In regards to the exterior materials, it should be limited to two. Right now your design is showing three, and stone and brick also don't mix well. One or the other. I have to ask too, are you sold on the green trim? I know it's a lake house but green trim is hard to work with.

I wasn't entirely clear on what your questions were but regarding the shed dormer over the front door? I also think it looks absurdly large in proportion to the front door. I agree that the back looks better

I like lindsey's inspiration picture, and even that color combination. Can you bring pillars down from the front porch roof to mimic the back rendering? I think this would put things in better proportion for you on the front. I also think the door needs to be bigger then. Either add windows on each side of the door or just enlarge the door itself to get it to proportion. Regarding stone/brick combination, I agree to not use more than two. Can you just use stone all the way around the house as well as in the two places you have it (door surround and garage part that sticks out), then also on the pillar bottoms? I would tend to agree on the green trim as well. My parents have a lake house with green trim (garage doors, steel roof). They have a log home though, so didn't have issues trying to match stone and siding. Green is a difficult color other than with brown. The picture up above uses the one color of siding, the stone color, then accents with the wood doors. I think that look is stunning. Maybe not necessarily these same colors, but something about the wood doors makes speaks "lake house" to me!! Lucky you, retiring and building...congratulations! Make sure to come back here and post the before and after pictures!!

I agree that your current siding includes too many materials. I have kind of had it with the pseudo-craftsman look Lindsay posted ( no offense to Lindsey, I know that's not why she showed it). I am not an architect, and have not considered this type of house for myself, so I am speaking only as someone who has an eye for things that are off. I am sure that if I did the slightest bit of research on this new design trend I would find that it is rooted in the tradition of bastardizing Historical norms. It seems like Stone is kind of used as wainscoting lately, and that looks wrong to me. There needs to be a logical reason for having certain sidings in one place or another. I will look for some pictures but I'm guessing this is based on beautiful older homes with Stone foundations, probably shingle siding. The availability and relative inexpense of stone facing these days probably has something to do with it. The bulky pillars mounted on stone supports while ubiquitous also seem off. I totally see what you're going for, and I like it. I question your architect's ability to get you an authentic look though. I will look for some back up to my gut feelings…

A quick look at historic shingle style homes (not the new ones!) confirm my suspicions. Some one one day looked at these houses, thought "they have stone!" And started smacking stone veneer halfway up houses and called it a day. If you want to know how horribly wrong to even the very rich can go, go no further than this beauty. While historical homes have beautiful stone foundations that come out to support porch railings and pillars, and create porches and patios, In a completely sensible way, someone here said "you need stone towers to support your porch pillars!!

Holy crap.

I would peruse "historical shingle style (lake) homes, " but look no further than this beauty for inspiration on how to integrate stone appropriately: foundation (not wainscoting), comes out to create impressive entry ( you could use this to balance that huge Dormer), chimney, and in the back creating a terrace on sloping ground, foundation for porch (es) and even siding for entire section (such as garage) shingles everywhere else. Use the same stone for all landscaping terraces etc.

Well on further examination this appears to be a new build and the stone goes from foundational in back to wainscoting in the front Not sure how that is even possible, happy to be scolded by real architects on here but I don't think I'm wrong

Also check this this out for common stone mistakes: http://www.oldhouseguy.com/do-you-have-wallpaper-on-your-house/

Are you by any chance related to my wonderful pediatrician?

Thanks, all, for your insights. Honestly, I had no interest in using stone (or brick) for the facade, but the covenant requires that 30% of the front of the house use one or the other. I agree that the whole thing looks too busy and I take your point about the green. I like the idea of contrasting colors and brown and green is what I was thinking, but am not wedded to it. And, in fact, started to doubt that choice once I considered the notion of matching stone to siding color, etc.

I agree that a larger door would help balance the front. Should the portico be as wide as the dormer? Would that make it seem less odd?

I like the idea of pillars instead of those buttresses. Maybe that's the way to get the stone in there. Somehow, I don't mind the stone on the garage, but am not crazy about it around the door.

Greenfish1234, I love the idea of stone as foundation, but pretty sure it's not in our budget. So, I need to figure out a way of getting it in there without it looking strange. And, I don't know your pediatrician, but my understanding is that all Vonneguts are related. (-:

Thanks again, all!

Lol well then you are related to my pediatrician AND his famous father! He is wonderful.

So stone for foundation can be cosmetic-the same way theybput it on the house, only on the concrete. Can you do the foundation, garage, and portico base, and chimney and hit the #? SMH at the misguided nonsense. I would absolutely fix the entry width-are you using a real architect or a draftsman? Or pre-made plans? I really wonder what's going on here.

I am NOT an architect so this is just a concept based on quick observation of what is "off."

in this photo white is stone, everything else is shingles roof or pillar. I don't know what the magnifying circle is I couldn't get rid of it. I love brown shingles with green windows. Black or brown windows would be nice too. On the pillars front and back, I would NOT do them as pointlesly wrapped in stone. Extend the stone from the foundation to make a low wall on which pillars can sit. Or do no stone there and use plain straight supports. I would want a few steps up if possible, in part to show off stone work, but I get that this is a retirement house.

Another option (ask an architect!) is to bring stone to the roofline only. Shingles on dormers and gables. I'm pretty sure that this is an accepted spot to change facing material.

Try to make sure any stone you do goes to the ground in an uninterrupted plane and doesn't have an indent at the foundation or show foundation. Keep in mind with any of this stuff that you are replicating something that used to be necessary to the structure of the home. All of the non-structural tell-tales ( like a concrete foundation with stone above it) will add up to a poor result.

PS – sorry I missed the question about the portico. Yes it should be widened significantly and your entire entryway widened as well