Our house was built with a cheap acrylic tub/shower unit 20 years ago. It started getting difficult to clean just five years later. At around 15 years, it developed a small hole in the sidewall. (We think it was from bathing the dog and her sharp nails.) We had one kid in college and another who was very ill at the time = no money. We patched the leak and I kept getting more and more creative with the cleaning products just to make it look decent. Finally, kiddo #1 is healthy and kiddo#2 is graduated. We're about to embark on the long needed bathroom remodel. Unfortunately, we are still on a budget. The only thing I didn't want to budge on was NO ACRYLIC TUB. But our bath, the only full one in the house, is up the stairs and around a tight corner into a small 8x5 room, with the tub at the back. Our bath guy says, sure, he can put a cast iron tub in there but he'd probably have to remove, then rebuild, a wall to do so. There would go the budget. My alternative is to use an acrylic unit because they have a little "give" and he could get it into the room without demolishing anything. "I don't want acrylic!" I say, but he tells me there are nicer ones than that piece of junk I have in there now. How much nicer? Really nice. Of course you still have to build a floor up around the bottom of it and put in some insulation if you want it to feel like cast iron though. "And how much is that going to cost?" I ask. And the answer is -- too much. "There is another option," he says. Then he pulls out this gorgeous hunk of solid surface material and tells me he can put in a walk in shower made out of that stuff, with a premium showerhead and control for the same price as doing an "okay" job of installing a mid-range acrylic unit. Did I tell you I only have one full bath? No other tub in the house? I'm going with the walk in shower anyway. THAT'S HOW MUCH I HATE ACRYLIC. BTW, according to shower guy, the lifespan of an acrylic tub is 20 years. Hope this helps.

I think it's more important to find a color that goes best with the brick, if it has to be a choice. Having the cement color look like cement is fine...and not necessary to have it match as much. I would also match downspouts and soffit to the siding...I wouldn't want the downspouts standing out as if they were trim. Instead I consider them a 'necessary evil' and want them to disappear against the siding.

Here is an old image of the elevation of the home we are building. I colored in the areas to be stucco (light grey) and stone (dark grey). Ignore the off center windows of the circular staircase, they are really centered. I filled in with a red color on the windows. The windows I am thinking about using are the brick red color from Pella. The way our lot is set, the best way to have our garage was front entry. Well, the garage is really at an angle. I wouldn't know what to do with the garage doors and front entry door. I don't think I would want them red as well. I had planned on having a stained wood fiberglass or real wood to make them look as nice as possible, but I don't know what would go. I hope I'm not highjacking...

Here is another blog post by build that may give you some more information about your window choices. http://blog.buildllc.com/2015/05/a-modern-guide-to-windows/ We used gerkin (aluminium) windows and they were significantly less than fleetwood, with the added benefit of being delivered on time (we combined them with some sliding doors/windows from fleetwood which came a few weeks late). I think the main advantage of fleetwood windows is that for the really large spans and door window combo units, they have the mullions figured out to be pretty minimal. Gerkin doesnt do doors, and their mullions are bulkier. This blog post should give you an idea - http://mattrisinger.com/gerkin-aluminum-windows-vs-storefront-for-a-modern-new-home/. You may need triple glazing (especially on operable windows) to meet code with aluminium windows, but if done judicially you can minimize how much you notice them. This blog post, also by build, may help. http://blog.buildllc.com/2013/11/meeting-the-energy-code/. We also have one corner window. Fleetwood can do these, but the mullion at the corner is pretty big. We got an aluminium clad wood window from Marvin. It may be a little different in appearance, but no one is going to notice unless you point it out to them. I would also check out Almuniiom clad wood windows from Marvin, though they are pricey. It may be that you use a combo of Marvin integrity (fiberglass) windows for most places, and combine them with al clad wood windows from the full marvin line. They can build pretty much anything. Plus they do have a fiberglass/wood option as well. They were too expensive for us, but from everything i have heard Marvin is one of the best window manufacturers out there. Finally, we also looked at Inline windows. They make fiberglass windows, but can apply a wood veneer on the inside to give you that warm look. This will probably be cheaper than the full marvins. Hope this helps.