Paint once and you'll be painting forever! I'd paint the siding one of the stone colors along with Michelle's suggestions. Painting the siding will also soften the contrast between top and bottom and unite the house.

Do not paint the stone. Your home needs some unifying elements added. Perhaps an extension of the overhang at the front door to emphasize the entrance and unify it visually with the window above. Be careful about trim contrast, If you choose to change the trim color, be careful not to overdo it. Subtle is beautiful. Perhaps pickup a highlight color from the natural stone ...

Definitely paint the siding in one of the lighter stone colors as per karelina's suggestion, definitely paint the door as Michelle suggested, maybe in a rustic color in the orange family (or another earthy color for a muted burst of color)...once you do that it will look unified, and you'll probably find that you might want to leave the trim around the windows white in color.

painting the siding isnt an option - its brand new wood siding painted in BM White Dove. WJM -- question...you say extend the carport overhang...it continues quite far to the right..we have a large carport and its the carport roof. How much further to the left should we go? Currently it is lined up with the outer edge of the upper floor window.

Not to the left. Extend it outward toward the camera slightly, maybe 1 foot out, but just for the 6 feet or so that is above the front door area about the length of the window above. This will give you a shadow line that will define the front entry a little better. It is subtle, but it cause the eye to focus on the front entry nearly centered in the overall front. You might also paint, just the 6 feet of new edge, a slightly darker gray and then pick that same gray for the front window trim.... That will unify the front of your already beautiful home ...

Don't paint the stone. I would take the first advice and add shutters/paint your door.

You could also paint the rest of the house a neutral color complimenting the stones, and add shutters.

I agree with the comment " paint the rest of the house a neutral color complimenting the stones".

Paint the house a darker color, like a medium greige pulled from the stone. The white is much too stark of a contrast against that lovely stone. Right now, the siding takes away from the stone and crates a feeling of coldness. It needs to work with it, to bring in some warmth. You also need to add trim in an even darker tone.

HI --- All you need is to paint the carport/entrance overhang a darker color to match the dark of the roof or darkest color from the stone . Then paint the front door a bright jewel tone color . Also paint the roof edge that same dark color . Just don't paint the stone , that is the best feature of the house .

I would go ahead and paint the stone, and doing it in a deeper warmer grey probably stone by Benjamin Moore, this would give you the look you are wanting. There is many products on the market that can achieve that without experiencing problems of chipping etc. but using a professional company with the proper equipment is essential. (This process is used frequently on commercial buildings)

Everyone: The owner/lulubelle replied that they can't change the Dover White color of the siding. Sounds like she needs to go with Plan B or Plan C. Lulubelle: It's a lovely home, would love to see your kitchen if you would like to share. Best wishes!

There's a difference between can't and won't. Compounding one mistake (too cold too light siding color) with a catastrophic mistake (painting stone) won't make the home look better. It's taking the best feature of the home and eliminating it rather than accenting it. A successful design works with the features of a home rather than against it. If something is too be painted, it needs to be the siding.

my my Sophie. Such harsh language / strong opinion. Its only design for heavens sake...catastrophic? Ye-ouch. All im saying is we spent 15k on gorgeous wood siding, and the entire rest of the house -- the other three sides you cannot see...are white. With grey accents on the exteriror patio door, terrace pergola, deck railing etc. Its an all white house...with this one stone half wall on the facade. So yes...there is a difference between can and wont -- and I wont paint our 3 month old, $15,000 siding job. We live in a neighbourhood of 60s and 70s architecture...a lot of the neighbouring homes are white. I want a white house,..we are landscaping with birch, adding in concrete driveways, walkways, half walls....so I wanted to tone down the stone...its busy, it has a lot of pink in it...and as mentioned its the only 'non-white' part of our house. Anyhow...just getting others opinions who have an interest in design. Not interested in getting into a debate. its all a matter of opinion, right?

Thank you Sophie Wheeler & Arimar International Corp. You both have the most interesting concepts listed here. The siding color is too light and does not complement the stone. Try a darker shade than even your gut will allow. I suggest painting the door a third and darker shade still of that same stone palett. You already have these colors suggested on the horiz. overhang and roof material. Show us your completed project please. Good luck!

Have you thought of shutters on the top floor windows,painted a stone shade.

Adding shutters to top windows and perhaps flower boxes as mentioned in one of the stone colors would create movement and also unify; I also think that would be biggest bang for your buck. Source: lifetime of studying and making art.

If you don't like the warm stone color, then replace the stone entirely, don't paint it. There are right ways and wrong ways to approach home maintenance, and painted stone or brick is the wrong way. There arre plenty of cool color stone mixes that can work with your preferred siding color.

It's a catastrophic mistake because you don't just say ''Oops'' and take the paint off of stone. Once you go down that path, there is no turning back. You are imprisoned to the higher maintenence unnatural flat look. Why do that when you have a warm natural almost maintenance free surface? Siding is much easier to paint successfully to work with the stone.

HI -- Dear Sophie --- Painting brick or stone is not "catastrophic" -- your a little behind the times when it comes to paint . We have had painted stucco for almost 30 years now without any problems of maintenance of any kind . We spray painted it. They make paint that is for masonry of any kind whether it's for stucco ,stone or brick . We have never had any issues . If lulubelle4242 wants to paint the stone , that can be done without worry . As far as saying you cannot go back , I don't think they will ever want to once it's done ,so that point doesn't matter . I personally think the house looks fine , it just needs some accents . I like the contrast of the stone ,it gives the house it's character . Other wise it would just look flat and uninteresting .I would suggest just a white wash over the stone to tone down the hint of pink if that is what's bothering , so it still looks like stone . I truly hate when there is an over statement on what is right or wrong with a house . If nothing else was done , this house still looks nice . Nothing is "catastrophic " !!!

thanks Lefty -- whitewash...that's interesting? Ill look into it. There is a cream coloured painted stone fireplace (if you search under Painted Stone Fireplace on Houzz you'll find it right away) that I am in love with. "Swallow Drive" is the name of the residence.

THAT is what I am envisioning when I say painting our stone.

Anyone else with me on this? Would it work on the exterior? I should mention...the shingles in the pic are from a "visualiser"..our current shingles are being replaced in a couple of weeks and those were the ones Im thinking of

Do any of you designers/ architects out there have the 'technology' that can take my photo of my house façade, paint my stone (in something that would go with our carport metal fascia and our siding) and also maybe add in some complimentary shingle colour? I am flexible....but Id prefer not to change the siding colour and the carport / flat roof fascia colour...which is a warm grey.

Lefty -- looking at your idea books...looks like we have similar taste. I am so NOT a shutter / flower box person. Never. I love modern..but warm cozy modern...with a little mid century thrown in. Our whole house is Ben Moore White Dove -siding and inside walls -- dark hardwood..with greys and blues. Im a restoration hardware / Montauk sort of girl. I want the front of my home to have style and right now I feel like Im a few key steps away from achieving that and am unsure where to go. when the snow melts, we have a very natural landscape...white pines, birch, maple trees....and I love green and white landscaping. Its pretty obvious everyone things painting the stone is no the way to go...but the reason we did white siding is because the windows are white casements. and I LOATE WHITE WINDOWS WITH COLOURED SIDING. LOATHE. SO I thought white windows, white siding, grey doors, grey flatroof, grey shingles -...and black accents,, lights, urns etc.

And now the stone...what to do?

The stone looks very similar to the stone our fireplace was built with. I hated it when we bought the house and found that the primary reason was not so much the stone as it was the mortar color. I stained the mortar a darker color and it totally changed the entire look of the stone and now we love it. That may be another option for you as well. It is amazing how different stone and brick look with a different color mortar (it actually is a very large percentage of the overall visible surface). I would also try shutters on the windows and a contrasting, bright color on the front door. Good luck!

HI - lulubelle4242 -- Yes, I looked at the Swallow Drive house and I think that would look good for your stone ,maybe in a grey/white . But if you did the white wash first and see what that looks like , then if you don't think that's enough then you can paint . We did our roof last spring with a textured shingle in a charcoal . We love it , it made such a difference with the look of our house . I'm going to be adding off black accents . I don't care for window boxes (too country) and not fond of shutters .I don't think your house needs those because you want a more modern look . But maybe the upper windows may benefit from shutters if you think their needed . What you have said what you want is going to a more modern look. The architecture of your house is very clean lined and modern . A lot of modern houses are all whites and greys and charcoals etc . So that sounds like that's your style . Sounds like we do have similar taste . Our landscaping ideas are the same , going more natural with mostly greens and whites . I have planted weeping birch trees and lindens and Eco-Grass which you don't have to mow . So go with your plans , I think it will all look beautiful.

no, never paint stone! I have seen this in Bombay, the idea being to 'preserve' the stone. It doesn't, and needs to be constantly maintained. Paint your siding a warm version of the stone (Look at earth colours around you, or look at colours in photographs of stony areas) and paint your trim white or even ivory, which might be less stark. Much as I love white it rarely features in my designs except as little bursts to give sparkle. Too much can look awfully dead. Even ceilings look better in ivory or a pale warm colour, then the coving can be in white.

After looking at some of the comments, the whitewash idea is great, you can wash it off if it doesn't work. Birches actually look nice against stone, and would certainly soften the stone over time; as they grow up you will see less stone and more white siding. If your siding is so new I think I would wait to see whether the landscaping changes the half and half effect. I love all white houses too, but I think yours is nice as it is. changing the colour of the door, adding shutters (white?) would also break the density of the stone. I think it is worth trying everything BUT painting before you take that step - it's awfully hard to get it off once it is on!