As long as you reference the brown roof in some way, you can make it happen. You could do the garage door the same way as the inspiration house. You could also paint the front door brown, the inside window trim brown, and the rest gray except for bright white on the window trim. A lighter gray on the brick, as well as the lower level of the house, could look very nice.

Thanks so much sooz001! We'll definitely paint the front door...as well as the garage (and plan on making the garage door look similar to the inspiration house)...

Thanks, bellburgmaggie. At this point, we can't stand to look at the yellow anymore and anything we do will be an improvement over its current state! ha! We knew she wasn't a looker when we got her, but the yellow is unbearable!! I think if we did darker grey then at least it wouldn't be as jarring as it is now.

WOWZA!!! Your house looks awesome! It doesn't even look like the same house!! And the yellow on your house is very light - it looks great. Ours is bright yellow and just terrible. If our roof was black, I wouldn't have any hesitation about painting the house...but because it's that tan color, I'm a bit worried that it won't look great...

Ha! Believe it or not, we have heard about painting the roof...has anyone done it? My husband is worried that if we paint it black and it rains, that we'll have black water dripping down!! I'm all for it if it works!!

I'm with your husband. Painting a roof is going to be incredibly difficult, and the paint would almost have to be a tarry soup to seal itself to the shingles so it doesn't get washed off. This reminds me of painting your tile--you don't see it a lot as the results are questionable at best.

You need to work with the color of the roof the same as you work with your body type in buying clothes. The roof is light so unless you want to have another layer of shingles put over it which can be done where I live [you can have 2 layers of shingles on a home], you need to find a color that works with the roof such as a light olive green or beige. If your husband is a big DIY kind of guy, you might think of reshingling your roof this summer as it isn't hard--we completely redid our roof several years ago with the help of a couple of friends for about $5K. If you go with a dark color on the siding with that light roof, it's not going to look right.

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Thanks, hayleydaniels! We're definitely not DIY people...I wish we were!! That would solve a lot of our issues...what if we just did a dark (maybe not as dark as the inspiration) grey on the siding and kept the brick a lighter grey...

Magda - there are warm grays and your brick references your roof - what if we echo but not copy. A black gray is not going to work well here as your house needs to be lighter than your roof. Let me suggest some things that can work with your existing brick to give you the contemporary look you want. Because the existing brick is just barely lighter than the roof - I'm going to say keep it as is but we are going to break it up with dark trim.

Test this for your siding (and don't paint anything until you test) -

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/chelseagray#ce_s=chelsea

Can your door and window trim that is now white be painted? That is where you want to head charcoal - that and the fascia - but a warm charcoal like bm kendall charcoal

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/kendallcharcoal

For now, all the older aluminum framing on the front of the house? Have them mask it and paint it kendall charcoal too - older aluminum is usually pitted by weather and receives paint beautifully. Temperature when you paint is really important for metal though - not too cold outside - may need to wait for this detail until it is closer to 70 degrees. The dark kendall charcoal along the fascia and around these windows will give you the contemporary contrast you seek without unbalancing your house.

Paint the garage door and the lower level siding by the garage and the wing walls that are now yellow the darker kendall charcoal color .. .this will color block the two story portion - the cut outs in the low brick wall under the front of the house are awesome - if this sits in front of something, have it be kendall charcoal so the dark reads through the cut outs . .

See how your inspiration house actually uses a lighter gray at the first floor / garage door and siding? You are just going to reverse that so it grounds the house . . and the charcoal can be repeated as trim. Depending on what happens on the side and rear elevation, I can recommend where you stop it - just this interior below grade area would be enough.

Under the extended eave in front - above the chelsea gray and beneath the kendall charcoal trim, match your brick tan color so you get contrast but you also repeat the blonde somewhere on that elevation - bring it around for the eye, test bm sandy brown http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/sandybrown

Then, on the front door - we need a bright mid century modern color - or to go to a warm black like black bean soup. You have your choice of colors but with this combination, I want to recommend a deep teal - try bm north sea green https://www.pinterest.com/source/benjaminmoore.com/

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/northseagreen

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It's hard to say what color will look good so what you and your husband ought to do is to go drive around the neighborhoods in your town or city looking at roof colors and how the house color works with it. Look for homes with the light roof like yours and see what color others have painted their homes. You'll find some you think look hideous, but you're bound to come across a few that look very nice, and that you can use to help you figure out what will look best.

You might try going to paint websites and going through the exterior paint colors used with lighter roofs. And if those ideas don't help you figure out what colors might work, you could look at a shingles web site to see what they show. Here's a link to Owens Corning tan shingles on a tan house:

http://www.owenscorning.com/roofing/browse-shingles/

Thanks, hayley and libradesigneye! I played around with the benjamin moore color tool and the results are frightening!! HELP!!! Libradesigneye, I did the entire house in Chelsea grey like you suggested (which is a great color) but not on this house. I initially left the bricks the same color as they were, but then it looked like it was two separate houses which looked even worse! HELP!!! Anyone who is a Photoshop whiz that is looking for a fun project ;) ???

Glad that you looked at this with your roof tone . . .was trying to get closer because you were gung ho for gray, but if a warm gray doesn't work with your roof then a blue one is going to be worse. May I suggest you try a camoflauge green undertone that is muted enough they label it gray? Something like gettysburg gray - the green undertone will pick up on the gold in your roof . . or bm hampshire gray http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/hampshiregray

test dakota woods green for trim . . .

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/dakotawoodsgreen

The olive tones are more likely to work for you because the yellow in the green will pick up the gold undertone in your roof and brick. It is going to be a color blocked house with the location of your brick .. . or you will need to paint the brick but if you are going to paint the brick we have to go a lot lighter with the color - the whole house can't be darker than the roof. The dark trim line on the fascia and window frames is important to tie the sections together - know that is impossible to color out in the webtool, but it will make a big difference in real life. With the olive tones and buff brick, I'll need to bring back some front door options.

Have you looked at the olive/camoflauge neutrals yet? I'm so hoping that the color tool will show you something you think you can live with . . know you are ready to lose the yellow. A lighter shade than hampshire that you might like to test is bm river gorge gray http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/rivergorgegray This might want gloucester sage trim . .

You could also go with a neutral camel tone . . .and use charcoal gray trim . . charcoal garage door and gray lower level walls . . . test bm brunswick beige http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/brunswickbeige

and consider a front door in bm tandoori http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/tandoori#ce_s=tandoori

if you like the olive tones of gray, with your buff brick, the front door colors I would suggest would be an amazing plum tone - like bm autumn purple to signal the modern approach . .

Thank you everyone for your help!!! We pulled the trigger and here is the after photo!!! I think it's a slight improvement over the yellow!