Siding Design Styles to Enhance Your Home’s Curb Appeal

Jun 09, 2025

Choose Just One or Mix and Match for a Custom Look

When you’re getting new siding for your house, your options seem limitless! Not only can you choose the primary siding style for your home, but you can combine them to create a design that aligns perfectly with your personal preferences and your home’s architecture.

Keep reading to learn more about the siding design styles you can choose from or opt to mix-and-match.

Lap Siding

One of the most popular house siding options, lap siding looks like horizontal slats along the full length or width of your home, running parallel to your roof or the ground. It is also called clapboard siding.

Lap siding is a classic style that looks right at home on almost any house, no matter what architectural style. It gained in popularity in the late 1800s, when companies began commercially producing it.

A variation of the style, called Dutch lap, has a slightly curved face and a notched bottom edge, which creates a shadow where the boards overlap.

Board and Batten Siding

Board and batten is a siding style in which vertical sheets are accented with thin strips, called battens. It creates a vertical texture that adds depth and character to a home exterior.

Like other siding styles, it was popular during the Victorian era, taking inspiration from Scandinavian homes. This house siding option can make shorter houses appear taller by drawing the eye from the foundation to the roof, so today, it’s commonly found on ranch-style homes.

Shake Siding

Also called cedar shake or shingle siding, this option gives your home a coastal, homey feeling. It looks exactly how the name describes it: a series of overlapping shingles with a rough-hewn finish.

Shake siding has been popular in the U.S. since the late 1800s, especially when Single Style architecture was on the rise. This house style moved away from ornate Victorian homes with “gingerbread” accents and wrap-around porches in favor of a more relaxed, rustic aesthetic. Today, it fits in almost anywhere and doubles as a great accent siding!

Stone Cladding

Also called stone wainscoting, stone cladding accents your new siding. Typically found on the lower portion of your home exterior or on columns supporting your covered front porch, stone accents add visual interest as an organic, natural element.

Your siding contractor can help you decide how high up on your home exterior your stone cladding should extend.

Panel Siding

Panel siding is commonly decorated with vertical grooves that run perpendicular to the roofline. This house siding option gives your home a clean look, leaving visual interest to beautiful picture windows, lush landscaping, or inviting front porches.

An evolution of board and batten, panel siding was popularized in the Victorian era and again after World War II.

Creating a Visual Focal Point With Your Siding Style

Committing to one single siding style is a common choice many homeowners make. They like the
clean look of a uniform home exterior, and an all-over siding design achieves that.

But if you want something more visually appealing, you can combine house siding options:

Lap siding, with shake-style siding in a complementary color in your roof’s gables.

Horizontal lap siding, with angled, v-shape lap in the gables.

Board and batten on the back of the house, with lap on the sides and front.

Choose shake siding for the majority of your home, and accent the recessed front porch area with board and batten or vertical siding.

Clapboard siding with an accent style around dormer windows.

Don’t feel limited to just these combinations; get creative and come up with something that makes you feel proud of your home!

Create a Custom Look With Seamless Polymer Siding

For the ultimate curb appeal booster, choose seamless polymer siding from Continental Siding. It’s designed to last a lifetime, giving you the confidence, pride, and peace of mind you deserve.

Our friendly siding specialists can help you plan the perfect home exterior, while our local, trained-in-house installation crews bring your vision to life — no third-party siding contractors on our watch!

After installation is complete, not only will you LOVE YOUR HOME, but you could also see as much as 50% savings on heating and cooling bills, thanks to our siding’s form-fitted insulation.

Learn how Continental Siding can help you during your home improvement journey by calling now for a FREE estimate.

Find more siding resources from Continental Siding to help you design the home exterior you’ve been wanting: