Standing seam metal roof is the way to go. To me, the stone is gilding the lily. Have you considered natural cedar siding and shakes? It's hard to beat a classic material. There are shore homes that have survived a hundred years of storms, sun, rain, snow,

Thanks for looking - the metal roof was the initial plan so appreciate your comment. Agree that natural cedar looks great, and while we have considered it, I think we are committed to avoiding materials that are going to have to be maintained like that. We are coming from another lake house that has all cedar siding. Given the fairly remote location, we have found that the costs of repainting/resealing are well above average costs. Given the harsh and exposed environment, we need to repaint/reseal @ every 5 years and suspect the new place will need it even more.

Design all four sides of a building at the same time each with the same vigor, or it will look like a tract home.

I like the taupe/brown color scheme (same color top and bottom) best, but without the stone belt. We had Hardie board on our previous house and it held paint at least twice as well as regular siding. I don't know how it would fare lakefront, but I was impressed with it in our environment (Mid-Atlantic). Maybe someone with real materials knowledge can weigh in on how appropriate it is in your environment. Do you have woodpeckers? They will drill holes in real wood siding.

Thanks Mark - yes, we have finished elevations all 4 sides, but this captures all elements the best.

thanks kandrew, and yes, lots of woodpeckers, snow and ice and driving rain. I think our probable contractors suggested using Hardie Board, but we have been surprised at the number of reported complaints on this site and elsewhere about maintenance, breakdown, water exposure/absorption with degradation of the product. That is what has us exploring the higher end composites like Everlast. Do you have any thoughts lap vs B&B? I think this is what you were describing (added it above)

I would skip the ledgestone on the bottom and go with board and batten siding with cedar shakes on the 2nd floor. A nice gray-green like Benjamin Moore's Heather Gray (or a close match if you're using Hardieboard or similar) would be great and you could do the window/door trim in black.

Here's BM Heather Gray:

No stone as it's one too many elements and is needlessly dividing the feel of the house.

I have hardie siding and live 3 blocks from water on the west coast of FL. I'm talking salt spray, harsh sun and wind. The Hardie has held up beautifully so far.

And absolutely standing seam roof. It will last at least double the time of any other roofing material.

I personally prefer the lap siding on the bottom with the shakes on top. Your house has the feel of a Shingle Style House and doing it with the lap siding and shakes mimics that. Also the design of the house has a horizontal feel to it, and the board and batten takes away from that.

Thanks Sabrina, bpath, and cpartist! Very useful feedback and helping us crystallize our thinking.

I could see split fieldstone on the entrance surround as shown in the fourth example. Had there been a prominent center structure that stonework would emphasize it.

I'd pick and choose elements from the renderings you've posted:

• desaturated taupe colour-- though I might change my mind based on the site.
• lap siding on the bottom. I like how the rows of shakes up top are echoed by the rows of planks on the bottom. No good reason to change direction. It would be like wearing a horizontally striped shirt and vertically striped pants-- possible to do well, but difficult.
• no stone on the walls, not even around the entrance. If you want stone, use it to pave your front porch, steps and front walk.

A few thoughts:

For me, the stone/brick courses make the house "fussy": too much going on.

I see cedar shingles recommended, but think that would be a bad idea in wind and freezing weather. The odds of them getting blown off or pried off by ice water are high, whether for siding or for roof. I would eliminate this worry.

For the roof, I don't see solar anywhere? I would do a built-for solar-panels roof. I have solar panels on my roof, and we get heavy blizzards. Yep, heavy blizzards, and I don't have a heating bill (nor any power bill except for the meter, avg $25/mo). Oil has become prohibitive, and that's a big house. So, yep, plan current, not yesterday's chic, and incorporate alternative energy while you can. Retrofitting can be VERY expensive.

tanger - thanks so much and appreciate your recommendations about shake in freezing windy locales, especially facing west on Lake Michigan north of the 45th parallel. We are planning on solar though I did not include in this siding mockup - also planning on heat pump(s) for heating/cooling - unfortunately not enough usable flat real estate for geothermal. Very hilly dune terrain. Perhaps we are wrong, but our impression is solar easier with metal roof as opposed to other.

"but this captures all elements the best."

I am not interested in elements shown of one elevation, I am interested in the elements of all the elevations on those elevations and the form they explain. If you think one elevation captures the best, then the others capture the worst.

Jennifer K, thanks so much and we agree that the setting dictates so much. of the design. Partly why we are trying to simplify. It is set at the top of a dune overlooking the lake with hemlock/cedar/pine/birch forest interspersed among the rolling terrain to the lake. We originally had a "mountain modern" vision but it really did not fit. This is a very remote and isolated location (no cell or internet yet) that is set looking NW over Lake Michigan. The "road" is a dead end gravel with no chance of growth. Not quite the exact view, but this is part of the lot facing the lake to the NW, and the back (SE) side, or street side view will have virtually no traffic. We are designing for our own esthetic and not the neighbors, really. We are thinking less is more as far as design elements, and trying to have it blend in a bit better from all sides. There is a house there already which will go away and we are hoping the shake cottage vibe will look better than a 40 year old salt box cottage that is well past its prime.

Our New England lake house has a standing seam metal roof. The siding is cedar: a combination of vertical boards and shakes. The porch roof and floor are doug fir. Windows are Marvin aluminum clad. When the siding is power washed, it needs to be re-sealed, but that's very infrequent. No issue with the shakes and ice.

Solar is pointless because it's heavily forested, and incentives only apply to year-round residents.

The biggest problem we have had with the siding is wood bees. Twice we have had to get them treated. No issue with woodpeckers.

If you like the stone base to hide the foundation, I'd do all the rest of the siding in shakes and the roof metal. You're adding one too many elements with the shakes, siding and stone. I prefer the lighter colors as well.

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What a glorious view! With that in mind, I think browns, especially ones that lean a little green will be a good direction.

@Robert Foster I have some kind of special roof that my solar is attached to, perhaps even at the factory. BTW snow slides off solar panels very easily 'cos they absorb heat!

There aren't a lot of wood-shake roofs around here (northern NE), and only low-end homes are getting built with asphalt shingles. De rigueur is standing seam, but might the metal have to be pierced by the racks if you do solar?

With the new federal legislation, it might be an advantage to get solar up front (or maybe buy into community solar).

I'll bet your site is spectacular.

My walls are 10" thick, BTW. Would that be helfpul, especially on the side facing the lake?

Perhaps we are wrong, but our impression is solar easier with metal roof as opposed to other.

We added solar on our metal roof. :) We chose a 5 V Crimp metal roof because standing seam was double the price and we had to cut somewhere.

It is a sculpture, not a painting. All sides must be considered to achieve a unified whole.

This northern Michigan Lake Michigan front home has cedar shingles on the walls and cedar shakes on the roof.

I too have heard it is easier to attach solar to a standing seam metal roof.

Mark that is a gorgeous home! Love the stone and the shingles. Hard to tell, but is that all thin cut veneer real stone? Thanks for sharing.

Decosnthusiaste, thanks for sharing those beautiful pictures! Illustrated your suggestions perfectly

For me at your location I'd work hard to get a ground source heat pump.

The stone is real, cut thin and adhered to the concrete block foundation.

Talk to local HVAC contractors, builders, and home owners about Geothermal.

Thanks Mark - I wish we had the usable land to do geothermal. We are in a Critical Dunes Area, and though the lot has 300 feet of frontage, the vast majority of the lot is very hilly exceeding EGLE buildable slopes. We've already had HVAC contractors on site telling us there is no way to get in Geothermal with the buildable footprint -

A 3D computer model would help with cladding decisions and help in allowing those materials to reinforce the main design idea which is currently absent.

"Critical Dunes Area"

You have my sympathy.

Now that I have had a chance to think about it, I think I would recommend against a metal roof, because of the possibility of snow and ice being blown or falling off the roof onto something or someone below. I think the metal would have a higher tendency of letting the snow and ice fly with the winds off the big lake.

That is a great point, Mark, and one we have considered as well. A big part of the attraction of the metal roof for us was was the longer life and better wind and fire resistance. Your previous photo shows beautiful shingle roof over shingle sides, and that image has us thinking. I don't think a composite slate would fit, but perhaps a composite shingle in a contrasting color. Thanks for your comments.

With that view i would expect to see some outdoor living spaces..decks…facing the view…if you have radically changing seasons..spaces that can convert from screen to windows for winter ..these projections can have interesting ceiling heights to accommodate heat and cold exchange in all seasons…while at the same time breaking up a long flat facade…providing the possibility to leave sliding doors open on warm summer nites…sunset or sunrise watching ,et.

Thanks btydrvn - we are mulling over the outside deck/screen porch options as well. We like the idea of screen walls going up and down for sure.

Metal roofs in snow-prone areas have guards on them to anchor the snow. https://roof-experts.ca/metal-roof-snow-guards/