northernester, Here are a couple of pics of our house, sorry it took me so long to get a pic, this time of year, it's leave for work in the dark, return home in the dark. The siding is Hardiboard, pre painted, in Mountain Sage, trim is Hardie Sailcloth and the windows are Eagle, in Cinnamon. The pics aren't the greatest, sadly, it looks like mud season around here when it should look like a winter wonderland. Good luck with your decision, amd you have a lovely home, a 3 car garage in a waterfront home, that's great.

What an adorable house! I grew up with those white frame houses with black trim, & to me, they always looked stark & maybe institutional. & this is what I thought when I was too young to know those words! I think with a pure white background, you can use pure clear colors like red, which is a great "country" color for houses, or deep cool pastels, like the gray you have now or maybe a deeper gray. Hunter green is also a traditional color for farmhouse trim, & it would play off the white white beautifully. I'm a fan of Behr paints from Home Depot, but a lot depends on your climate; we have lots of summer & you may have lots of winter or lots of salt spray. This forum's participants have a vast pool of experience a great willingness to share, so I'm sure somebody will give you expert advice on brand & type.

I would NOT add faux stone to your home. Painting the blue out with a darker gray or even a sage color would enhance your home. Do consider either painting your garage doors the same color as the new siding color you choose. Or go in the opposite direction and add the cedar look garage doors to coordinate with the cedar on your future (very lovely) home.

I'll be posting pics on a new thread soon of our 1950 Florida ranch house to ask for help with exterior colors. This thread already got me started with ideas and I hope you all will be just as generous with your great advice as you were with A P. Houzzers are the best.