northernester, Here are a couple of pics of our house, sorry it took me so long to get a pic, this time of year, it's leave for work in the dark, return home in the dark. The siding is Hardiboard, pre painted, in Mountain Sage, trim is Hardie Sailcloth and the windows are Eagle, in Cinnamon. The pics aren't the greatest, sadly, it looks like mud season around here when it should look like a winter wonderland. Good luck with your decision, amd you have a lovely home, a 3 car garage in a waterfront home, that's great.

I would agree with MSDG; the Hardie board and batten system is hard to beat if your going to paint and not stain. Cedar & clear redwood sidings will be the most expensive to install and maintain. Your next options would be paint grade material like Advantage (finger-jointed pine that is treated for rot and insects) which is also a good choice but I'm not sure what would be available in your area. I've also seen decent results with resawn plywood install directly over the exterior ply or OSB. The framing needs to be clean and flat but with thoughtful layout to keep the battens symetrical it can be very cost effective and clean with good primer and paint. did I say the Cedar and RW would be very expensive...

Will someone please help me figure out spacing for this room before i go bonkers!! The casing around the "cased openings" and "windows" is 2.5" wide. The stiles will also be 2.5" wide. I cannot seem to find a spacing that will work for all of these walls as well as not look goofy around the windows. The best i could find is a 19 3/16" panel for the top wall with the windows and a 20 1/8" panel for the wall on the left. But then that all falls apart for the other 5 walls in that room because of their odd dimensions. Heeelllpppp!!!

I would use rough-sawn lumber from a mill. Rough-sawn accepts stain very well. I can get a choice of white pine, hemlock and larch around here in 10 or 12 inch widths. You might find something different where you live. Cedar is great if you can get at a reasonable price. I would finish every board on all six sides before installing and would add a top coat of finish afterwards.