When it comes to choosing a home siding design, homeowners are looking for a way to express their unique style and personality. This isn’t always an easy task, and many homeowners can quickly become bored with the basic options. Fortunately, with so many siding materials available, it’s simply a breeze to mix and match colors, textures, and styles to create a truly distinctive home exterior.
From material selection to color palettes, new home siding design comes with many options. For homeowners new to the process and those who are looking to spruce up their current façade, the options can feel limitless and overwhelming. Homeowners should start with their budget and personal style ideas and keep these parameters in mind throughout the project.
When designing their dream home exterior, many homeowners seek harmony with the home’s natural surroundings by borrowing colors and textures from the scenery. The incorporation of different materials creates contrasting textures. For homeowners who are feeling a bit lost in this first step or experiencing creativity block, the siding design ideas in this article may offer a jump start.
Quiet Countryside Colors
Country-style homes and woodland bungalows may draw their appearance from the nearby landscape. By pulling warm and understated hues from the home’s natural surroundings, homeowners can create a soft and gentle look for their personal sanctuary. Neutrals such as slate and silver birch are typically safe, but a deep-toned emerald green, warm sienna, or saturated burgundy create a bold yet modest appearance. Natural wood accents also make a lovely addition.
Bright Urban Row House Combinations
Inside the concrete jungle, a pop of color makes a bold statement. The variety of bright colors and textures on multi-family townhomes and connected row houses individualize and separate the linked residences. A bright combination such as dandelion, fuchsia, and robin’s egg blue creates a hip and fun impression in the neighborhood.
Pastel Beachfront
In regards to beachfront homes, less is usually more. A light coastal blue or pastel hue with bold white or natural wood trim is a simple yet elegant way to complement the home’s breezy surroundings.
Subtle Changes
Color blocking is making a comeback. Some homeowners create a truly unique façade by applying subtle variations of the same paint color across the siding. Darker shades around the trim and windows create a sense of depth while lighter hues under the soffits give the illusion of added height. Refined color changes combined with purposeful texture additions make for an interesting appearance.
Contrasting Trim
Some homeowners prefer to draw peoples’ eyes to the intricate trim. A soft main house color may contrast with a deeper, richer trim finish. If the house is a neutral color, a black or almost-black makes a dramatic impression. Alternatively, true complementary colors such as warm redwood and deep forest green make a nice contrast, as well.
Stately White on White
A white-on-white statement boasts a look of high-end luxury. Bright white trim around the windows, doors, railings, and soffits gives a timeless appearance. Homeowners should be aware that light paint, especially a crisp white, will require extra ongoing maintenance.
Alternating Size of Panels
Alternating the size and direction of boards can highlight certain aspects of the structure and create an alluring appearance. A gradual increase or decrease in the width of the planks can draw the viewer’s eyes towards another focal point, such as a brightly-colored door or window. Similarly, a pattern alternating between two sizes of battens on a board-and-batten style adds a fun rhythm.
Changes in Direction
Changes in orientation are an excellent way to create a dynamic and interesting appearance in siding. Switching from vertical to horizontal panels, or even diagonal patterns, can add intrigue and highlight the craftsmanship in design.
Variety of Textures
The incorporation of multiple textures creates an exciting and eye-catching façade. On contemporary builds, homeowners might contrast a smooth dark vinyl with a textured red brick wall panel, metal roofing, and natural stone accents. Maintaining the look of some refined materials while allowing hints of natural textures here and there will stimulate the viewer’s tactile senses and garner much interest.
Shingles and Shakes
The addition of shakes and shingles is a simple, but labor-intensive way to add texture to a home’s exterior. Shakes are thicker and offer a rougher, uneven appearance that may slightly vary in color. Shingles can be shaped nicely to fit the design, whether it’s burnt cedar tiles for a rustic ranch house or scalloped for a modern farmhouse.
Dynamic Planes
Some homeowners who desire a contemporary look will modernize their home’s appearance through the exclusive application of multiple vinyl or metal panels. The use of a consistent siding material feels balanced while the range of sizes, shapes, and color variations creates an intriguing geometric pattern that frames the windows and doors.
Horizontal Lines
The use of long horizontal lines can give a home the grand appearance of a larger size. Homeowners may incorporate seamless panels or singular unbroken planks across the front or sides of contemporary homes to contrast the main exterior color or material.
Vertical Lines
Several bold, vertical lines can go a long way creating a focused modern aesthetic. Homeowners may choose colored vinyl or dense wood to create an interesting visual. The use of other geometric shapes around the windows and doors makes an even more dramatic appearance.
Different Front and Sides
Some houses feature a different front siding design from the sides and back. Whether it’s a change in color, texture, or panel orientation, this design technique is sure to please.
Accentuate Add-Ons
Homes that include connected architecture or add-ons offer a unique opportunity for homeowners. By utilizing different types of siding for attached architecture, homeowners can emphasize complimentary styles while imposing a subtle degree of separation. Attached garages, barns, and silos that display a contrasting siding to the main home can be very interesting and visually appealing. Mother-in-law suites and later additions to the home that are a different texture or material can add a new and updated look.
Porches
Homeowners may highlight the craftsmanship of a porch, upstairs balcony, or terrace using a complementary color or type of siding. For example, a stained natural wood offers a beautiful contrast to the main house with rough-textured sidings such as brick or stone. At the ground level, porches can be constructed to match the home’s trim and offer a unified design, such as a white painted and detailed wrap-around porch on a sunny farmhouse.
Window Options
Some homeowners enjoy the health benefits of natural light streaming into the home. To maximize this, they install large windows and incorporate them into the siding design. Oversized windows can conceal a large amount of siding and leave the trim, but small windows can be cut into geometric shapes to fit the siding design.
Columns
Many homeowners utilize columns to add a distinguished curb appeal to the home’s façade. Columns that frame the entryway can complement the siding of the main house – even if they are not an exact match. For instance, natural wood columns may fit a lovely shake-sided beachfront home. Stone columns may bring out tiny accents in the landscape and features of a home with clapboard siding. Main homes of limestone may benefit from the warm colors of deep walnut beams and accents.
Distinctive Levels
Many homeowners enhance their multi-story homes by adding a subtle change in texture or color to separate the levels. The use of thinner planks for higher levels and wider, denser planks for lower levels accomplishes this trick well. A lighter-colored wood or paint for the higher floors is similarly effective.
Two Tone Siding
To create a sleek, modern look, homeowners may opt for two tone siding, incorporating two different colors and materials. In contemporary homes, the use of simple white or slate panels on the upper levels skillfully contrasts the vibrancy of warm-colored wood accents in areas such as the skirting, trim, and/or under the soffits.
Mix and Match
The best part of home siding design is the opportunity to mix and match different elements to create a truly distinct home exterior. New designs and concepts can revitalize homes when homeowners start with the essential building blocks of brick, stone, wood, stucco, vinyl, fiber cement, and metal. These materials can be primed, molded, and styled to any aesthetic for optimal visual appeal.
From Mediterranean-style villas adorned with swirled stucco siding above stone skirting to luxury waterfront homes with wide board-and-batten sides, homeowners can find plenty of inspiration and design ideas by searching NewHomeSource. The possibilities for building a dream home are truly limitless.
Melanie Theriault is a writer, counselor, and lifelong learner. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Southwestern University, where she discovered her passion for fostering human connection through storytelling.
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John Sizing
What are the natural shingles in the photo underneath the story headline. Specifically- manufacturer, shingle name, etc. That’s the cottage with the green trim. Many thanks.