Okay, there is something about building a home that no one ever talks about. TERMITES. Yes. TERMITES. They live and breed to take your breath, and your home and your investment away. Read all about them online, DO your due diligence. BEFORE you plan your landscaping, and after your exterior dirt is the way it will stay. If your budgeted expense did not include TERMITE RESISTaNT sheetrock(apparently a fairly new product, so it MUST be created for a need)... IF YOUR budget, did not buyTREATED LUMBER(just a deterrent, not a prevention) WHERE the plate meets the concrete.... IF you have peers and beam foundation, and your budget did not place a metal barrier(aluminum tin?) atop the concrete peer before the beams for the floor were installed, IF you saved money and used fingerjoint, or softwoods,(choose staingrade hard woods even if you want to paint it, termites will walk right over that in a fingerjoint paint grade window trim and take out that 'soft cellulose' and keep working around the hardwood that may be alternated or not in any given piece of window trim inside, for example) or sometimes called PAINT GRADE WOODS, on all your interior trim that comes in contact with the sheetrock and lumber. Before you choose spray on foam insulation, or batt insulation with PAPER(cellulose)on one side......teach yourself which one might be better for your environment. or if there are OTHER options......and how to try to not become the lead target for the next rainy season, or swarm of flying insects! ! Learn how to help yourself. It pays way better than your job does...... Most experts in their field, will never expect to think to tell you to avoid placing plants and shrub lines within the dripline or 2 feet(3 or 4 ft might be better?) of your home walls, and lumber retailers won't explain to you how great an idea it is to use a borate treatment on the lumber before you put it in your walls--- or your fence?? Others won't suggest to you that FILL DIRT might bring with it more than just WEED SEED, it has a small chance depending on the area, and potentially, can bring all matter of pests from grubs to ...termites.....as can the other earthen soils used to help construct a home...you could have options to treat or have the soil analyzed perhaps?? if you inquire? Those who are area professionals may have options for you to consider? Just 2 places that teach alot about dealing with the problem, but there are more out there and in videos too on greatly enhancing the main point: AVOIDING the problem.... https://www.domyown.com/termites-c-3.html or this: https://www.solutionsstores.com/ You can do this yourself? Just one idea is, and there are a variety of options, to create a barrier with fibpronil on the exterior perimeter of your home after the soil is settled...it makes a barrier for years, you do not want to disturb with digging up against your home, so wait till the ground is settled ---and it can degrade sooner with time if you live in a rainy season/area..Contact your local authorities if you need questions and service...they exist to help and make a profit, you can help them by being informed & knowing there is a balance of information and concern, but knowledge is for you there to learn in videos and many websites you can find if you go looking, look for the more recent headlines or news, so you don't miss the new things that they have now which maybe did not exist 10 or 5 years ago??.. ..You can purchase red button 'termite traps' , the directions tell you how and where to bury near your new homes perimeter, or old, you can purchase traps for your interior walls, designed to let you know if the pests get close to moving in--or if it's too late.......... Learn why and how to make the best decisions on keeping your home structure an UNINVITING place for these creatures. The new 'bait traps' are a great idea!! The Red button disappears into the tube if they have consumed the cellulose(their addiction)and you know you better get your perimeter protected if you have not.. One more proposal or consideration to plan carefully, don't plant vines on a pergola to root into your exterior siding... vines attract ants. Fireants, are a predator for TERMITES. As are salamanders......You don't want ants, or termites that close to your exterior walls. Those pictures of ivy on the old stucco walls of the castles, really are roots that make holes that let RAIN pour into your modern structure......when the plant is removed or disintegrates.. Take appropriate steps and stay diligent, this is one pest that can make you cry, with no odor, very little noise, and if you are seeing changes in the appearance of the inside or outside of your home or barn or tree house or play house...know what you are up against, so you react and create an ongoing plan, BEFORE you see the obvious signs. Thanks for sharing your journey. Spread the news that prevention is worth 100s of pounds of building materials, and hundreds of dollars of cure, for anyone that lives in a home, or builds a new home. It is very important.

Creative Visual Concepts, Kevin Strader Thank -you! I will check your site out tonight! Since we are looking at everything, I want to take the opportunity to make the decisions that will work together best, rather than pick a favourite shingle and when I finally decide on colour/garage door regret I didn't go browner/grayer etc. celerygirl Thank-you. Keeping the columns saves a few pennies for other fun projects! We are struggling with how light/dark to do the house and what colour - or even if it should be more than one. Do we paint the bands to match the stucco, or keep them as an accent. Garage door light/dark/wood. The prevailing colour of the all stucco houses here are various shades of beige, with some people now re-doing into various shades of gray. Is there a better look than all one colour of beige/gray? Right now the section where the front door is matches the columns. My inclination remains to maybe keep this section a different colour from the rest of the house (But keep the columns matching the body of the house?) Could this other colour carry onto the 2nd storey portion of the house as well? Or the front of the garage?

Designing the fenestration without regard to the facade/massing is a tough lesson to learn, and your ROI will definitely be lower. There really isn't a whole lot that variations in colors and wood trim will do, it will always look "unthought of" and uncohesive. If you were going "modern" style, it could be very successful, but the slope roof would hinder that too. I would just carry a belly band across where the garage fascia is, and differentiate the siding on top vs bottom (e.g. board&batten vs horizontal). Then plant lots of evergreen bushes to hide the facade (at least the lower with no fenestration). Side note, are those all casements or are a couple fixed (picture) windows?

"a hip roof is stronger" Its not a matter of strength but of shape. Less strong uplift forces are generated by a hipped roof because it has 4 sloping sides. However, all sloping roof shapes perform better if the slope is 7 in 12 or less so the 9 in 12 hipped roof of the OP's house could be a problem in Florida. Gable ends are required to be reinforced at the apex where a high wind can generate an outward force. A hipped roof insurance discount would not apply to a house with a hipped roof and multiple front facing gables so I don't know why that issue would be relevant here. As for architectrural design advice, my intent was to offer a broader perspective on house design themes than what is currently offered by builder/developers and internet house plan marketers. To me they are unimaginative variations on the same few commonplace ideas that are therefore unremarkable and not appropriate for someone who would like their house to "stand out from the crowd". Since I design houses for a living that's something I take very seriously.