I understand your concern, but I think you'll find that it will look far less plain once your landscaping is in. New houses always seem a bit stark at first, especially if they're not in a wooded lot, because the area around them gets scalped by the construction. I think it's the bareness of the landscape that makes the house read as "naked," not the house itself. I like the shutters on the garage windows, but I don't like them on the dormers. I may be biased in that I grew up in an area of old (for the US, that is!) houses, and there were never shutters on dormer windows. It just somehow doesn't look right to me. I think it would be fine to have shutters on the garage windows only. Visually, the other windows are served by the porch and dormer eaves, so they don't seem to need framing in the same way.

Rusty red/ brown for the shutters. The green is a pretty color but is apropos of nothing---the color isn't found in the stone and it doesn't really set off the honey color of the stone at all. If you like green, perhaps a darker or more saturated hue would look better. what size area does your solar array cover? We are considering an array on the southwest facing roof plane of our home.

You might try posting this on the Home Decorating forum. I think a red door and darker gray would look great on your house.

You're right Natalie. The difference though, is that the stone lintels of the windows and the cornerstones are different from the material used for the exterior walls, usually brick, providing an important contrast. Currently, we're planning to paint the siding and the trim the same color white. American Georgian revival homes almost always have shutters. Although the shutters would be working shutters, I hadn't anticipated using them in the event of a storm. I don't know that they would provide much protection, especially since there won't be any on the NE side of the house, which is the direction of our worst storms. But you've given me something to think about regarding painting the trim a contrasting color, some kind of off white. My builder has been trying to talk be into that for a while. I'll have to wait until the siding is complete on the front and the door is installed before I decide. Interior shutters are nice if you have deep walls to fold them out of the way against the window casing. I'm not sure how I feel about them opening onto the interior walls. I'll have to take a look at some online. :)