Yes, it looks like contemporary plopped together with a more traditional look. Honestly, it looks odd.

I agree with PPF. It's difficult looking at just these two elevations to figure out what's going on and where. I'm guessing there are a combination of gable and shed roofs here and there.

A roof plan will help, if you can post one. And posting the other elevations will also be a big help.

Without seeing the other elevations, it appears to me that you have a rather contemporary design (I won't say modern farmhouse, no matter what). My sense is the white board and batten would be spectacular on this design, and you don't really need all that stone. You could use stone on the chimney if you like.

Good luck on your project.

Here are some more drawings. This is our first time building a house. We've lived for the past 30 years in the farmhouse my husband grew up in, so it will be a big change! Any help or advice would be appreciated!

Is this an addition or a entirely new home?

From what I can see in the elevations provided, I'd get rid of the stone entirely and go with siding. Save some money while improving the appearance. Win/Win.

marjadebrouwer -- Answering questions that are posed helps others help you.

If you don't understand, please ask for clarification.

I said above:

You might want to explain a bit more about the design of the house -- and post a 3D rendering or 2, or at least the other 2 elevations.

There are normally 4 elevations, each one shows a side of the house. You show the front and back, but not the right and left sides.

What 'look" were you going for, and was this designed by an Architect or someone else?

This is an unusual design, so it helps to understand why it looks the way it does, and knowing about the designer provides insight as well.

I don't have a 3D rendering of the house - I'll be meeting again with our designer (she is an architectural technologist, not an architect) next month and I'll ask about them. I have front and back elevations, not side elevations.

The 'look' I'm going for is a modern take on a farmhouse (we are farmers, and we currently live in a traditional 100 year old farmhouse). However, since we plan to 'age' in this house, we had it designed as a single story (the basement has bedrooms for our kids when they come home). Here are a few pictures of homes I've collected for inspiration.

Can we at least see the floor plan? That might help to explain the elevations.

BTW: I like your inspiration photos.

Yes, a floor plan would be beneficial because I cannot make sense of the dimensions and depths of the house based upon what you posted. I REALLY like the top photo you posted of your inspiration houses and if you notice, it only has stone on one small area but it makes a huge impact overall.

Here are the plans for the main floor and for the basement

Your design does not seem to capture your inspiration. They all have similar larger sections connected via a low (or flat) roofed structure using dissimilar materials.

Your designer seems to have somewhat randomly used different materials around the house with no obvious pattern.

Are you happy with the design?

When you meet with the designer, request a clean plan without all the notes and dimensions that make it difficult to read.

Have you considered a side entrance garage?

Which direction will the house face?

I'm actually very happy with the design.

We debated for a long time about the direction of the garage. I'm concerned that if the garage door with pad are at the side, it is a really long walk to the front door (for visitors and for us when we park outside). We don't want family and friends to use the service door at the back of the garage to enter the house, which is what I think would happen. However, I'm open to hearing other opinions.

The front door of the house will face west.

My original question was what siding (material, colour, etc.) would you recommend to lower the cost of the house. Since we won't be using stone anymore (except on the chimney), what material would you recommend?

Your inspiration photos all show simple, steeply pitched, mostly single ridge roofs.

The right side of your plan does not lend itself to this type of roof.

White B&B everywhere but the connector space. Darker lap siding there. Or reverse the sidings, but keep the colors.

But I would review any ideas in color.

Are you concerned at all that the main axis of your house is east/west? Especially if you're in the north?

One other major concern is your kitchen. Why is the dishwasher on the island but the sink is on the perimeter?

This interior needs work and IMO you need an architect for sure.

Sorry to interject myself. Someone educate me. What is an "architectural technologist"? Is this a draftsman or a pre-architect? I've never heard that term before.

I personally dislike the front entry garage on your plan. It's blah. Look at your first inspiration photo and it's garage placement. What if you swing your garage around to mimic that one, which will allow some more architectural detail on your front elevation, but solves the problem of guests going to your back door? The hodgepodge of materials, roof designs, etc., and the lack of cohesiveness in roofing make this look like one side was an "add on" and a poorly designed one at that. To me, it feels like you said, "Hey, I want this and this and this and this" and your designer had to fit everything you wanted into the plan without an overall sense of flow, functionality, or aesthetics (interior and exterior). Sorry, but you need an architect. I'm wondering if more of an L-shape design would work better.

I think doing stone on only the chimney looks nice. As for the rest of the siding, cedar is an expensive choice. We recently priced out siding, and LP SmartSide (an engineered wood product) was about one third to one half the price of primed cedar. SmartSide comes in lap, shake and vertical, so you could add interest by using two different types. SmartSide needs to be painted, so you could pick whatever color you like. HardiePlank is another widely used siding that should be less expensive than cedar but more expensive to install.

Worthy can probably explain better. An architectural technologist is a Canadian professional designation.

"...Sorry to interject myself. Someone educate me. What is an "architectural technologist"? Is this a draftsman or a pre-architect? I've never heard that term before..."

OK...turns out I responded to this, but on the wrong thread and no one over there could figure out what I was saying or why...!

An architectural technologist does not exist in the U.S. In the U.S., one is either a licensed architect or not, nothing else may use the term architect or architectural.

An "Architectural Technologist" is a category found in Canada, the UK (I think) and some other countries, and identifies an individual who has graduated with a non-professional degree in "architectural technology", i.e., something focused on structures, building systems, or the like. These folks are licensed to design small buildings and are popular, in part, because their fees tend to be lower than architect's fees.

Shead - I've been thinking about your suggestion to swing the garage out (similar to the first photo) and I think it's a good suggestion. It will also resolve the roof issue that PPF mentioned. I'll take that up with my designer when I meet with her next month. Do you have any suggestions for siding as well?

Cpartist - The kitchen in the plans is just a preliminary concept that my house designer included. I've since met with a certified kitchen designer to create a detailed kitchen plan - the plan now includes a sink in the island.

Re: east/west axis. There were several factors we considered with direction. Our property is south of the road. We want to see the front of the house when we drive up the driveway, not the back or sides of the house (if you look at the first drawing I posted, you'll see what I mean. Keep in mind that the driveway actually has a much slighter curve than that depicted in the drawing). We could turn the house so that the large expanses of glass in the kitchen, great room and basement living room face west, but I don't want the late setting sun to shine into those room at that angle (I have that in my current office, and it's very aggravating - I have to close my blinds to work in there later in the afternoon and evening). That being said, I'm open to reading your ideas about how the house should be situated.

Patricia Colwell - You stated that the interior needs work - can you be more specific? I like the layout of the house (although I definitely like the idea of changing the direction of the garage). What exactly is it that you think needs work?

bot494 - Thank you!!! You are one of the few who actually provided an answer to my original question, and I really appreciate it! I love the look of Hardie, but I've read so many bad reviews online that I'm leery of going there (the contractors I've talked to also don't recommend it). The LP Smartside sounds similar to the Maibec siding we are looking at. Can you get it prepainted? (the Maibec comes either stained or painted). I like the idea of using both lap and vertical - what colour(s) would you suggest? Or do you think a natural wood stain on all the siding will look good?

I think you should do the stone chimney and stone the middle section and make everything else board and batten siding. If you turn the garage, you could build a stone landscape ledge a few feet tall (like the first inspiration photo has in front of the fireplace). That way, you have stone at strategic locations and it's balanced with some on the left (fireplace), some in the middle, and some on the right (landscape ledge).

Personally, I don't care for your roof design on the left portion with it higher in the front and sloping toward the back. None of your inspiration photos have that from what I can see. It creates an awkward vertical space above your front door porch roof. Maybe consider a low pitch gable roof so it doesn't look so "boxy". To that end, I think the rear elevation needs some more work. The third inspiration photo is actually the rear of the first photo. If you notice, the rear porch has an almost flat slope and extends the expanse of the rear. In your case, I'd extend the porch across the back and encompass the kitchen wing and the middle section of the house. You might could even do part of it as a screened in porch because, from living on an actual farm, I can attest that bugs and flies can be horrendous ;)

My last suggestion would be to reconsider how far your great room extends forward from the main body of the house. If you swing the garage around, you'd then have two sections extending forward which might look awkward and out of balance. I'm wondering if you could pull the whole living/kitchen area backwards several feet so that instead of your foyer leading into the kitchen area and then you having to make the turn left into the living area, your foyer would lead to the living area instead. To me, I'd rather funnel guest into the living room first than have to make a U-shaped walk through the kitchen to get into the living area.

I had my house resided with preprimed Hardie six years ago, so far looks the same as day 1

shead - yes, I agree about the stone on the fireplace and the front entrance area, and I'm getting more and more excited about the idea of using a combination of lap and b&b siding on the rest of the house.

Re: roof - I included some more inspiration photos below to show you the look we are after for the front entrance . Let me know what you think. We've considered a flat (or almost flat) roof for the porch, and we may still change that. We will definitely be screening the porch - I was so excited to be leaving the bugs and flies on the farm behind, but my husband assures me they will be just as bad in the bush. Lucky me!

Re: balance. I don't like the idea of visitors (or me!) entering the great room and then making a u-turn into the kitchen. If my arms are full of groceries or other packages I want to go straight to the kitchen island to drop them off! However, I understand and agree with your emphasis on balance and that's something I'll focus on when making the changes to the garage.

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