"perfections" is the traditional name for 18" tall wood shingles which are supposed to be installed with 5" to the weather so there will be triple coverage. The result looks great and has the lowest maintenance of any material other than slate.

However, I suspect you are interested in an imitative product from CertainTeed but I am not familiar with it.

Stained 5" exposure fiber-cement shingles might be interesting but I would want to see them to determine if they really look like shingles and find out how they must be maintained. I would never paint shingles so I wouldn't want painted imitation shingles nor would I want to maintain them. But that's just me. Don't let anyone tell you there is a maintenance free exterior cladding.

That's a gorgeous home!

We had the CertainTeed vinyl that looks like cedar shingles put on a house about 10 years ago. It isn't maintenance free, looking at the trees you have around you will probably have to pressure wash it once a year (or every 2 years) to get the mold/mildew off of it. The pollen from trees can stick to the crevices & that's what the mold grows on, I think.

We used the cream color, which is like a very soft buttery yellow. It has held up well (we don't live there any more, but drive by now & then). I read that some of the darker colors can get chalky over time which is why I went with the light color. I really loved the barn red but that wasn't practical since the front of our house faced west.

Color is a very subjective thing - but I will suggest paying extra attention to how you want the windows trimmed out & how the corners should be done. There are many options for those things & you probably don't want to go with the cheapest.

Good luck - its a nice product & much thicker than standard vinyl (we used color-matched standard vinyl clapboard on the sides of the house & garage to save some money & they cut that with snips but used a small circular saw on the shingle-looking stuff).

-Pam

To all the responses, thank you.
Pam, thanks for the compliment! This decision is harder then all the other ones my wife and I have made in reference to the house. We narrowed it down to Cypress Green and Flagstone. So, now we are trying to figure out should we do perfections in the front or clapboard. I can say that after all my research, Certain Teed is the way to go. Once again, thanks!

Well, to update this thread. Decided on the Cypress Green Siding, 20 ft. lengths to minimize the seams. Going with 3 1/2" lineals around the windows and going with Giant corner posts. I'll update with the pics. when the job is complete. Thanks!