I agree with the grey, but not the green door, if you want to minimize the green roof effect .leave white as the pic. It calms the green roof perfectly. Good luck I think this house will look lovely.

Love the gray- if you wanted to add a splash of contrast color, paint the rocker and maybe a rocker on the other side of the door :D. And if you want to change it, a rocker is a lot easier to paint than a house! I do think white shutters would look nice on the gable window...add a little width, and balance with the porch.

Definitely have a reputable roofer check out the roof and see what kind of life you have left in it. I agree that from the picture it doesn't necessarily look in great shape. No point in changing everything else if you are going to need to replace the roof in a few years anyway.

I really, really think that roof needs to be examined. If it goes in a storm and the inside gets flooded, you are going to have horrific costs

I'm guessing you probably already checked the condition of the roof when you bought the house :-) especially if you weren't sold on the color!

I certainly hope so. I have rental properties, and expenses can eat you alive. Tinted paint is going to cost much more than a regular white, and white, fortunately, is going to appeal to the most people. If adding your own personal touch is your motivation here, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that, focus on the door and paint it your favorite color. You might even add a wooden bench and paint it that color as well as some of the railing trim. But keep an eye on costs.

yes we had the roof looked at and its fine, I keep looking at the picture to try and see what everyone else is saying about how bad it is but I guess I missing something. Having said that yes that is why we are sticking with the green roof. Paint would be much more expensive than paint. We currently live in the house and its adorable.

*a roof

Christylyn you can get advice from 100s of us, but it really comes down to what you like. Start with colors that make you feel good and get a sample of the roofing and see if you like how they work together

I had the same problem, and ended up painting the cottage a dark grey green (pewter form Benjamin Moore), and I think it ended up taking the emphasis away from the awful roof.

Don't fight the green shingles! Embrace them. Select a green shade which will pull the entire facade together. If you have a loose shingle use that to help you with your color selection i.e. minty green, silvery green. Stay away from greens with yellows, brown or darker greens. I think jixnr is on the right track with the 3rd image, but the green has too much yellow in it. Paint out the trim (porch railings((gorgeous), window casings, vent and corner boards) in tint of white. This will have a strong impact, so pick your white carefully. Nix the idea of shutters. The carpenter gothic trim is a great feature, and the shutters will detract from the style. If you're wedded to shutters, and want to bring a little accent above the porch, shutter the second floor window and if you go to the trouble, use real shutters, mounted to the window casing, (not plastic, screwed to the house.) Keep the shutter color close to or same as exterior. (If your shutters have vents, the shadows will make them look darker and give them some distinction. If you want to make the exterior look a bit crisper, paint your window mullions and sash black. It looks like your storm windows have black trim already. Now you can go crazy with the door color. It's a sweet house.

The historical pictures with the yellow or cream houses would be my pic. My sister just built a farmhouse style last year. She was having light yellow siding and wanted to know what color shingles. Did the research and found those historical pics, so they actually picked out green shingles. The house looks fantastic and is a nice break from all the dark charcoal gray roof lines on all the other houses on the street. Sorry the only pic I have the grey shingles on the front gable end were not finished.

Jixinir's buttercup yellow combo (2nd last pic) is spot on, the green roof is warmed up by the warm gold / yellow of the boards. White trim pulls it together. Get the paint and a ladder. Easy D.I.Y.

I wouldn't go with a gray, too cold, o.k on the verandah flooring but no where else. ( Well, if its not buttercup yellow, at least a deep rich cream on the boards, that will warm up the house.) The front door? Deep red. And place two cane easy chairs on the verandah, just to say, "someone lives here" : )

Christylyn, one last thing, i'd encourage you to put a garden bed along the front of the verandah. For easy care....use Box hedge or lavender, or both, one in front of the other would be great value for little effort. You'll attract a better class of tenant ! See the inspirational garden pic below. And check out the Red front door. Yum. Re your existing house color, I saw a Porsche that peppermint color once. It looked terrible too : )

My first thought was white, but I love the grey in the picture submitted by Christylyn. It really gives the house a lift. Very classic, not too bold and, if you have to replace the roof you should be able to find roof tiles to go with it easily. Not sure what others are seeing in the quality of the roof. Appears to be shadows from the trees to me, but photos can be deceiving. No shutters on this house, please. Does not go with the style of the house. Cute house!

Similar style....not a green roof, but we loved the grey.

I totally agree with rosecafe's comments 3&4 back. The yellow is so much warmer and inviting than the gray. Also surprisingly I agree with bms0422 about the no shutters, and I love shutters but it would not fit. super cute house, have fun renovating.

When choosing the main color for the house you also have to consider the vegetation and trees around you.
And as we can see from the picture it seems that you have wonderful mature trees around your house and property.

First consider the sunlight and shadow effects.
Some colors which looks lovely on a chart come out completely different.

But more importantly the trees and vegetation around you can release a huge amount of pollen in the spring. If you have a lot of birches close to you I am afraid your choices might be limited.
If you opt for the white or very light gray it can look very ugly after 2 years.
A neighbor of mine was so proud of his white house. Now he learned it the hard way that this was not a good idea…
Don’t forget to post your decision and a picture if you are done with this project.
Cheers & good luck.

I love a yellow color to go with the green roof on this Victorian home.

I bought a historic home with a green roof too. Someday I will replace it, but it's in decent shape now. I was able to find a deep blue to paint my house, white trim, yellow/gold for windows, and a lighter green trim for some other places. My neighborhood is one that can take some "interesting" colors and I love my house now! I used an online palette program like others mentioned as well as a palette-in-hand from Sherwin Williams. Then I had four sets of colors made up as samples and tried them all right on the house and stood back to see what I liked, especially next to that darn roof.

FWIW here's the home with the colors it came with: green roof, sage/seafomish green, and purple windows.

Light sage green with a nice contrasting shutter in periwinkle blue or maroon.

Don't forget landscaping you could extend the porch free form with brick and frame it with white hydrangeas beautiful instead of the railing to give you privacy from the street, I think well done shutters on top would give it Southern Charm, Great curb appeal.. I like creamy butter or the grey with Cloud white.... No need to look like farm house in the prairies. I have seen that style house in Quebec and Ontario and New Orleans.

I don't understand why so many people think green roofs are awful. I think they can look great, although modern shingles seem to tend toward hunter blue-green rather than the softer more yellow-greens from the turn of the century, which are a bit easier to work with.

Orange-red, something like the color of clay tile, roofs were popular then too and can look great. Light grey is preferred by some historic review boards if the original roof was smooth cut cedar shingles, which weathers to a light grey. (Rough hand-split shingles is not a historic finish for most structures BTW). Around the 1920s or so, a deep maroon-brown became popular, along with picturesque stone colored roofs with large shaped shingles. Dark charcoal grey and black roofs were not common colors until around 1935 or so..

Perhaps we are not used to seeing these colors and that's why they look so awful to us.

A growing trend I see in the rural areas where I live (Upper Midwest) is enameled metal roofs of various colors, with copper and bright blue being among the most popular, along with more neutral colors like dark green and brown, and sometimes deep purple or bright red. These roofs have become economical and not just for barns anymore. The blue is very bright, like a cyan process blue, and only really looks OK with light grey or white. Perhaps they yearn for some color, especially in the winter.

Not all blues go together--there is one with sort-of light turquoise vinyl siding and blue metal roof that makes me wince every time I drive by. Be glad you didn't buy something like that!

Here is one "hurray!" for the green roof - it adds unique personality and charm. In an era of too many tract houses - woop! You can use your photo and play with colors at the paint sites. You have already gotten lots of advice. A good pale gray is sw silver samovar. With this house, the trim is the thing. You might test a clear green in the same color family as the roof for all trim at doors, windows, porch posts and filigree, eave and facsia but use a clear compelling red on the front door. Dont paint the corner trim out like they did - it should be the body color. Use a deep green black for the porch floor. rookwood shutter green is a good one to test. You have a gem - enjoy it!

For what it's worth it looks as if you have a house of "stick style" that's lost some of its trim. I you are interested, just google "stick style" and look at the pictures. That might help with color choice as well.

Tan and black or gray and black or khaki and black all look great with green roof. LOVE THE HOUSE.

Amy D, I love your blue house with complimentary yellow and green. So much more interesting than the suggested white or beige.

Very nice! Love old houses! Sounds like you are going for a grey. I think if you go with too light of a grey, the roof will be dominant. Med Gray, and off white or cream trim, and I feel it needs something in gable. My first thought was shutters on the second level window, but think some Victorian style gable trim as in picture below would be better. Also suggest a door in a cedar color, and some evergreen shrubs in front.
[houzz=]

Green trim/shutters to match the roof and white walls

I like yellow with the green roof. Yellow and green are so pretty together.

charcoal or black and I would definitely keep the trim and porch white and add shutters- in white.

I have a green roofed dark brick home. The trim is white right now and I just hate it. What color would you all paint the trim?

Shutters are almost never white on historic houses, and really not that common for Victorian era houses.

Anyway, without seeing pictures, perhaps the starkness of the white isn't doing it for you with the dark brick and green roof. A softer color perhaps more in the yellow-cream family might work, depending on the tonality of the brick, or maybe a grey to taupe or even a light olive/greenish grey.

What kind of windows you have makes a big difference. If you have white vinyl, your options will be limited. Vinyl has a big expansion/contraction ratio and doesn't hold paint well, especially on window sashes. You may not have any window trim that can be easily painted--maybe just some door and fascia trim. Post your own post with decent pictures and that would get you the best response.

My current house has a green shingle roof and it looks quite nice with the beige/pale cream brick. It has some color without being LOOK AT ME! bright, and the beige/cream color doesn't look dingy very quickly. (There's a small section on an addition next door of white siding, and by contrast they have to clean it pretty regularly because we get a lot of wind and it just blows dust and dirt right up against the wall where it then sticks and looks awful, like the house hasn't been cleaned since it was built.)

I'd take a photo but the trim color is horrible (it's a weird pistachio green that doesn't actually go with the roof or anything - it looks like someone was trying to match a green in some of the stained glass over the front door and failed) so it throws the appearance off a bit. (Repainting the trim comes lower on our list than replacing the 60+ year old cast iron boiler that recently was trying to explode, so the awful trim color stays for now. :) )

Anne of Green Gables.

I like the classic green trim and roof with the white siding. We spiced it up with the stripped porch floor, red door and red accent on the front steps. We did this house this fall to put on the market. Been very well received.

I think, if you go with grey, be sure it is a greenish grey, rather than a blue grey, and the green door would be nice.

Painting it could cost as much as a new roof... Which is in better shape, the roof or the paint? Adorable house, by the way. Although I love the style of door someone posted, I don't think it is the right style for this house.

I have the same issue. I would love to paint it a lovely darkish blue with cream trim, but I'm afraid with the roof.

jixinr, great job! what program did you use?

@jixinr HELP! How did you do that I am buying a house with a green roof and have called around over 20 people to help change the color of the house, trim and shutters so I can visualize and no one could help! Is there any way you can help me? Or even tell me how and I can do it?

OP last responded in 2013 - surely it is painted by now!

@decoenthusiaste Yes, I am asking one of the commentators @jixinr how he edited pics to reflect different paint choices.. for a house I am purchasing...

You can usually find such apps online at the major paint company sites. Then just load your photo up and "try on" different colors 'til you find the one you want.

Go to Sherwin williams.com and you can upload a photo of your house and then try different paints on it.

What color is on this cute house

Sherwin William's color consults are awesome

This is m house with the green shingles... it looks gray here but itsreally green..vintage Cambridge