If your next roof could be a tin-look one, I think it would look fantastic. Sweet house.

Here's bunches of examples of what I mean:
http://www.houzz.com/metal-roof-farmhouse-porch-exterior

It would look terrific with your color scheme. If it were mine I would do a light gray primary color with dark gray trim and either cranberry or burgundy accent color on the trim.

Lovely home. I think it would be terrific in grey.

I would look into a slate gray metal roof. Darling house. I love old farmhouses...

Sooo, your house is sided now? And the new siding is to be what? Vinyl? Because that is where it sounds like you are going. Fix the siding you have, paint it the color you love and stay away from the plastic...please. I need the oil to fill up my truck so I can go fix someone's house.

When will you be putting on the new roof? The reason I ask is because the existing roof looks like a medium gray color and might be too similar to the color of the siding. Go light gray or very dark gray but be sure to check the color with the roof you want a little contrast between the roof and siding.

Thanks everyone - I love the comments! I prefer the dark gray and white trim because we have out buildings that are all white with red tin roofs. If I do the dark red or cranberry trim it may not look good with the red on the outbuildings.

I agree with Dar Eckert you need a contrast in tone between your roof and siding, I would go lighter grey preferably , that does not mean it has to be very light, just a marked difference from the shingles color, with white , perfect. Your roof looks in good shape, but when you do change it , the metal option given by Bernhart Gallery is excellent. That is a very lovely house. Good luck.

I second the hesitation to vinyl siding. We bought an old farmhouse with it, thinking, 'Yay! No painting on this one!' It's cheesy-looking up close and, if your lawn mower throws even small stones, they'll put holes in it.

I like the dark gray idea. I do agree you could get a better look not using vinyl. I would do a brighter red instead of cranberry.

The home across the street from ours went from white w/ white trim and sea foam green shutters (bad!), to a dark grey with white trim and black shutters; the transformation is stunning. Do it!

I would choose red with white trim, add flower boxes.

I would remove the shutters. Use the barn red for the doors to coordinate with the outbuildings . Love a gray house - use hardie plank or refurbish the wood siding , please do not use vinyl. Charming building. Enjoy the process.

second the vote for Hardie plank. It is fantastic.

Third that vote for Hardi plank, it's the best. If you have hardi plank, your insurance co rates your house as brick.
I have seen vinyl melt here in a hot Texas summer.
Hardi plank is also added insulation.
I know this sounds strange, but if you look at installation instructions, with hardi plank, you put the trim up first and then cut the boards to butt up against the trim.
That way the trim lies flat and there are no gaps to fill in, plus, lots of times, if you put the trim over the hardi plank, the boards will crack from the pressure, as my son found out because he didn't listen to mom. lol.
I did my house in Hardi, and I love it! Everyone around here is redoing our old homes in Hardi.
It's very affordable too.

Our whole neighborhood is Hardie Plank. It's an excellent product. Made of a composite of cement , sand, wood fiber, and water. Sustainable too!

We recently bought a 129 year old farmhouse and just had it re-roofed. I had my colors in mind and picked up numerous samples at the store. Amazingly, colors that I picked up at the store look totally different in real light. So, on the back of each chip, I wrote "AM Noon PM" across the top, and directions North, East, South, and West down the side. Then I carried those chips around the house at the different times of day and made notes about what that color did for me. Any that got a negative comment on more than 2 sides or times of day were out. This helped me narrow it down to only a few colors and then we decided on our favorite blend of colors for the main house, trim and accents that looked great on all sides of the house and at all times of the day.

One major issue that has been mentioned in these comments is realizing that some of the colors I had originally chosen were almost the same color as our new roof. So make sure you have some contrast. You don't want your home to look like a circus, but you also don't want it to be boring!

I would encourage you to go with a much wider board than 5", something that would be similar to what is on the house now (looks like about 10"). We just re-sided a historic house, used wood, finally found what we needed at an Amish sawmill. You will lose a lot of charm if you go with narrow new material siding. Wood is very durable if painted and well maintained, and lots less expensive than Hardie Plank - also not nearly as heavy, which can be an issue with older homes. If you can afford Hardie and your construction will support the weight, great product, though.

We used vertical metal paneled siding in slate gray as well as galvalume for our urban farmhouse and we couldn't be happier. Though we might be happier when we have time to install the black shutters.
Here is a link to our project:
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/wrapping-older-house-rock-wool-insulation

These materials are a great idea - but I just don't get the need to have shutters on windows where they don't belong - especially on and urban farmhouse . There are so many wonderful books on historic farmhouses and most do not have shutters. Just a matter of preference.......Clearly there are so many interested in this farmhouse becoming a beauty !

I really like the idea of charcoal gray. I agree also with the comments regarding contrast with your gray roof but you don't need to contrast with the roof by going lighter. Don't be afraid to go dark. I'd make sure the gray you choose is at least at least 20% darker than the roof. Almost black could be stunning. I would change the exterior doors to an emerald or aqua green. It will be a nicer contrast with the gray and a great counterpoint to your red outbulidings. Finally, don't do vinyl siding!

Do you paint this Hardi plank? If so how often?

Hardie plank comes in several different colors. Also check into Certainteed.

Thank you. I spend my days on interiors:)

Hardie plank can be painted whatever your color choice is( in other words, custom job) and never has to be painted again.

Whatever direction you go in, pls. Remove the shutters, they don't work and are not needed.

I had my converted church sided in charcoal grey with wide white trim - but in a corrugated metal siding with board & batten panels & white vinyl shingles on the bell tower. The main roof is in black grey shingle. My choice of materials may not be for everyone, but I'm happy with the color choice, especially with the cedar toned posts on the patio & black front door for contrast.

Well i think the color you have picked will look great now the big question which grey here are some samples

I had no idea hardiplank came in colors now. It originally came in a light gray, then they put a primer in it, so it is a funky yellow. I saved a lot of money on the paint because the hardi had the primer in it, and I used Behr paint with the primer in it, so, I'm double primed and saved the painters having to prime, so, one coat less.. lol
About the shutters, if you like them, leave them, the only thing I would suggest is putting a single shutter between the two windows on the top floor, or put in bigger windows so there is no gap, the gap does look a little strange.

http://www.jameshardie.com/main.shtml

We sided our house with hardie plank and loved it. It comes in a variety of colors and in a primed only, so you can pick your own custome color. I had my paint store match hardies timberbark and painted it myself. In hindsight I would pay the extra $50. Per square and save the labour since paint will cost that much anyway. Sadly we can no longrr get this product in eastern canada. :(

My "thing" about shutters is if you are going to have them on your home, they need to at least give the appearance that they would be functional for protecting your windows. The size of the shutter needs to be proportional to the size of the window. It is understandable that some shutters would be hinged in the center so that they would cover the window when they are opened up fully. But if it is just a little bitty shutter beside a window that is much too large for that shutter to ever be functional, then I think it looks ridiculous and would be best to do away with the shutter completely or replace with one of an appropriate size.

I wish that Hardie made siding that would work for our home. We have 5" lap board siding that looks like 2 - 2 1/2" boards. The siding on our new/old home is fir and it is mostly in great condition, especially considering it is over 100 years old! Also, previous owners were very lax about keeping it painted to help preserve it. We have had to replace some siding in a few areas and would have preferred to use Hardie plank. Sadly, they don't make any that even closely matches.

YES! Even if shutters aren't functional, they should look like they are and be proportionate to the windows.

If you are going to go to the trouble of re-siding your house, it's an excellent and affordable time to undertake an energy retrofit- usually adding several inches of foam and air sealing carefully under the siding- after having an energy audit. I also think Hardie and other fiber cement is a good siding choice- low maintenance and long lasting.

One quick comment...cement is not sustainable...at all. It is made by strip mining limestone, crushing it in an electric mill (gas, coal or nuclear anyone?) to fine powder and baking it with natural gas in a kiln. None of which is sustainable in any way, shape or form. Wood is sustainable...we have proven it with managed forests that are over 100 years old (ever see "Last of the Mohicans" with Daniel Day Lewis? managed forest in North Carolina). Concrete is fire resistive...and won't rot, therefore it is "green" because of lifespan. Not sustainability.

Hardie uses Portland Cement (www.cement.org) -- a company which has come a long way to create a more sustainable product and minimize the environmental impact of making cement. Quite high tech these days when compared to strip mining techniques. But, true, no product is without environmental impact and/or emissions. Including us.

Loved all the comments everyone - thank you to all! The siding we chose will be steel siding - I like the idea of Hardie Plank also! I think we will go with charcoal gray with white trim, I love the red door idea, but we just purchased these doors and just had them painted the cranberry color - grrr - oh well - I think we will do without the shutters as that seems to be the consensus and see how it turns out! Can always add those right? Thanks again for all the comments - we've been out of town - so that is why no response on this end!

msiegel61...All modern (as opposed to Roman) cement is made of Portland...takes its name from the British Tithonian limestone deposits around the Isle of Portland. Wikipedia says:

Portland cement was developed from natural cements made in Britain in the early part of the nineteenth century, and its name is derived from its similarity to Portland stone, a type of building stone that was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England.[1]

Joseph Aspdin, a British bricklayer from Leeds, is considered to be the originator of Portland cement. A process for the manufacture of Portland cement was patented in 1824.[1] This cement was an artificial cement similar in properties to the material known as "Roman cement", which had been patented in 1796 by James Parker. Aspdin's process was similar to a process patented in 1822 and used since 1811 by James Frost who called his cement "British cement". The name "Portland cement" is also recorded in a directory published in 1823 being associated with a William Lockwood, Dave Stewart, and possibly others.[2]

The manufacturing of cement is as I stated previously and, as limestone is sedimentary rock, layers and layers of tiny sea creature skeletons, it is easily strip mined or open pit mined (take it from a former Indiana boy, we supplied the limestone that covers the Empire State Building and is the home of Hardie Products).

I don't know if you ever completed your project but would love to see photos.