Have your builder photo shop it for you and see if you like it.

How much is for builder willing to modify the exterior? Board and batten, dark window trim/grids, straight columns and changing the fascia will definitely give it more of a farmhouse look. You can use both board and batten with traditional siding.

Is the builder willing to make those changes? Since you said the same house is going to be down the street I'm assuming you're buying in a large-scale builder community. Those builders tend to not want to make many modifications to the exterior.

Any change from the original specification will add cost. With this in mind perhaps one could think of using a brick cladding instead of stone. Ceramic glazed bricks in a dark RAL colour say black or slate grey would give a good contrast to the white of the fenestration.

The builders are a custom home builder - they only build about 25 homes a year. They bought a few of the lots in our development. We picked one of their existing floor plans and modified that because it was easier than hiring an architect to draw one or try to make our own. They aren't being very helpful on changes - any change we make we pretty much have to make on our own so them photoshopping it is out. We can change the outside however we want - at a price of course. We live in Utah which is no where near the ocean but our lot is next to a beautiful horse pasture and a large lake so a design that is a little more rural makes sense to me. I would make all the exterior white with a little stone icing around the bottom - a six-grid mahagony wood door with two matching side windows, straight wooden pillars, two matching mahagony wooden window flower boxes (rustic of course) under the two main windows, and oil-rubbed bronze lighting. The link is to a picture of a house (and door) I love and this lighting is similar to what I was thinking. http://houzz.com/photos/4667597

I also like a modern French Country but I have no idea how to incorporate that into this exterior.

You gotta love the free photo shopping on Houzz!! There are actually people who charge for this stuff.

Well let's just say you get what you pay for. : ) If it took me more than 10 minutes I wouldn't do it.

Wow! That is awesome! It really helps me envision it. I like the original house a lot - I just don't want to have the same house as my neighbor. After all, I'm having a custom house built then it should be custom. I really like the white one you did. Thank you!

What about your board and batten idea in a dark navy and since you like rustic add a cedar stained window box on upper window.

• The stone appears to be a cladding material, and therefore non-structural. It is advisable to check this, and to make sure the cladding is suitable for the construction, the orientation of this elevation, and the climate where you are building the house. As this is a new building, you should be able to negotiate with the builder to use a different material for the cladding, and pay for the difference in cost between the cladding of your choice and this standard option. In addition to the options you have already explored, you could try ceramic glazed bricks available in various RAL colours and sizes to fit the design. See image below

Adding a metal roof on the porch would add interest. Continue with a horizontal siding half way up and then the vertical batten. Instead of stack stone use a vintage brick.

Congrats on your new house! I do want to correct your terminology however, so that it doesn't confuse others. You are not building a custom house. The very definition of custom house means that your neighbors would not have house just like it. Custom builders do not build 25 houses a year or share their floor plans. Your builder is building stock houses that he modifies slightly to personalize them. It's a whole different ballgame than custom home building.

It's hard to tell from your pic, but it looks to me like the walls on either side of the garage doors and the front door have the same shape as your columns. If this is an optical illusion, go ahead and change the columns to straight. If not, stick with the current columns, as straight ones will highlight the angle of the walls and look odd.

Have you considered Cesar shingles in place of stone. It won't make it look less cape cod, but it's beautiful and different than this other house.

Cedar shingles

I love cedar shingles but my understanding is they are quite expensive. Love the idea of the metal roof over the porch but I've also heard they're really expensive. If only money wasn't an option ;)

Object

Your home as stated above by Beverly is craftsman in style. It has not one ounce of cape cod. Why ruin a good thing? Your effort would be best spent in beautiful well thought out landscaping to set your home apart from others on the street. I would say if you wanted a farmhouse, or cape, the not "easier" truly custom plan might have been a good way to go....and far better than building a style you don't love. But it's not easy to make a banana into an apple.......nor should one even try. Removing the stone is as fa as I would take the attempt as Beverly stated....or perhaps a shingle in the same deep gray. The house is too "strong" a style to be white, grey a far better and timeless choice, even a deep slate blue...

I disagree, I love the White House mock up and I say if that is what you want go for it

would a lighter color stone make it more appealing? not having to ever paint siding would be nice.
if you do board and batten it should cost less than stone.

Interesting - I thought designers liked a challenge. At any rate, we're not keeping the house the same. I realized I know how to use photoshop (why didn't I think of that) so I made a mock up of what I'm thinking of doing. The window boxes would be the same wood as the door and shutters but I couldn't find one like that online. The house will be all off white except for the stucco which will be light grey. I have to have stone per our HOA so I picked a very light cream to blend. I want to features like the lights and shutters to pop. Please let me know if you like triangular or straight pillars (btw, the stone on the garage is straight - it's an illusion it's not). Also if you like the metal roof (we could go for a different color) or if it's not necessary. I could start from scratch and redo the entire outside but I want to blend in with the rest of the houses on the street while still being unique. Thanks so much for your help.

Interesting - I thought designers liked a challenge. At any rate, we're not keeping the house the same. I realized I know how to use photoshop (why didn't I think of that) so I made a mock up of what I'm thinking of doing. The window boxes would be the same wood as the door and shutters but I couldn't find one like that online. The house will be all off white except for the stucco which will be light grey. I have to have stone per our HOA so I picked a very light cream to blend. I want to features like the lights and shutters to pop. Please let me know if you like triangular or straight pillars (btw, the stone on the garage is straight - it's an illusion it's not). Also if you like the metal roof (we could go for a different color) or if it's not necessary. I could start from scratch and redo the entire outside but I want to blend in with the rest of the houses on the street while still being unique. Thanks so much for your help.

Btw, I love the original house - we just don't want the same.

I love your mock up mcang1 !

I think I prefer the straight columns but either looks good. My experience with my metal roof is that when the snow and ice come down, they come down like a rocket and can be very dangerous. My roof is sloped away from my walkway so it hasn't been an issue but it looks like yours is right at your walkway.

You can, but its a big messy job and why would you want to do that the stone goes nice with your house and it makes beautiful and welcoming appearance.

Good point Lila. We can get a lot of snow in Utah

G.N. Builders - our house is not built yet. This is the model we chose (kind-of - it's way different inside) but we can choose what we want to do on the exterior. I would never try to tear apart an existing house.

Have you considered hiring an architect just to re- design the exterior ? Your rendering looks like a mish mash of styles, . A professional would make it much more cohesive.

Pay an architect for a better designed house. You're not starting with something with good bones from the beginning and the changes only make it worse.