Also, we are looking to the change the garage exterior to look more like this picture.

Don't do anything like the pic above...the extra gable and stonework only emphasizes the garage as the most important feature, instead of the front door which is where the attention belongs.

I second what Annie said. With a garage that is half the total width of the house, please don't do ANYTHING to further emphasize or draw attention to it. I like how your architect pushed the garage back and pulled the front door and the main part of the house forward. Setting the garage back a bit helps to de-emphasize it which is exactly what you want.

Adding stone, or any other visually weighty siding to the garage area will serve to emphasize it by giving it MORE visual weight. That's the opposite of what you want to do. Instead, emphasize the front door and porch area to draw the eye away from the garage.

If you must have the ubiquitous double gables though, I think it would look better if the smaller gable in front were over the front door as that would help to draw the eye to the front door. As it is, the arched window and the second gable seem to compete for attention.

And pretty please, ask your architect to either ungang the double-ganged windows so that you can have shutters that FIT, or get rid of the "shudders" entirely.

The only thing you should take inspiration from in that pic is the garage doors themselves. They are nice. The rest is heaped builder cliche on top of builder cliche. What your architect has done is much better.

I would consider making the front facing gables a single gable of uniform depth with a set of paired windows over the door that match those to the right.

The cambered arch window over the entry is not referenced anywhere else and has nothing to do with the overall style of the rest of the house.

There also seems to be a bit too much blank space between the top of the garage doors and the eave line to me, in a visual sense. Maybe something as simple as a longer window with a very low sill height that dropped into that space to replace the one in the dormer, would be enough to make it not so blank.

Putting a projecting roof above the garage doors is a good idea but it needs to larger to be effective. Perhaps extending the main roof above it would work but without the other elevations, a plan or a perspective no one knows what the house really looks like.

Does the narrow gable follow a jog in the floorplan? It is hard to tell from what you posted if it is fake gable (like on the garage you posted) or needed due to the floorplan.

I don't care for the garage plan you posted. Fake gables like that just look just like that - fake and doesn't make sense to me.

I would also look at the arched window as a do you need the arch for anything? It doesn't really appear to blend with anything else on your façade. I think it would look nicer if it was like the other windows.

Otherwise I really like the elevation you have. I like that it doesn't draw all the attention to the garage and it looks pretty charming.

Lyfia,
It looks like the gable follows a jog - if you look at the porch roof, it indicates so. The roof continues the slope up, passing the right gable plane.

I agree with the arched window comments.

There is something that bothers me a bit in the area above the garage. Maybe the overhang above garage doors should be a shed overhang.
What about treating the garage overhang just like the porch overhang and instead columns, you use braces? It will add a bit or interest without the out of place look of your other picture.

Sea link.

Here is a link that might be useful: garage overhang

The first photo is WAY better than the second (except for the shutters!).

I will also vote for the first one.
I tend to agree with renovator8 and naf naf

Thanks for all the comments and insight. The problem is, my husband and I LOVE the second photo, as in we would like our house to look just like it. Something about it just resonated with us both (which is a feat if we can both agree on something design wise). But based on your comments, perhaps this is why the architect did not deliver plans that matched the photo we showed him...

Try to analyze what you like about the 2nd photo and add those details to the house...is it the style of the garage doors? the colors? the trim work? the railing? the way the roof is returned on the window dormer? I suspect it has to do with the massing of the main body of the house and the narrower bump out with the dormer, and not the bumped out single garage.

To me, there is something about how there is no space between the porch roof and the arched window (which I agree should not be arched). Perhaps you would prefer it if the porch was extended across the front to make it more important, like the 2nd photo has the extended porch. But do keep in mind that garages should be recessed and the front door kept most prominent.

Perhaps there is a way to reverse the portion that is bumped out in your drawing so the front door section is most prominent and the right side is recessed...that would make it more like the 2nd drawing and that would make the front door most prominent. We did that on our front facade so the front porch was most proud on the facade.

Also keep in mind that the interior and exterior have to work together, so changes made on the outside affect the inside...this was the hardest lesson for me to grasp when we were designing our house. So making a change like that may require some sacrifices on the inside...

Thanks Annie. I do like when houses have the front door portion bumped out, so I think that's a good revision. One other thing that I don't like about the architect's plans is the garage's low roof/dormer combo. I'd like to see this raised somehow.

The other thing I notice when reading your description is that the house is exactly half garage and half house by visual width and usually dividing Anything but a completely symmetrical façade in exact halves results in displeasing proportion--even if people don't know what it is, they tend to feel that something is not right. One portion should clearly Look bigger, even if it is not.