Combining cladding with stone, brick and other materials on your exterior can give your home added character and create a strong aesthetic statement, as Lisa Grosse from Cedral explains

While brick is widely used for residential exteriors in urban settings, and in much of the countryside stone is dominant – in particular, limestone, sandstone, bluestone or quartzite, we are seeing many more creative construction solutions that employ a range of colours and materials. These include using glass, stone, brick and wood in a variety of combinations. Plaster is also still in very much in fashion, and rough concrete has gained acceptance as a stylish cladding for residential design.

Combining materials when building or updating a property can create character and add an original, eye-catching look. Other advantages are that this can give rhythm to the facade and can also underline the character of the house.

One way to use cladding with other materials is by adding shiplap sidings, ‘New England’-style weatherboarding characterised by long planks, mounted horizontally to evoke the exterior of a ship. This style choice, long seen on coastal or beachfront properties, has become a popular design choice more generally. Scandi-style slatted wood cladding, an interior trend, can also be used on the facade to add texture and dimension. It doesn’t have to be used for the entire exterior, as slatted walls can work as accents or half walls, breaking up solid colour and changing the overall look. The cladding can be used to cover a gable and provide a contrast with the rest of a building.

Fibre cement cladding, which imitates wood with a grain imprinted along its length, can work well with different styles of homes. This is a strong, versatile and sustainable material containing cement and fibres, its inherent formulation means it does not rot, rust, warp or crack under extreme weather conditions. It also has excellent fire performance, and uses fewer raw materials and less energy in its manufacture – and produces less waste – than some traditional building materials. It is also easy to install, and low maintenance. It can partner with brick, natural stone, tiles, stucco, even metal.

For one new build in Chepstow, the homeowners chose Cedral fibre cement cladding in slate grey for a design that matched the modern and minimal interior and complemented the home’s beautiful countryside location. The combining of the horizontal boards above the brick at the base and with vertical metal joints placed at intervals around the facade, provided them with the clean lines, modern appeal and low maintenance that they wanted.

Another example where fibre cement cladding combined with other materials in a new development is a home in Newport-on-Tay. The homeowners wanted the architects to create a low maintenance property while still being aesthetically striking against the scenic surroundings. BlackDog Architecture mixed tones and textures on the facade to create a unique and contemporary property. Pairing wood effect Cedral Click fibre cement cladding in white with a soft tone in muted shades provided a different lighter tone and contrasting texture that complemented the overall design.

While, contemporary houses are particularly suitable for combining cladding with other materials, incorporating cladding onto the facade of an older building can also refresh a dated exterior. The new owners of a 100-year-old, run down farmhouse in Westerham, Kent decided to use a combination of materials for the exterior of the renovation. They wanted a new facade which would significantly improve the look and quality of the house and be in keeping with the surroundings of 16 acres of wooded land and paddocks. After looking for a material that would provide a realistic timber appearance which was also low maintenance, they decided to use black cladding together with a new brick plinth to give it a barn-like feel. 

While white, cream and beige are top colour choices for home exteriors, we are seeing others such as sage green, grey brown, blue grey and sand yellow appearing more often. Our research project into colour and lifestyle trends which was key in developing a new and refreshed range of colours for facades confirmed this trend. Natural colours are gaining popularity with muted colours becoming less so.

There are endless combinations that might work for a home’s exterior – both practically and aesthetically and people are wanting to be creative with unique, updated looks. Here are some tips to help achieve a harmonious result:

• Consider the environment, the surrounding buildings and the context. Keep the number of materials used down to a maximum of two or three.
• Stick to two or three colours at most. Too much input can overwhelm the eye. 
• Alternating a warm shade with a darker one always looks effective. On the other hand, using the same material in two different configurations, such as using the same bricks horizontally and vertically, does not give good results. 
• Respect the alignments, otherwise the lines of perspective will lose cohesion. In the end, it’s all about choosing the materials that suit you best. 

Lisa Grosse is brand manager at Cedral