House Elevation help

[wiphan]

I am trying to build a home this summer and we are having issues with the front elevation of the home. We have 15 acres and are building a 2400 square foot ranch with a full exposed basement in WI. We will build a small barn and keep a few horses there (4-6). The property has a pond in front of where the house will be. We were thinking about natural cedar shingles in the gables of the house and lap siding with a color down below. We can't afford much if any stone on the house. We have a large front porch to provide a sitting area to view the pond, etc. We have large fir timbers in the entry way of the porch and in the gables. We are questioning this look and wondering if it will look right and if we should leave the fir timbers natural, paint them a trim color, do something different or scrap the look. Any thoughts are appreciated

here is the initial one

http://tinypic.com/r/11lrkgk/6


another option (a little cheaper)

http://tinypic.com/r/261f6vt/6