In certain quarters, wooden homes are a status symbol. They need so much maintenance that the ability to keep them neat, clean and rot-free is a clear sign of wealth. But for the ordinary homeowner, the beauty of wood may not be a practical option. Hence vinyl siding.
In the past, it looked cheap and plasticky, but modern vinyl panels can be impressively aesthetic. Not convinced? Below are over thirty ideas for vinyl siding that looks like wood. It ranges from faux logs and imitations of 2 x 4s and log-like vinyl panels. Let’s get inspired!
1. Cedar Mastic Vinyl Siding
Cedarwood is a common material for roofing and siding. It looks beautiful and is easy to split by hand. But cedar needs care and maintenance. It’s susceptible to weather damage, especially moisture. Also, natural cedar shades are limited. So try this cedar vinyl siding that looks like wood. You don’t need to stain or waterproof it, and it comes in a vibrant teal tone.
2. Overlapping Vinyl Siding
The kind of siding you buy will dictate how much it looks like wood. Beaded vinyl – for example – has deeper shadows, so it looks a lot like 2 by 4 wooden planks and offers depth and texture. The number of knots and the density of grains printed onto the plastic can also help it mimic wood effectively. The distressed coloring on these plastic panels is convincing.
3. Befores and Afters
This building is currently under renovation so you can accurately compare materials. The lower floor is covered in brick with metal grills while the top is clad in cedar shingles. The cedar on the side is being replaced with tan-colored vinyl clapboard. And that horizontal vinyl looks a lot like wood. For the front, they could try cedar vinyl or more clapboard.
4. Mixed Palette Vinyl
Barns are traditionally associated with that bright red tone and vertical siding. But in this home, the textures and colors have been mingled in unexpectedly delightful ways to mimic wood. Red shingles line the front of the house while the recessed doorway is clad in mustard-colored clapboard topped with vertical vinyl for the upper floors. And it all passes for wood!
5. From the Windows to the Wall
Vinyl is commonly used for window trim. But when you want to use roofing materials in place of wall cladding, you may want something lighter. Roofing tiles and shingles are thick and harder to withstand the full force of sun, rain, and snow. Wall cladding can be a little lighter, so try shingles made of cedar vinyl that looks like wood. The effect is impressive!
6. Clapboard Couture
Country cottages and cookie-cutter suburbs often have clapboard siding and picket fencing. But while countryside homes are often built by hand using wood sawn in the forest, suburbs are constructed commercially and en masse. Today’s buyers may have lower budgets, so opt for traditional clapboard vinyl that looks like wood. From a distance, you can’t even tell!
7. Shadows and Texture
While we love the large selection of colors in vinyl siding, nudes and neutrals can sometimes be more effective. Why? When the colors are plain, manufacturers put more effort into print and texture. It’s how they attract buyers to these dull colors. These grey cedar shingles are the perfect example. Those detailed lines look just like cedarwood grain.
8. Dream House on the Cheap
Here you see the fantasy home of every housewife with a husband in sales. Though, to be fair, millennials into cottage core would love this too. It has the red door, the clapboard walls, and even the picket fence. But to stay within the budget of your home construction loan, you can use white vinyl that looks like wood. Use it for both the siding and the fence.
9. Up Close and Personal
Vinyl siding comes in many colors, brand names, and price points. But a lot of vinyl is made to be enjoyed from a distance. Up close, it looks a lot less than wood. So if you want a convincing vinyl siding that looks like wood, inspect the grain and print detail. Here’s a magnification of teal-colored cedar vinyl shingles. That grain print is masterfully done.
10. Country Lodge Siding
Everything about this building says old money. The ivory clapboard siding, the mahogany accents in window trim, the retro lanterns, even the elaborate front steps. It looks like an exclusive country club, with its whitewashed stone walls topped with board and batten siding. Except none of that is wood – it’s all vinyl! That rocky fountain is real though.
11. Logs and Lovelies
Whether you’re renovating your own home or flipping a project, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Look at what you have and upgrade it. This cabin originally had dark brown clapboard all around. They’ve updated the sides with tan traditional lap vinyl that looks like wood. According to the caption, they’re redoing the front with vinyl log siding to finish off.
12. Black and White Styling
If you’re cladding your walls with vinyl siding that looks like wood, you might consider using real wood for the door. In this recessed entryway, the real wood door lends authenticity to the vinyl walls and ceiling that surround it. A few more black accents on the lanterns, porch chair, and candle stand all contribute to the unity and style of this home’s front door.
13. Steel Sides Plastic Front
Corrugated containers are a clever shortcut to kiosk construction. That shell can be insulated and made live-able with just a few power tools. But to make the front of this neighborhood bar even more attractive, it’s been revamped with vinyl siding that looks like wood. The color, realistic knots, and uneven cut of these vinyl panels make a persuasive simulation.
14. Yellows and Greens
You could stare at this house for hours and not now it isn’t made of wood. Those vivid vinyl panels are printed in pale yellows and vivid greens that remind you of a mid-western schoolhouse. The tinted hung windows lend a modern touch to this otherwise halcyon home. You’d love living here, especially because you don’t need Tom Sawyerly stunts to keep it clean.
15. Elongated Elevation
Cladding a wooden home with long walls can be tricky. Why? Because sawing those extra-long planks is a lot of work. Moreso if you’re doing it by hand! Even if you’re buying the wood siding, longer pieces cost more and visible seams can be unsightly. So why not opt for vinyl siding that looks like wood? It comes in every size and shade imaginable including this green.
16. Light and Lovely
Vinyl siding that looks like wood doesn’t always come in woodsy colors. Remember, when the wood panels are painted over, you can’t always see the knots and grains. Some builders prefer that matte look so they coat the wood in thick blobs of matte paint. With vinyl siding, you can get the same full coverage while still resembling painted wood, as we see in this house.
17. Accents in Vinyl
Maybe you don’t want to commit your whole exterior façade to vinyl siding that looks like wood. It can give your home a dated look because it makes your neighbors think of their rustic origins. This Jersey home has a narrow patch of grey vinyl siding at the front. Lots of four-sash windows add to that schoolhouse effect while the others are French windows.
18. Keeping Up with the Joneses
This seems like the type of neighborhood where the HoA wields a whip. How can you tell? All the homes have identical vinyl siding. The upper floors are done in beige vinyl cedar shingles whose sunset tones are warm and inviting. The sides of the house are done in grey vinyl clapboard, with more shingles cladding the garage and balcony. It’s all picture-perfect.
19. Wood vs Whitewash
The floor of this deck is natural wood. Probably pressure-treated so it can withstand exposure to rain and outdoor moisture. But while the wall has white vinyl siding, the wall could pass for a whitewashed wooden one. The problem is … when you hose the wall to clean it, you’ll expose the wooden floor to moisture damage, so maybe redo the flooring as well?
20. Cedar Shake Vinyl Siding
When you’re shopping for vinyl siding that looks like wood, your choice will be dictated by your definition of wood. Are you thinking of 2 by 4s, logs, reclaimed planks, or hand-split cedar with red brick accents? This home leans towards the latter. These vinyl cedar shakes are a convincing substitute for hand-split shingles. Only their symmetry gives them away.
21. Lean-to Loveliness
The owners of this house are all about greys. And to add spice to their monochromatic home, they’ve mixed various kinds of vinyl siding that looks like wood. Some sections of the siding have stone prints but the bulk of it is imitation wood, with a semi-reflective dutch lap on the sides and matte clapboard at the front. The high ceilings and tinted windows are stylish too.
22. Clapboard and Shutters
Visual effects can be a helpful cue when you’re going for a certain effect. In this home, for example, the walls are clad with off-white clapboard vinyl. To heighten the realism of the home’s exteriors, the hung windows are flanked with faux-wood shutters painted a vivid blue. The entrance steps have whitewashed balustrades that add to the timber-like effect.
23. Tantalising Textures
Can you tell what the front of this house is clad with? It looks like stacked river rocks for the basement, clapboard for the lower story, and cedar shakes for the upper story. But it could all be vinyl … and it is! As you can see, vinyl can convincingly replace wooden siding while drastically diminishing the maintenance work needed. And those rocks look amazing!
24. Wood and Stone
This house was originally built with quarry stone and arched windows. They give the home a staid, understated glamour, but it can also be off-putting. It’s not the kind of house where you drop by unannounced. But stone construction is going out of style because it’s dated – and expensive. So the newer parts of the house are clad with vinyl that looks like wood.
25. Brick, Beading, and Batten
If you’re worried that vinyl siding will make your house look cheap, don’t be. There are tons of tiny touches you can add to create an illusion of luxury. For this home, the lower floors still have the original brick exterior that signifies generational wealth. The middle story is done in beaded vinyl while the top is board and batten with decorative webbing on the front truss.
26. Tricky Trussing
The structural trusses on a home usually stay hidden. Even if you have high ceilings, you’ll probably allow a light layer of vinyl or ceiling board to shield the rafters. So visible trusses are a clever way to camouflage vinyl siding that looks like wood. After all, you wouldn’t mix real wood with fake wood, would you? And the large prairie windows are a rustic touch too.
27. Cubic Couture
Cats love boxes – everybody knows that. And if you lived in this cube-like home, you’d soon love boxiness too! The matte black accents on that whitewashed walls are a revelation. And the simulated siding? Stained clapboard at the front and white + grey clapboard on the sides. Except none of it is wood, so this super-stylish house is also extremely low maintenance.
28. Slight Overlap
We often say clapboard when we mean traditional lap – the terms are used interchangeably. But while clapboard has a flat profile (as opposed to the ridged profile of Dutch Lap), traditional lap can sometimes have its lower edges slightly raised. This could be from insulation or just how the siding is laid. Either way, the traditional lap siding here is vinyl.
29. Columns and Crawlspaces
Can you tell which parts of this house are wooden and which ones are not? Barely. The shutters flanking those windows might be wooden, though the slate-gray siding is not. The gapped pallets covering the crawlspace are likely made of lumber. And the pillars holding up the porch are probably wooden too. But it’s so easy to find vinyl siding that looks like wood.
30. Brick Maintenance
This home has a huge chimney with a broad swathe of exposed brickwork. The lower wall is brick too, with gorgeous chevron detail. But keeping that brick clean can be a cause for drama. You can hose it down, but you’ll saturate the wooden wall behind it. That could be why that upper wall was redone in vinyl siding that looks like wood – namely, cedar shingles.
31. Log-Like Loveliness
We’re closing the list with a log cabin made of plastic. That faux-log vinyl siding looks like wood but it won’t fool termites, woodpeckers, and neighborhood fungus. So you’ll get all the joys of cozy cottage living with none of the rot, bugs, drama, or dank. If your area has especially cold winters, you can have the vinyl logs insulated to cut down your heating bills.
What’s your favorite vinyl siding that looks like wood? Show us photos in the comments!
You didn’t tell us where to purchase the different styles of sidings.