Thanks for the responses! Mightyanvil, I know what you're saying about asking our architect, and I will definitely do that, but I have to say that I've realized over the past 8 months working with him that he and I don't always have the same taste, especially on the details...maybe it's my east coast aesthetic vs. his west coast aesthetic. My "eye" still tells me that clapboard should be smooth like the New England farmhouses I remember growing up around, but maybe it's different for Prairie/Craftsman style? Also, he has not specified every single detail (such as colors). He's pretty much just spec'd materials and left individual color choices to us. Yes, I do have elevations, but since our architect is "old school" they are hand drawn and are not on my computer. Maybe I can reduce and scan them. I'll see about that. Ronnatilie, your house looks great. Thanks so much for the photo, which helps a lot!! Our house is similar in style with hip roofs and a mix of exterior siding. Our windows are white (we went with Andersen wood and vinyl clad so the exterior of the window, unfortunately, can't be painted), and I think this window color choice limits us in exterior siding colors. I don't care for the look of brownish earth tone colors in siding, up against a white window, so I'm thinking that we're going to stick to a dark charcoal grey on the stucco, some sort of lighter grey on the Hardiplank, and a stone with greys and other colors in it. I'd love to find a good photo of that combination or similar, but I'm having a hard time finding one. Thanks again for the help. Please keep it coming! Susan

Hi Diana, I had a vinyl product from Certainteed - Cedarboard insulated siding in a 7" height, installed on my shed and have lived with if for a year to see how I like it. After some time with it, I like it but not enough to want to have it installed on my home. It has a bit of a plastic look to it like all vinyl. After seeing some well done paint jobs on aluminum siding in the area, have decided to have my aluminum siding painted. I have seen to many homes in the area with vinyl siding where the vinyl shows buckling or warping. My aluminum siding lays very flat and so think painting will be a good choice. Dave

cp......You have NO clue what you're talking about!!! Period!!!! Where in the (T*&#%#%%&*Y*( do you get 100k from???????????? You can barely build a tree house for that!!!! Well Robin, I've been on this site for a long time now and you used to get your britches in a hitch when someone mentioned they were paying $200k for a house, so I made a tongue in cheek comment. ALLOT of GC's KNOW that most people have 'no' idea of what things costs and they take advantage of that!!!! They do this to put ALLOT of profit in their pockets!!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW this as a FACT!!!!! Since you know this for a fact, please share your FACTS. Real facts and not your opinions. Give us examples. You're very good at using exclamation points and capital letters and spelling things incorrectly, but not once have you backed up any of your statements with actual facts. It's a shame they do this but it's normal business for them. It's a black eye on them IMO. I'm 'sure' you 'won't' answer......... Wrong, I answered. And in reality the real black eye is someone coming here and spouting their opinion as if it were a fact when it's quite clear they don't have a clue what they are talking about and can't even back it up with actual facts. And it's even more of a shame that you continue to come off as uneducated.

LP smooth sharp edge siding Are you referring to the 38 Series smooth finish siding? I've never heard of "sharp edge". I have installed a good bit of Hardie and the LP siding (including the smooth) and prefer the LP. LP switched the smooth from a fiber substrate which I never recommended, to a strand substrate which is far better. All siding needs to be installed correctly, but I have found the LP products far more tolerant of install errors than Hardie.