That’s so good to know! I have zero experience with a maritime climate so I’m really grateful you took the time to share your experience! And that’s awful – I’m so sorry you had this negative experience.

It’s funny, someone else was talking about their red metal roof on instagram and how they hated it but it’s too good quality to replace. I guess that’s the downside to durable materials – you have to love them forever (and hope the next owners do too, lol).
You’re so lucky to have a friend with such good color sense! All three ideas sound great – I might have been tempted by #1 but I can really understand why #2 must look so perfect with the leaves. Great choice!

The cabin had a brand new red standing seam steel roof on it when we bought it. We hated the color but the quality was too good to replace it. (For reference, to match the same roof on a small garage was quoted at $5,000 US)

We are fortunate to have an architect friend with great vision (he previously worked in Oregon and Wyoming) and he gave me three siding ideas – dark gray with lighter gray trim, grayish green with orangish trim and dark brown with cream trim. We picked option 2 and so many people stop to tell us how it blends into the mountainside in spring/summer/fall.

Hi Heather! I’m so happy you weighed in. I loved reading your insights because you’ve had so much experience with different siding types.

Wood siding sounds like a lot of work where you live, but I’m sure that it looks amazing after all that labor. Our wood siding on the front needed a regularly refinishing too and we abandoned that so long ago.

$25,000? I think I need to start a house painting business…

Your siding sounds gorgeous! I can totally picture the kind of color you’re describing – what a perfect choice.

Haha, I shout at the geese if that makes you feel better 🙂
So happy to hear you love your wood siding – the look is so classic and timeless. I wish we had bought a house with all wood siding, I would have loved that.

Oh no! I can’t even remember a dark brown floor I shared… So sorry to hear that happened. I’ve always had good luck with painting concrete, I’ve never tried staining it myself. Hopefully it’s fixed easily!

In our cabin location, wood is a popular choice. We know a lot of owners that have cedar, hemlock, etc. It might be our climate but it requires A LOT of maintenance. People generally strip (via power washer) and reseal at least every three years, sometime more frequently. its a major maintenance project. I think its more for looks than need. The siding takes on a dirty look, not an attractive grey weathered look like I see in New England coastal towns. Insect damage is also an issue. We battle some sort of bee that tries to bore into our redwood porch trim.

Metal? I agree with the cons but that board and batten style at the bottom of the sample board would look great on your house. That same style, in vinyl, tempted us we redid our cabin.

Hardie Board? Our primary home was painted wood clapboard. When the quote to repaint it was $25,000 we decided to side it with a no maintenance product. We used Hardie and love it. It is not a DYI product. In fact we had to buy a special type of screw gun for the contractor (thats another story). Because of where we live, lawn mover driven rocks, baseballs, etc. aren’t a concern.

Vinyl? My hubby and I went round and round about vinyl versus wood versus Hardie for our cabin. In the end, vinyl won out because of the cost and no-maintenance feature. We went with a dark, grey-ish green to blend into the forest. I am happy with it.

Fortunately, it was a vacation house, so we didn’t have to find another place to live. It turned out great, so it was worth the wait.

Sidebar: I used a picture from your blog as the inspiration for our dark brown stained concrete floors. They were gorgeous at first, but the product used on them has chipped up and now looks rather “rustic” We’re researching solutions and as soon as we have the intestinal fortitude (and save up the funds), we’ll have them redone. Again: glad it’s a vacation home!