front door

I was talking to my brother last night and he told me that he and his wife are contemplating building a house rather than buying one. The concept of building a house is always intriguing to me. How do you go about choosing styles? What details to add and what to leave?

There are two things I know I want, a garage hidden to the side or back

and an awesome front door.
via tropical island, pine mountain lake, at home, about.com, salvo, front porch