I hear you. We just had a fence put in, and I want to stain it. A medium dark brown, without too much red, but not gray looking... I've got 5 quarts and three sample size stains, and so far nothing is exactly right.

It looks ok to me from the pic, but that is a weird perspective. I like that the new light more closely matches the size of the mailbox. In general, I look for a grid for alignment. The top of the light looks like it almost aligns with the top of the trim. It's ok if it aligns with the bottom of the trim. It is probably ok wherever it is. The top of the mailbox I originally thought should be lower. If it's easy to temporarily remove the mailbox, I'd try it top aligned with the top of the trim, or the bottom of the trim. Or 2/3 overlap could be ok. Then you have the flag. So I would just play with the mailbox position so you have the right amount of space for the 3 items.

Pal, Re the fireplace - that makes sense. A big swath of diagonal is definitely 70s-80s. Maybe the chevron not so much. Fori, i considered that when I was first liking at more Prairie/FLW style fixtures. But when I decided to go retro, the aluminum made sense. Also, the house has aluminum numbers, chrome door hardware, and we just installed a stainless steel mailbox. Somewhere way down my wishlist I want to get a flat panel garage door - hate thenone that's there now. I may go ahead and paint the garage door trim the body color so it all reads as one.

deck All wood is pressure treated