You rang??? Well I can say that there are a few things from Land O Lakes that I have made and enjoyed ..their marble cake is good..very good.. I've also made the chocolate Loaf cake with cream cheese swirl that AnnT shared some months ago..and "gluten free'd" it too.. I tend to stay away from mixes..just cuz it's just as easy if you have a semi stocked pantry to make your own stuff. I do love Shauna (Glutenfreegirl) and some of GlutenFreeGoddess...she has a very restrictive diet..so somethings I'm not interested in. Okay here's the Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake Not sure where AnnT got the recipe..or was it Jessica and then Ann made it?? Mixture "A" 8 oz cream cheese, softened 2 oz castor sugar (I used 1/4 c white.) 1 egg 1. beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy, beat in egg until well incorporated. Set aside. Mixture "B" 13 T butter (1 Used 3/4 c of butter) 3/4 c sugar 3 eggs 3 T cocoa 1 cup of flour (I used 1/2 c pamela's pancake/baking blend and 1/2 cup standard GF Flour blend. 2 c brown/white rice flour, 2/3 c potato starch and 1/3 c tapioca starch/flour) 2.5 t baking powder 1/2 t salt Mix dry ingredients together. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Fold in flour mixture. Pour half the "b" mixture into a loaf pan, then all of "a" mixture, then the rest of "b". Bake in preheated 350F oven for 45-50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. I have two great cookbooks checked out from the library that I'm reading...picking recipes to try too...

The triangle shaped walls are called gables :) No thoughts on the colors other than consider unpainted Hardie.

Thanks for your reply! The door is actually dark mahogany, by Pella. Door handle is the antique bronze, and the light fixtures are as well, but it’s a super dark bronze, almost looks black. Decorative lantern to be installed next week. Knowing that, do you still think black for a railing choice? My goal is for the railing to “disappear” to the eye, vs being an eye catcher. Especially for the stairs coming down to the ground level. See up close pictures of the door without the shadows, making it look black, and the lantern that is on the way!

Take a large sample to your site and position it in the positions you propose it to be on your house. That will give you the closest example of what the color will look like for your project. I had a home with grey metal soffit material under the eaves. On sunny days it looked green because of the reflection of the sunlight from the grass.