Of all the choices we have had to make for the River House, none have been more difficult and time-consuming than those related to the siding; materials, colors, and patterns. We received the rendering above from our architect today which illustrates the patterns we will use. The horizontal boards will be used between vertically aligned windows and extend from the foundation to the roof line in between black trim boards. The vertical boards will cover the remainder of the house and be of variable width in either a shiplap or open joint profile. As much as we both love wood, we ruled this out as a material early on because of the ongoing need for maintenance. Leading candidates for the vertical boards are Boral Tru Exterior (principally made from fly ash) and Modern Mill Acre (principally made from rice hulls). The horizontal boards will be either Resysta (rice hull) or metal. We have developed a provisional color pallet, not the one shown here, but that is still in a bit of flux. We need to nail down all of the final choices this week if we are to stay on schedule.