Thanks, Erin, it's certainly a work in progress. Cynthia, I hadn't even thought about a greenish color, except to avoid the brighter, greener forest green that I see sometimes. That could be beautiful! Subtle, different, but not too daring. We're a bit afraid of color around here, but I feel like different shades of browns and taupes are going to get boring, and clash. A roofer came by today to do an estimate and had some pieces of roofing with him. One was similar to the Buckskin color (upper left). It seemed nice, and safe, but really clashed with the color of our deck, with the roofing being more green (but not a green color) and the deck more pink. The dark brown that was similar to the house color looked like a cheap chocolate bar and I really didn't like it, nevermind the whole dark silhouette of a house image I'm try to get away from.

Here is a fence I have planned on building for the past 2 years.... I have to submet plans to my hoa which may not pass due to it being over 6 feet tall. I really want to make it 8 feet at least to gain privacy and to create a cool look outside my kitchen window. I also worry about the glare produced by the metal. But check it out. Here is the video. Maybe it will help you. Has some similiar features. What else could I replace the metal with because I bet it will get burning hot and create glare. But in this project it has to be a flexible material. Maybe some kind of fabric? But with the wind it may rip over time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiTI6TtRBpE

When we bought our home in San Diego county 40 years ago the wood shingles were an upgrade, I loved the look. Looking back now, it wasn't the smartest roof for a hillside canyon house in fire country. When I replaced it 7 years ago, I still loved the look on our single story beach ranch style. I replaced The roof with lightweight concrete tile that look baAalike the original shakes except, fireproof and with a 50 year warrante. It was 30% more costly than a good comp roof with a lot more class. It will also increase the resale value of the same house with composition roof.

Poll idea: What is your price range for buying a home. Of course, you'd also have to let people say where they live, as prices vary widely from say, San Francisco to the deep south. Also like the other suggestion of polling about downsizing, versus seeing all the 4-5000 sq ft homes some are building.