Here is a picture of the side to the left that is 2.5 stories and the one were we are thinking of not using a horizontal siding

Here is a picture of the front of our house from another angle

I would probably look at a 8" lap horizontal on all sides except the 2.5 story side where I would use vertical T&G Vee Joint or Center Match look. Try Nicha brand if he does not care for Hardi or look at a premium vinyl maybe.

Now I am thinking that maybe an 8" horizontal lap siding around the whole house might be okay.

This link uses that Nichiha board and it looks pretty cool, might be interesting for the tall part of our house

Here is a link that might be useful: [Nichiha Board Look[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/is-fiber-cement-the-same-as-cement-panel-dsvw-vd~192310)

Will horizontal siding be too much with our prominent roof?

We are planning to paint the house a darker color, most likely a rich tan and use bronze window trim and accents, to lessen the look of the roof.

I am undecided on a siding style to pursue.

That looks nice, but I still may think about vertical on that tall wall as that will be an awful lot of horizontal boards.

I'd do a vertical board and batten look on all of it, or a cedar shake look like the Nichia shakes on all of it. Or just keep the stucco look and emphasize the French Country details. No horizontal lines with that roof as they'll emphasize the width of the house and make the roof even more prominent. And I'd reframe that tall section to have the roof "wrap" around it as well. Then do the windows as dormers and add some dormers to the main facade. That takes away from the overbearing roof look and gives additional light to the interior as well.

I'm not at all a fan of using something completely different on different sides of the house. It's a look that says "I couldn't afford to do nice stuff everywhere".

Even just adding a few dormers will make that roof more charming.

Thanks Hollysprings and millworkman, I am definitely worried about having too much of a horizontal look. Any suggestions on a website were you can upload a picture of your house and add siding to it?

I was just watching Sarah's House, an old one, and they had a house with a carport covering the front door which made it very dark. She had them install a skylight to add natural light....made a huge difference. Perhaps you might want to consider that in your covered porch area as it is also dark and needs highlighting to emphasize the front door area.

Thanks Annie. I think we are going to go with the James Hardie Cement Horizontal Lap Boards, spaced at 7 1/4". And we may use a vertical board on the side, just in the vertical line of the windows with the same horizontal boards

Thanks everyone for your help!