If you can afford to do all stone, then do all stone.

A truly traditional and historic manor house in Europe would have been built out of one material, and that would most likely have been stone.

If you want a traditional house then use all stone....

Your house is beautiful...and nicely proportioned....

I agree.

Thanks for the comments! I forgot to mention that the architect and builder think all stone will look to heavy. They said it should be a home and not a fortress, haha.

Thanks for suggestions, all is welcome! the entry arch has actually been decreased in height since that rendering was done. The sketch shows this. I wanted to make the opening the same shape as the fully arched doors. Not sure how to fix the business at the top, perhaps get rid of the large gable? What's your opinion on all stone? I've already asked for a rendering showing that.

Removed dormer on far right.

Removed round columns.

Lowered the gable over the door so the eave height matches the rest of the house.

Removed the large gable.

I'd make more changes, but they would be too difficult just working with a picture.

Something seems off with the 2nd floor window that protrudes. Maybe it's too big? Your eye seems to be drawn to it, which for a house like this, I would not want.

And yes to all stone, although the tunnel entrance wall could be a different material, but should be a similar color to the stone.

Wow, thanks for the great job editing! The second floor window is actually flush with the wall now and that render is incorrect. What other changes would you recommend that you wanted to draw? Very much appreciate all of your help!

I'd play with the structure left of the door -- how it relates to the main building mass, and a variety of smaller things.

Having this modeled in software, at least the software I use, makes "what if" fairly simple. Ideas sometimes work, sometimes not. You need to see them in 3D.

Post your latest rendering, if it's available.

I'm still awaiting the new render but will post as soon as I have it. Thanks again for your help!

This one shows moving the Living room to the left a bit, and a few other small changes.

Not suggesting this stone or colors, or even the mix of stone and stucco.

EIFS is a low-end finish, IMHO. It's fake stucco and it looks like it. It's lifeless and looks like any one of thousands of cheap strip malls around the country.

I'd avoid EIFS at all costs.

I hope you have set money aside for a professional landscape design by a landscape architect. I think the house needs something grand near the entrance.

Original rendering is very attractive.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions, especially PPF, you spent a lot of time with great ideas! One of the best suggestions I thought was getting rid of the large gable. I mentioned this to the builder and architect and they thought the small gable above the entryway would look too small if it was alone with a huge amount of roof behind it. I also told them about the dormer on the detached garage and they thought it adds dimension to the roof.

Now the builder likes the all stone front so I'm comfortable going forward with this.

Attached is the latest render.

Thanks for reporting back. Looks better than the mix of stucco and stone. Appears more like one house instead of several that were pushed together.

The important thing is that you are satisfied.

Here is a thought, and I'm mostly just curious about the arch over the front door.

In your rendering it's round, not flattened like all the others. Not suggesting it's wrong, or looks bad, just wondering why the Architect drew it that way. Also about the color -- is it supposed to be different than the other decorative work?

PPF, I wondered also. The window above the entrance is flattened too. Seems odd to have the round arch below.

You guys have a point about the fully arched door. That was more of a preference from me, I like the way fully arched doors look better than flattened. I'm not sure if it makes a huge difference or not by not matching the other arches. Perhaps it accentuated the entryway more by being slightly different?

I also prefer the more rounded arch. Is there any chance the other arches could be made to match?

I was thinking about that last night. I'll see if that's viable.