I drove around looking at other homes with my color stone. When I found one I liked, the roofer went to look at it. Also, I live in Texas and so I chose a light color to reflect the sun.

When we bought our home it had dark blue painted cedar shake siding that my DH really liked, so when we resided in vinyl we went with the darkest blue offered in the line we chose, which is a greyed down medium dark blue. I wasn't sold on it at the time because I would have preferred something a little more neutral like a dark grey or tan, but it was really important to my DH.

However, it's really grown on me and I wouldn't change it if I had a mulligan. I like that we have something that nods to the house as we bought it and is one of the rarer colors. We did vinyl shake on the front and traditional vinyl on the sides due to budget reasons. We also did white trim everywhere except the inside corners (so door/window/outside corner trim is white, inside corner trim is blue). We live in a NJ shore town so I think it looks appropriate for that reason as well.

I like a dark roof....makes the house look rooted, settled in some way. Hate green or blue roofs! The only exception is a tile or slate roof.
My house is cedar shake stained a tannish gray....trim is off white to the yellow ocher....and I looked at shingles that were dark brownish gray.
When we bought the house the roof was leaf green and the shakes stained what I call elephant gray and the trim white....which looks gray next to the gray. The first area of roof to go was the family room which is not visible from the front....so we re did in dark grayish brown.
I have had this color combination for about 30 years.....and every summer someone calls or knocks on my door wondering what colors I used..just Monday someone knocked on my door and asked if I minded if he took pictures of the front of my house to show his builder.
I didn't think it was that unusual but maybe....all 3 tones are based on the same ocher color.
Linda C

Assuming we're talking roof shingles...

You also need to look at the proportions of your house. If it's a tall house, then yes, a dark roof can make it look rooted. But if it's a smaller house or if the roof dominates the facade, then a dark roof can make the house look too squat or chopped off. Or all roof & no house. A roof color similar to the strength of the siding color makes the house look more unified and whole -- that's more flattering for some houses.

As for green or blue or red roofs, I think they look great on white houses or if you want a country look. I noticed several white houses with blue roofs when we vacationed on the north fork of Long Island last year -- looked good in an ocean/rural setting. [I went with a red roof on my white home. We are definitely in a country setting, & it looks right.]

We have a minimal amount of roof showing on this house. We plan to paint in the future so we chose a color that coordinated with the brick face of the house and the color family we planned to paint when it is needed. Once we determined a budget our roofing contractor provided a list of area homes with the same type of shingles were were purchasing so we could see how different colors looked on a home.

I agree about the neutral/colored roof comments, red, blue and green roofs look great in the right setting, on the right house, as do more neutral roofs.

I tend to like darker roofs, maybe not solid black, but dark. I also don't like a weird pattern, it gives me a headache to stare at it. I did go look at a neighborhood I love, and it helped a lot. I'm going with architectural shingles (I think that's what they're called), which seem to be on all the new houses around here. My roof line is got a pretty tall pitch, with a gable and dormer on the front. You see more from the side of the house than the front, but you do still see the roof from the front. Annie - I think the shingle style is like yours, but I'm thinking a dark gray would look best with our medium gray siding, and metal porch. (Your house is so pretty, btw!) I think a slight variation of pattern is good, just not an eye maze!

Thanks guys!

I used the interactive feature of the Certainteed site. Also, my roofer gave me a list of houses they had done and what shingles they used. I burned up a tank of gas driving around looking. Once I'd narrowed it down to four, they came out and put four samples on my roof so I could choose what I wanted. My final choice was a gray with some brick red flacks to pick up the brick in the house.

Here is a link that might be useful: certainteed site

Great advice so far! I wanted clean and classic and low key - dark enough so it did not look faded - we went with soft black and I love it. It seems crisp but does call attention away from the house which is grayish/taupish with white trim.

Do you remember the color name or number, and the manufacturer? Maybe I can take a look.

I also did the simulations on the Certainteed site. That was very helpful. We went with Colonial Slate, which is not as dark as pure black.

Some other colors you might want to consider are Heather Blend or Driftwood.

BTW we used CertainTeed Presidential TL in charcoal black and it looked very nice. The house was taupe with white trim and charcoal at the gutters and roofline (to make the roof look thicker) and charcoal shutters.

Sort of a similar thread on the Paint Forum right now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Roof issues

Wow, funcolors, interesting link. I was worried about the house coming together in that link, but you definitely put it on the right track. Color choices are complicated, and one wrong move can send it in the wrong direction. I'll try to post my house pic later today. I also tried the certainteed link, but it was down last night. I'm gonna try again today. gotta head out now. thanks!

Hey gscience, we are twins. My roof also is Colonial Slate. I'm very happy with it.

Ok, does colonial slate and driftwood have a lot of pattern to it? Heather Blend looks like it has brown in it. Hmmmm.....

I chose Colonial Slate, also.

Here's a picture from awhile back. I hope this works...

Wow! Your house is really darling, Lake Girl!

Your siding looks beigy, but it's really gray? Guess it's the light. From this pic, a chocolate brown roof would seem right, but if it's gray, now way!

Definitely go with an architectural shingle, whatever the color! The dimension will add so much.

Again...what an adorable house you have there!

Thanks for your sweet comments. Yes, it's definitely gray, but the winter evening sun is making it look tan. There's a gray metal roof over the front porch. The color on the shingles now is a med.-dark grayish, so maybe I should stay with that color on the new shingles (but with architectural ). I think a subtle variation is good, just not weird patterns (have I said that already? :)

My insurance company covered the replacement of siding and roof due to storm damage. I got to choose my colors from the Certainteed palette the roofing company provided. I went with Sandpiper for the vinyl, and paired it with Burnt Sienna for the shingles. The colors really worked well together.

Fabulous house! I'd go with something colorful for the roof. Your house could handle it.

Ok roof guy coming on Friday morning (finally). We don't do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g fast around here. We mull it, consider it, linger over, wait and wait and wait. But usually we like the end product. Anyway, I'm looking at two colors on the Owens Corning site called Estate Gray and Williamsburg gray. The roof guy said we can choose from Certainteed or Owens Corning colors. All you guys who used Certainteed's Colonial Slate, does it have a lot of pattern to it? Any help or thoughts are much appreciated!

Morningstarlet - do you have a pic of your house??