The easiest fix would be to live with it the way it is.

I do not think the change you describe will improve the look of the house any more than what exists, if anything I think it would emphasize the garage to the point where it will look like a garage with a house added.

Length of materials vary by the nature of the material and by manufacturer of the material.

I like it the way it is. The white gable breaks up the blue, but allows for continuity of the blue.

Yeah it looks like garages with a house attached. I would try to blend the garage doors into the house color as much as possible.

For the reason Mark stated, white batten would make the garage stick out more than it already does. Consider this a fortunate "mistake."

Can we see the entire house front?

But I think @res2 is absolutely correct - where the horizontal siding begins emphasizes the house length. RES' drawing is a big improvement, even, as he says, if there were horizontal siding below the lowered trim board.

At the least, I'd paint the blue horizontal siding on the garage white to match the board and batten color.

Here is another drawing.

Accenting the garage with board and batten was the very definition of a mistake. Get rid of what is left and do the blue on it all. Including painting the garage doors blue to minimize and camouflage their unappetizing bulk. There’s not a lot of ”house” there. It looks like the cars designed it for themselves, and the people part is for their servants. You've got to try to minimize the garage as much as possible.

Here is a picture of the back of the house.

Whatever you do, I would enlarge the lantern lights. They are pretty skimpy looking, and generally should be at least 1/3 of the front door's height. They are a farmhouse style which doesn't really go with the style of your home.

The blue siding is gorgeous, looks great with the roof color and surrounded by snow. I think it looks so much better than all white would. The view side of your house looks wonderful.

Thanks, Elizabeth. The blue really is a pretty color and with the house's other white accents, the garage treatment certainly looks intentional. I think deco is right about the lights. I love the color but now that you have the blue siding maybe a larger, vertical black lantern would be better.

This isn't an easy fix but since you asked, could you use the 10' vertical board and batten at the bottom of the garage placing the trim band above it, more like RES' drawing, and finish the gable in some manner like this, using either a combo of board and batten or all horizontal, trimmed out?

Thankfully this is better than what you wanted. Why would you want your garage to be the focal point of the house which is what would happen if it was all white? All white and a different siding (board and batten) would have been a HUGE mistake. This looks nice.

Agree with Verbo to paint the doors the same color blue. Right now you have a house attached to the garages instead of the garages attached to the house. Unless your business is fixing cars, minimize the garages.

You haven't shown us a full photo of the completed entrance portico. That's what needs to be highlighted.

Paint the blue clapboard white.

I want to thank all of your for your comments. I have contemplated each of them and I am going to offer a couple more details on the house and the neighborhood for you to weigh in if you want to.

1) I am not from Wisconsin but have lived here for over 10 years. I get the garage comment. I realized that this "feel" (large garage) is not uncommon for rural Wisconsin where we are building. Many farms around me have smaller houses, and the barns or extra buildings are indirectly the focal point because of their size. I have also learned that garages have a heightened level of importance here, We have running water in the garage and a separate stair case that goes directly into the basement. I had never encountered these "standard" features in Connecticut. Since I am in a rural area, people have more toys: ATVs, snow mobiles. A larger garage is "expected".

2) I looked on the builder's website and yes, he has a lot of houses that have the garage as the focal point. Some of these houses are very expensive.

3) People in this area of Wisconsin have a sense of "understated". I don't see fancy clothes, expensive jewelry, even from those who are well to do. The front areas of the house become a bit understated. So design-wise you are all spot on regarding the house, but culturally, it works well in my area.

4) The lights! Yes, a different light would look better. However, I did not mention much about the neighborhood. There are four, five-acre lots in this area. We border conservation land and farms. You see three houses that are close to each other. (The first lot has not been sold.) You do not see any other houses at or trees because the houses are on prairie land. On account of the slope of the land, all four house share a long driveway. Our houses are all very close to this driveway and each other. (Closer than I anticipated.).

The house directly in front of mine was not built by the same builder. The owners built a modern farmhouse ranch with a walk out basement. They turned their house to such a degree that it looks like it bisects my house. (I hope I am explaining that correctly.) The longest walls of their house actually face me--the walk out basement portion. They picked a black and white color scheme.

I think the largest part of my house which is the garage, in white, looks better and more cohesive given they way my neighbor positioned and designed their house. Since they have a white house, my white garage coordinates with their house.

My lights are very close to the lights that they chose for their house. When you see the houses together, there is a cohesive feel although the houses do not look identical. I don't have any pictures of the neighbor's house. I totally agree that different lights would look better if I did not have neighbors or if my neighbors had a similar house, but on account of their modern farm house, I think it works.

Hey, Elizabeth, from another rural WI resident!

My point about the lights was this - the builder added the blue siding that emphasizes the house's horizontal line. A larger, longer light might introduce a vertical element to play against that, that's all. Even a farmhouse style light with a longer vertical support or an added cage might do that. Just a thought.

Barncatz. I appreciate your name. I never knew there was such a thing as barn cats until I moved here. I am moving to Iowa County. Do you live near me? I like your light ideas. I am just over budget right now on account of Covid and supply issues.

Not sure if this is helpful at this point, and how the sider can even make design decisions instead of the homeowners. But, there are some inconsistencies with the design language on the whole house, maybe picking one might help solve the garage conundrum:

- In RED you have full gable returns on what is supposed to be the main focal point of the elevation massing, but not on the garage front or back of garage. In PINK is horizontal siding under these.

- In BLUE the gable end eave is different on the garage and Great Room, in part because the band height in BLUE ARROWS differs (on the back I imagine was placed at that height because of the transom window, but doesn't carry around the sides).

- In GREEN the front of garage has vertical battens, on back horizontal siding yet with the same gable representation as the front.

If I were fixing this front garage elevation, I'd probably go with a full gable return and keep the blue horizontal siding.

Would you all believe that the builder found 12' 6" Board and Batten and is fixing the house according to the original plan!

The garage highlighted in white speaks to the vernacular of the barn in the prevailing prairie/ag setting. I see what the design intends but I think the others see it within the context of neighborhoods. Where you are, the barn and its doors are part of the scenery rather than something to be dressed up or turned sideways and hidden as neighborhood zoning and bylaws dictate. And you’re not really ‘in a neighborhood’. The siding folks AND especially your contractor should have asked you before they did what they did. I think it could easily be rectified by dropping the horizontal board 18” or so and replacing the vertical battens as designed. I’ll be the contrarian and say I don’t like blue all the way across. I think it is too much uninterrupted.

Due to the OP's additional information, it sounds like the best fix would be to leave it the way it is.

Hi Everyone,

The builder fixed the siding and here is the final look.

Thank you for all of your help.

Elizabeth

@Elizabeth, glad that the contractor gave you the board and batten siding specified and I think the white looks very nice on the front.

We live on the western river border but the Madison area is great. Our barncat was left in our hayshed by her mom, who we could never tame, and resides in a heated tack room with meal and grooming service included. She drives off any potential step-siblings so I should change my name to the singular.

Enjoy your new home! I often read the monthly Houzz Building A Home threads (https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6239270/march-2022-building-a-home#n=373) and am amazed at how much more difficult a difficult process has been during the pandemic.

I like it a lot!

To eliminate the architectural tension between the dissimilar gabled elements, you could paint the part under the entrance gable white including the portico.