Paint your downspouts gray. Way more landscaping. No shutters on that small wide window. I can't really see the various sidings well enough to comment. Would be tempted, though, to replace the bow with a flat front with a large picture window...

acm Landscaping will happen next year - I have to wait until the painting is done because that's lead paint so the house will be tented.

The whole area with the bow is curved inside and out so it can't take a flat window without some major rework and I love the metal bow window.

mmilos - thanks - we just changed the back roof as sections were leaking and it's a dark charcoal gray. There's a ton of roof on the house -and lots of things to do - so we are working in stages.

I was thinking of a blueish gray for the paint or stain because I hate the color it is now - does nothing for the stone.

I would consider only doing wood shingles on the upper gable area of the roof and doing the vertical siding underneath.

Thicker white trim would really make everything pop.

shead - that's pretty. Would you keep the clapboard where it is now (except the upper gable)?

@mocxr- Sorry if that sounded confusing. I'd put the clapboard on the upper gable (above the main roof line), then put a thicker board across the bottom where the current siding meets the solid material. Then put vertical siding on the lower portions and definitely use a paint with less green undertone. Change the metal porch column to a square column painted white. If in the budget, I'd change out the front door as well to a stained wooden door with white trim.

For landscaping, you definitely need something with more height, especially under the bowed window and at the corners to soften the hard edges.

Yes, you need interesting landscaping under that bow window. Look for something that will at maturity be almost up to the window sill and will have winter interest. It would be great if it also had flowers or berries sometime during the year. I think that you would be well served to have a session with a landscape architect that would give you a plan.

yvonnecmartin- Thanks! I bought the house last year and the previous owners hadn't planted any evergreens. Seeing the house in the middle of winter with no interest in front was such a dramatic contrast to how I had seen it when I bought it.

I met with a landscape architect and have a plan but they advised not to plant anything until the exterior work is completed as the tenting needed for the lead could damage plants.

shead - I might be even more confused as the siding right now is as you describe. The upper gable is clapboard and then it switches to vertical siding right above the bow. I think what you are seeing as solid material is actually the vertical siding though right above the porch it looks like someone replaced the vertical siding with plywood and we will be fixing that.

Not sure if this picture show the siding delineation more clearly - but you do seem to be agreeing with me that I shouldn't switch to shingles everywhere there is currently wood in the front as suggested by the builder.

I am hoping this picture shows the current siding more clearly. Everything from slightly above the bow to the ground is cedar vertical siding. The upper gable and the recessed area with the shuttered window are wide cedar (9-10 inch reveal) clapboard.

Darn that's cute!

So the issue is that there are limited types of siding that can do an actual real curve, right? I'm not keen on the vertical siding either but I don't know what a good solution might be. There are some people on the home building side of this forum that are good with siding choices. They probably can offer some suggestions and they won't hesitate to tell you if it's too busy.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/build

Fori is extremely displeased- exactly - the curve is the challenge. I hate the paint color and condition so much that I can't tell if this is what is making me hate the vertical.

Fish scale shingles on the bow. Not just shingles. Set up a production space to cut and prime them and have them ready for the contractor to apply and save some money.

Horizontal clapboard everywhere else. The bow is dying to be called out in something special. Copper metal roof. And for goodness sake, a much more substantial window for that gable end! The trim could use beefing up as well Especially that sad little 98 pound weakling post getting sand kicked in his face.

You’re also going to need to pay very close attention to flashing details at the window and roof of the bow when you reside. Don’t 100% trust your contractor on that. Trust but verify.

Lead amelioration ain’t all that. You just keep it wet and the ground covered. Contractors want to make it sound like voodoo potions and charge the weight of the earth in gold. It ain’t hard to DIY if you’re willing to take a very simple class and get certified. They want to make that sound hard too. Nope.

Any hazardous lead paint can be sealed and treated in addition to the lead dust particulates you may incur. Ecobondlbp.com

Sophie Wheeler - thanks - everyone is trying to convince me to shingle the whole front but I think I prefer it as you describe so that the bow stands out - and I prefer clapboard to shingles.

We already have plans to beef up the trim, columns, and pilaster. (ignore the horizontal siding on the bow in the photo as it can't happen unless we use Azek and I don't want to do that.)

I think it'll be nice that way. And you should be able to match the original horizontal siding if you look hard enough.

My GC was irritated when we told him he needed to match our 60 year old rough redwood siding and said it was impossible but somehow he managed to source it when he realized we meant it...

Would you do the shingles on the roof of the window, too? That might be weird. I don't know. :)

Fori is extremely displeased - the roof of the bow window is metal (maybe copper) and it will stay as is or get new copper.

We found a source for the siding already. My builder wanted to cover it all in vinyl but I said no.

In the other forum an architect suggested to shingle the whole front and add a "kick" over the bow. But the bow extends more than 2 feet and there are issues with that (besides cost). I like the look but I think the bow becomes less of a focal point. I can't add that roof above the bow (at least now) but still trying to decide shingles or clapboard.

Oh, a metal roof is perfect.

That rendering is nice but that's kind of a big and expensive undertaking when the only problem with the existing house is that wood doesn't bend. :)

Donald's suggestion is interesting...wonder if it would end up looking like an old battleship though.

Fori is extremely displeased- I agree! I appreciate that people offer their advice and suggestions I could possibly use in the future but siding is expensive enough and I'm doing a major renovation of the interior. One of the architects in the other forum seemed to get annoyed when I said no to their suggestion of re-doing the whole exterior.

When the landscaping is done next year I'm hoping the siding under the bow is only visible in the dead of winter.

My builder suggested to look on siding company websites as some of them have software where I can see my house with various sidings.

But don't hide it completely behind landscaping.

Is stucco totally out? If you pretend it's a turret it's not wrong to add stucco. I'm sure you've already considered the odds of matching the stone you have elsewhere and found them to be zero.

You're keeping all the round windows round aren't you?

Fori is extremely displeased

We are moving the round window in the gable above the bow up a few courses so it's not dead center and beefing up the trim around it. The 2 octagon windows down the other end of the house are set in stone (real stone, not veneer) and they are staying but getting new trim. Those windows, the bow, and some metal windows on the second floor are the only original windows in the house and the only ones staying. All of the other window in the house are ugly vinyl replacement windows and are getting replaced with windows with grille patterns to match the bow.

Funny enough, last night I spent hours again looking at pictures of bow windows and I saw two where they used stone. We have a 3 season porch in the back of the house and it had a wall of the same stone as the front. We had to take it down because we are stealing some space from that room to make a larger kitchen and I saved all the stones to use them for something. Builder thought I was nuts at the time. I texted him last night and told him I wanted to use them for the bow. They are thick stones so will need to be split.

As for the landscaping, the plan is not to hide anything - I just want some year round interest. The previous owners planted only deciduous plants and it looks so bare and harsh in the winter.

Stone and cutting stone into thin doubles the budget. And it doesn’t really work unless you have enough to do the whole front up to the gable properly. Then the shake for the bow. Not really fond of the choppy look either.

Sophie Wheeler I already own the stone - we took down a 20 foot wall of it. I'm going to talk to some masons this week about the costs of cutting the stone before I make the decision.

Masons said I don’t need to cut the stone to use it but I don’t have a quote yet. In the meantime we removed the siding and it’s crazy how much more I like the color of the paper underneath it