One of the reasons lighter colors are popular on houses is that they do not fade as fast as dark colors in strong sunlight. Also, the use of white on architectural detailing makes them more distinct and prominent. Brown contains some red so it sometimes fades to a soft muddy color. I would also be concerned about fungus on dark soffits in damp climates. Be sure to look at similar colors on the soffits of other houses. If the contractor has never used this color range in this manner before I would be skeptical of his advice.

Hi, I'm in the process of changing our the siding in my house, I also have white windows, I was told by the siding company that my trim should match my windows. I like the idea of taupe siding with your roof, however, I think your trim should be a lighter shade of the taupe or stick with white. I think the almond trim will clash with the white windows. Can you paint your garage door another colour?

We are building a lake house as well using cedar shingle siding. Your house should have nice views out those big windows. Congratulations. i don't have suggestions on colors other than ...keep it simple. But I do have a question. We are looking at stain colors now and are looking at the semi transparent. What made you decide to go with the semi solid rather than semi transparent?

Stone just on the front says "this is really fake stone stuck on for looks", rather than a structural element of the home. It's immediately obvious that it's stone veneer. Originally, stone veneers were meant to duplicate real stone without the expense. But everything you do that communicates clearly to the viewer that it is, in fact, just veneer, cheapens the look of that element. So, here is an example of what it's supposed to look like. (Visbeen architects. They almost always do nice work, although not for the faint of budget). Here, the lower level appears to be stone, with the wooden framework of the rest of the house resting on it. A classic building technique. (See also: Shingle style homes) Unfortunately, tract builders have spent years using it as if it's just another "style" of cladding material that can be glued on willy-nilly. So, instead of using it to hide cinderblocks and replicate a stone foundation, it's just slapped on the front. So, here it looks like a stone portion of the house is actually being supported by a wooden segment. Which would be a very poor way to really build, and is part of why it's more than a little cringe-y Just why? There is no rhyme or reason to this one: Here, only on one side of the garage. So... we put the expensive decorative material on the car house, and in such a way as to dramatically demonstrate that it's not really made of stone... Again, this just isn't a good use of the veneer. It doesn't look like, nor would you logically expect the two sections that are veneer to really BE made of stone. And, again, this house mostly says, "HERE IS MY GARAGE, and welcome to my house that I have attached to my GARAGE." I can't decide if wrapping the stone two feet around is better or worse than stopping at the corner. From a design sense, none of the choices on this facade make sense. But we've gotten so used to it, because it's so commonly done. This doesn't make it good design. Again, the two-story center section that doesn't look like a real stone portion tied into a wood house, especially when coupled with the stone used ONLY on the front of the garage. Even on a modern design, poorly placed stone just looks cheap. The section next to the window is probably OK, but the silly little section on the garage is just more tract house tarting up.