn't it?

I'm guessing the original building was the element with the two closely spaced chimmneys in the very center of the photo, and everything else was added over generations.

Following along because I have the same concern. We are building a "modern" farmhouse on 2 acre hobby farm in a rural pocket south of Houston. It is a struggle to parse out the timeless from the trendy! Especially when some of what is timeless is super hip and trendy right now! I like the advice to keep the architecture style local and the materials simple.

Thank you so much for the feedback! I will talk to my husband, but after hearing your suggestions I think we will go back to the original exterior, which was all board and batten. It is very common here in more recently built houses to have a mix of exterior siding, and I guess I felt like I needed to "tart" it up as you said. I can see the beauty in the simplicity of a single material, and honestly that fits my personal aesthetics as well.

The discussion over the black or white windows was a long one, as I think the black is very popular right now and also quite a bit more expensive. I think the black makes the house pop more, especially with white, but also with a more "clay" color that I posted above, with white trim and black windows. We have some concerns that the black vinyl may fade with time. We are doing Milgard windows, which are mid-range and have a lifetime warranty, but that warranty does not cover fading. As we plan to live here for a long time (hopefully), this could be an issue.

ETA: Actually, after re-reading Virgil's comment, I will do some research on local finishes before I make a final decision.

Cyndy -It's nice to hear that there is someone else that has the same concerns!

I did a quick google search for images in my area. I didn't come up with a ton, and definitely I could build a log cabin and have it be historically accurate, but that is not quite the look I am going for.

These are some of the results I came up with:

Board and batten is definitely seen on houses around here, but I haven't found any historical photos with it. The lap siding seems to be the siding of choice, which also makes sense as I have read that it sheds water better than board and bat.

It is interesting to note that some of these have the dark window grids. Obviously these are not all farmhouses, but they are all fairly local.

Most likely the dark windows on the black and white photos are not black windows but are a dark color. Dark green, dark red, brown, etc.

That’s a good point cpartist.

6 years ago. when we first met with our builder, he took one look at our plan and said "i haven't built a house that wasn't brick in 25 years" for a while we thought he was going to refuse to build this particular plan, but he came through and we have a "farmhouse" plan that looks like it could have been built by our great grandparents...just what we wanted....and now there are a dozen or so farmhouses in our neighborhood (2500 acres or so) so far, none of the houses resemble ours and i've got to say, that's a relief even though they say imitation is the highest form of flattery.....

These older plan books are a joy to see and read! :-)

Hey Jth04! We are also building a farmhouse in rural western Washington. The farming community I live in has a wide range of "farmhouses"...many of them have the Victorian look that Angliphilia posted above. But some of them are brick square boxes...some are craftsman style, and my neighbor up the street built a super modern house (and every time I drive by it I think...well, that's out of place!).

I really love the look of board and batten, but had the same concerns as you of things being too trendy. Ultimately, we are going with all horizontal lap siding (also in white) but we're doing white windows.

The four volumes of the Farm Knowledge books cover a wide range of topic concerning living on a farm, from farm animals to soils and crops to farm management to farm machinery.

Every farmhouse needs dynamite. Animals, orchards, outhouses, barns, a whole passel of kids... All optional. But not dynamite.

What a great thread. I grew up on a farm and our house was a converted one room school house with additions.

Lots of old farmhouses here that are either white homes that have been added on to or for the wealthier farmers large four square brick homes that have stood the test of time.

jth04...like your house. I think I like the shed dormer rendering over the gable. Hope you stick around and let us watch you build it.

Here's a pic of the front of our house. Not quite finished yet as we still need front steps and wrap the bottom of the columns under the deck in stone and of course landscaping. We used board and baton all over and I don't think it is too much vertical. I like the simplicity of it. Many started to describe our house as a 'modern farmhouse' and it was driving me crazy because I didn't want something so trendy. We opted to paint ours gray with white windows to avoid the white house/black window trend. I have never liked white houses anyway because the dirt shows too much so this was preferable to me anyway. Just wanted to show you another option to white/black and the all board and baton.

Edited to add a picture of one side of our house. This was while ago and before it was painted. The board and baton was broken up by a horizontal piece of Hardie trim where the board seams were. Also opted to use shakes/shingles in the gable tops, to further break it up. But the front and back have no shakes/shingles.

Yes, do avoid the black windows look - it is a trend and it will go quickly. It came about as a result of the "industrial look" that has been popularized with steel/bronze windows used in lots of Brooklyn brownstone houses. It's stunning when it's steel; it's not so great when it's vinyl. The entire point of having either vinyl or aluminum clad windows is that muntins need never be painted - always the biggest part of the cost of having a house painted. If one tires of the black or it fades (vinyl in dark colors DOES fade!), then they will need to be painted. Stick with white - you won't regret it.

Thanks again to all that have taken the time to respond. I love the parts of the book that you posted Mark, thanks so much for taking the time. I am going to keep an eye out for those volumes when I am shopping the used books sales. I love the chapter header about dynamite.

ILoveRed- Thank you, and I also like the shed dormer. The gable dormer appears more cheerful to me, if that doesn't sound too strange. I was driving around today paying extra attention to houses and their architectural elements, and I saw more shed dormers around here, especially in houses that just had a single dormer over a front porch. The gable dormers are more common in pairs or sets of three. This is something that could be changed without too much trouble, so I will be keeping it in mind.

gthigpen- Your house is lovely! I like the color you chose for the exterior and the board and batten looks so nice. Thanks for taking the time to post those.

Advice on the windows is noted. It certainly would save us quite a bit of money (I think it was almost 40% more for a "bronze" exterior). If we did do white windows, I don't think I would want a white exterior, as it would just be so much white.

ETA- After seeing Mark’s pictures I pulled out a book we have titled “Down on the Farm,” copyright 1954. I was looking for any pictures particular to my area and could only find the one below. Thought I would share it, not for inspiration in my home design, but just because I love old photographs and figured some of you would also appreciate it.

Mark I have to find those books!!! How cool!

Every farmhouse needs dynamite. Animals, orchards, outhouses, barns, a whole passel of kids... All optional. But not dynamite.

Ha... well... it depends on how much your husband likes to scare the sh*t out of people. :) or just blow things up in general.

Jth04 I always try to remind people that if it's something YOU love and will be happy with it, doesn't matter if it's trendy or not.

I did some things in our house that I had planned for a long time... before the "trends" the beauty of it when we finally got to build was that the things were easier to find!! I'm still going to love them when the trend is gone. And if my "friends" come and think it's outdated, well... oh well! :)

Jth04 would love to know where you’re building! I tried to message you but it seems you don’t have that feature turned on.