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.

I'm in agreement with you that for your situation something of low contrast would be best. You could have the shutters more or less match the house color (or even go ligher, say a cream color) or a soft green with yellow tones to it. I would let the landscaping provide the color (and I'm so hoping you're not doing grass in your tropical environment) and let it be the lush counterpoint to your cool-looking light colored house. I think it would be beautiful.

This is Agreeable Gray, Extra White and Gauntlet Gray. I actually think it would be a mistake to go too much gray on the body. You will already have a gray roof. Canvas Tan is a little grayer than Patience. I would not use those garage doors shown above. They are a modern design and your house is closer to traditional. I also think the wood grain and side windows when combined with stone would look too busy. I hope one of the professionals will speak to the door as I am just a person like you. What is the name of your HOA? Stay away from Unique Gray. It is lilac color.

Very first impression is there are way too many narrow shutters and none fit the windows properly. What is not taken advantage off is the mill work over the windows. If painted the white of the windows, the windows would be lovely without the shutters. Shiny red front door…..