Garage siding can pull together the look of a home and create exquisite harmony throughout the exterior. However, when it’s not done correctly, the siding on the garage can also be cause for concern and disrupt an otherwise seamless design technique.
Not sure how to create a garage siding style that fits your home’s aesthetic? Take a look at these tips on designing the best garage siding options for your home.
An Overview of Modern Garages
Modern garages have evolved far beyond just storage spaces for vehicles. Today’s homes are often multifunctional and serve as workspaces for mechanical tasks, hobby zones, or even extensions of the living area with fitness equipment or entertainment setups.
Whether attached to the home for convenience or built as a detached structure with a unique architectural style, the modern garage offers flexibility in both design and usage, especially when it comes to the garage siding.
The Best Materials for Garage Siding
When choosing garage siding, it’s important to select materials that look great and offer durability and weather resistance. Here are some popular siding materials:
Vinyl Siding
Affordable and available in a variety of colors and styles, vinyl siding is relatively low maintenance and resistant to insects and rot. However, it’s prone to cracking in cold climates and fading over time.
Wood Siding
Wood siding offers natural beauty and can be stained or painted in nearly endless color options. Its drawbacks include higher maintenance needs and susceptibility to rot and insect damage if not properly maintained.
Metal Siding
Strong and resilient, metal siding is often used in industrial-style designs. It’s fire-resistant and long-lasting but can dent or rust without proper care.
Brick or Stone Veneer
Brick or stone veneer provides a timeless, high-end appearance that many homeowners love. And while they’re durable and low-maintenance, they can be expensive and require professional installation.
Fiber Cement Siding
Fiber cement siding is the best choice for garages for the perfect combination of aesthetics, durability, and low maintenance. It can mimic the look of natural materials like wood and stone, offering versatile design options. It’s highly resistant to rot, pests, and weather damage, making it perfect for long-term use. And it’s relatively easy to install!
When deciding on the best material, consider your garage’s specific needs, the local climate, and how well the siding integrates with your home’s existing style. Ultimately, you should choose a material that fits your desired aesthetic and provides the most value over time.
How to Design Great Garage Siding
Siding for the garage may not be the most exciting feature of your home, however, it’s certainly an important part of the exterior that must be accounted for during the design process. The details on the garage door alone may influence the garage siding options that will look the best. For example, windows, dimensions, detailing, exterior lighting, and shape should all be considered when determining how to match the garage to the surrounding siding.
Furthermore, color can play a big role. Many homeowners like to select a trim and door color that contrasts with the siding on the garage. White is a popular choice for modern residential designs, but dark brown, beige and black are all great garage siding options that can create a unique ambiance as well.
Always take the big picture into account when browsing through different garage siding ideas. Remember, curb appeal is when the whole home is presented in a way that catches the eye. The more architectural features your home has — including dormers, gables, wraparound porches, columns and awnings — the more opportunities there are for playing with color, texture, and design details.
4 Garage Siding Design Ideas
Take a look at these garage siding ideas that offer excellent inspiration. By mixing and matching various textures, colors, and material styles, these designs are refreshing ideas for the exterior.
1. Horizontal Lap + Board and Batten Gables
Horizontal lap siding is a traditional style that continues to maintain its allure today. By pairing the horizontal lap siding for the garage with board and batten gables, this home captures a more unique look that feels modern and on-trend. Furthermore, the color contrast between the siding on the garage and the gables adds extra depth to the home’s look overall, and crisp white trim accentuates the division and pulls the look together.
2. Horizontal Lap + Variegated Shake
Not all garage siding options rely on white trim to create a clean and cohesive look. This home reverses the color strategy by sticking with a dark brown trim that matches the double garage doors. Dark browns tend to create a more natural aesthetic, and the theme is enhanced here with the addition of variegated shake on the gable, adding intense color dimension and character. Using multi-color shake to highlight architectural features like dormers and gables can be an excellent way to add subtle character that adds excitement without straying from the natural theme of the exterior.
3. Board and Batten Throughout
Consistency is key when picking a bold and unusual color for garage siding. Here, the dark cobalt siding is lifted with white trim and gray stone for a more inviting effect, and board and batten siding is installed throughout the exterior for consistency in texture and layout. Board and batten is a great choice for adding subtle texture to dark colors, and the additional detail here helps to break up the heavy color choice. Furthermore, the vertical lines of the board and batten design helps to lift the eye upwards, lightening the heavy color with upright detailing. This is a clever way to incorporate a dark tone in the garage siding without adding too much visual weight to the exterior.
4. Shake + Board and Batten Gables
In this last example, shake garage siding is mixed with board and batten gables to create a textured appearance that delights. Notice that a very light color has been chosen for the garage siding and gable siding. Selecting a single color with a very light tone is an excellent way to include a significant amount of texture without the exterior becoming overwhelmed by various design features.
Notice how the stone columns near the entryway are painted in the same shade of light gray as the garage siding to keep a uniform appearance that’s easy on the eye. The color consistency across the exterior creates a standout focal point at the entryway, where natural wood beams draw attention to the entrance.
Get the Best Garage Siding Styles from Allura
What’s truly incredible is that all of these styles have been crafted from a top-quality material: fiber cement siding. Allura makes an incredible range of fiber cement siding styles so that homeowners can recreate all of these garage exterior siding ideas — or create their own!
Be sure to contact us today to learn more about all the best garage siding options.
