Stylish Siding and Accent Combinations For House Exterior Remodeling Projects

Get Inspired With These Texture and Color Duos

Knowing you live in the most appealing home on the block is such a great feeling. To pull into your driveway and love what you see as a homeowner stirs up a swell of pride and satisfaction. It makes you feel lucky, in a sense, to have such a beautiful house.

But when your home’s older siding starts to lose its luster, or worse, function poorly, you become the unlucky one searching for a solution.

Make the situation work in your favor and use it as an opportunity to assemble a stylish home exterior that will have your neighbors and guests admiring it. Consider these tried-and-true siding and accent combinations.

Lap Siding With Shake In the Gable

To get this look, opt for traditional lap siding – the kind that looks horizontally striped – on the majority of the home. Then, choose cedar shake-like siding for the gables. A gable is the triangular portion of your home’s exterior walls between the edges of the roof.

This combination is ideal for homes with more traditional architecture, including ranches, Cape Cods, raised ranches, colonials, and American four-squares.

Both siding styles can be the same color, or you can choose a contrasting hue for the shake in the gables. And don’t worry about the longevity or ease of upkeep of shake; companies manufacture convincingly natural looking shake-style siding made of materials like seamless polymer, which won’t rot, crack, or separate like cedar shingles tend to do.

Stone Accents With Any Traditional Siding Style

Combine the look of stone veneer with siding styles including lap, shake, or board and batten for an elevated home exterior. Choose from natural looking stone or more polished cut stone for a rustic versus modern aesthetic.

This combination looks best on homes with traditional architecture and for revitalizing the Kansas City shirtwaist, a unique architecture style common in the Midwest. It also works well on modern homes with a more muted, moody color palette.

The stone you choose should coordinate with the colors of the rest of your home exterior. Color theory comes in handy here. To pick colors that work well together, look across the color wheel, or stick with shades right next to each other on the wheel. It can be easier to see the undertones of colors by comparing them to a true, ultra-white color sample in natural outdoor light.

Like cedar shake siding, there are plenty of faux stone options available so you don’t have the upkeep and masonry work that comes with real, organic rock features.

Vertical Cedar Slats With Wide Horizontal Lap Siding

For a super modern and totally on-trend home exterior look, side your home with a wide horizontal lap in a moody color, like slate gray, dusty black, or deep navy. Add a focal section to the front or sides of your home using cedar plank slats, hung vertically.

This combination is ideal for homes with more modern architecture, including those with low sloping roofs, whether they’re gable, hip, shed, or flat.

If you choose real cedar wood, thoroughly seal it to prevent color fading, which can happen rapidly when exposed to the elements. Faux-wood options, however, are more durable and don’t require the extra upkeep after your exterior house remodel is complete.

Contrasting Siding In Dormers

Cape Cod, coastal, and farmhouse-inspired homes often have dormers, a structure that extends from the main part of the roof and includes a window. These dormers invite creativity when it comes to choosing siding.

Just as you can choose accent siding for your home’s gables or a focal wall, you can add accent siding for your dormers, too. This will draw the eye up and can make your home look taller or add visual interest.

Use cedar shake for your dormer and lap for the rest of the house, or just pick a contrasting color so it stands out – or blends in with your roof shingle color.

Do These Combinations Affect My Siding Replacement Cost?

A combination of siding styles may marginally increase your siding replacement cost if you’re opting for traditional materials, like engineered wood. This is because joining the styles together and sealing them against leaks takes more time and effort. If your new siding requires paint, and you’ve chosen multiple colors, you’ll also have to pay for both your main and accent colors.

Keep in mind, however, that any increase in price is an investment in how much you’ll love your home at the end of your exterior house remodel. If a combination of colors and accents makes you happy, go for it! It’s your home, and you deserve it.