If you want something neutral I'd stay with what you have. the taupey beige is very nice. If you want a change how about a soft gray?

Have you thought about white or light beige and doing something different with the trim, like gray surrounding the eaves and windows?

I dream of owning a beach cottage with weathered grey shingles so I can't suggest anything different. Pretty house.

My beach hosue is BM Brewster Gray - Blendsin nicely with the other homes on the street that are not painted but are weathered gray shingles. Darker though.
Good Luck!

Is the roof a reddish tone as it appears on my monitor?

moneypitz, I got your email. Started working on some things yesterday and my PC just about bit the dust. :/ Think I have it fixed. I will try to upload pix for you now, hopefully I'll hit no more glitches.

Boy, what a nightmare weekend with this computer!
This was a struggle. Not thrilled with results, but will post anyway.

A lot went south, beginning with a floopy day. You know, when you want to go to the right but everything veers left? ;)

Roof: I had to enhance brightness/contrast of original. (Bright daytime shots with back to camera are golden for doing virtuals.) Unfortunately, editing might have thrown the roof off? Hard for me to tell. Same as my3 dogs, in original pic roof appears to have reddish tones on my monitor. Since you said it's brown, to be safe I tried to lean in that direction with colors. Also, editing still left light neutrals neon, so I dropped them down a shade or two.

Trim: Occasionally had a hard time determining exactly what was going on. There are a lot of vertical lines in some sections, and I couldn't tell if it was background window or door trim, or foreground pillar blending into background. So I winged it. ;) Sometimes too much trim color seemed to chop the house up, so I tried adding more body color to corner boards and vertical boards under scalloped peaks. Hopefully it's enough to give you ideas.

If peaks render as contrasting body by a shade or two in some, it's not intentional. Another veer left situation with software.

Love the ocean and all it's colors, couldn't resist a bit of whimsy on door colors sometimes, but you might not care for it.

Color names are for reference only. With all the PC troubles best I could do for landscaping was grass. I wanted to put some big hydrangeas on wall to right of AC unit.

A handful below, more at your album here.

Here is an example of emphasis placed on 'lines' using white on trim on many areas.
Horseshoe body, Bone China trim

Same colors, only vertical corner trim and horizontal trim boards under scalloped peak are same color as body.

Picnic Basket body, Sailcloth peaks, fascia

Marine Reef body, Sailcloth peaks, trim

Smooth Pebble, Clean White peaks, trim

Smooth Pebble body + peaks, Clean White trim

Cardamon Body, Bone China trim

Know you said no blue. Hope this renders OK, it's a dusky periwinkle. Or a Lavender blue w/gray undertones. And that bit of whimsy in doors.
Freesia body, Clean White peaks/trim, Key Lime doors

Here is a link that might be useful: moneypitzela's album

Moonshadow !! I swear it feels like Christmas. I'm thrilled to look through the visuals of color options; I was completely stuck with color direction. Sending along a virtual hug and many thanks!! Lots of good choices here that I will contemplate and likely make myself even more crazy over.

PS: Roof is a sand-brown...i think the red is picking up from the sunset that was in progress when pic was taken. PS: You're a pro at this. Glad it's still fun for you, though you could make a living doing these virtuals. It's not as easy as it looks, having wasted countless hours trying on my own to do it on the Benjamin Moore website. xox

Marina Gray is nice for a beach home. I am slightly addicted to the Lettered Cottage blog. She just did a blog post a few days back all on cottages. There may be some odeas there One was a creamy color with white accents that was really pretty!

Here is a link that might be useful: Blog site

Thanks for the virtual hug, moneypitz, those are nice!
Now I'm kind of bummed the roof is so far off the real color. :/

summie, where have you been hiding? Nice to see you around. ;) I'd love to see the cottage pics as well but can't find them. It's me tho, I always get lost in blogs. *sigh*. (Tho the interior makeover is fascinating, just found another paint color I really like! )

Hi Moonshadow!

Here's a link to the cottage post:

http://www.theletteredcottage.net/2010/04/designer-spotlight-jane-coslick.html

It was such a treat to run around with Miss Jane!

Layla

Here is a link that might be useful: Tybee Island Cottages Rescued by Jane Coslick

Ok. I guess Layla Palmer herself comes here! You have the firect link. I should have thought to do that. So sorry!
I have been in nursing school and just reading blogs and such! Glad to be back!

Thanks for the link, Layla! I hope moneypitzela takes a peek. Some of that use of beach cottage 'whimsy' I was talking about is all right there (lime doors ;). And tho it's just a snippet, there appears to be an exterior done with a white body and a soft robin's egg on shutters/trim, what a soothing, welcoming combination.

Summie, congrats on the nursing school, and with little ones no less! (Tho imagine they are not so little anymore. ;)

Moonshadow,
10 and 6! (almost 11) Not so little! I am still in the throws of it too! Which is where I am off too! I am a little bored and tired of my decor and have missed decorating so here I am again! I missed everyone!

I'm sorely neglecting my family reading these posts and going deeper and deeper into the amazing world of internet blogs! Layla Palmer I LOVE you!! What a fabulous blog!! So now I'm even more flustered as I need to choose a color for my front (concrete) porch as well. Should it match the house? What to do?? I'm reposting a few pictures that give a better sense of the roof color, etc. After reading Jane's blog, i see how a few simple fixes would make such an enormous difference for curb appeal. Don't have the heart to cut down the disney-esque blob cuz it always has birds' nests in it, but it will go this summer). Still torn as to which overall color direction to go, and now w/ another decision, I'm lost. I am forever grateful to Gardenweb folks for help. {{gwi:23937}}

Holy colors gone wonky! Between sunset shadows + my editing, it was not even close on that roof (or siding color for that matter.)

This warrants a do-over. ;)
I will chip away at it during breaks.

Oh yes moonshadow a darker taupey driftwood with ivory trim! Oye! Love it!!! I love the roof!

Maybe waynesboro taupe on the grey side or hillsbourough beige? More on the I think it's called?

I am Layla Palmer's stalker! LOL! I have sent her blog to like 20 people! I should get a shirt that says TEAM LAYLA! Like yesterday!

Look at the view thru the front window!!!
Fabulous house...keep us posted~

How about a gray green color, what a great house.

Yes, that is some view, I kept looking through the window and day dreaming! ;)

I felt like I was playing "where's Waldo?" *chuckle*
Zoomed way in so only saw details up close. Started working left to right. Clicking along outlining, kind of in my own little zone. Click, move slider right, click, slide. Come upon a very cute pup, momentarily think about sticking a big bone in his mouth. Click around him, slide right again and "BOO!!", out of nowhere up pops a lady's face smiling back at me. Almost jumped out of my chair! Lovely as she is with that happy smile, I didn't see her sneak up. Had done about half of them before I realized there was another person sitting next to her. Sheesh.

OK, I added a bunch more to your album here. I tagged them all with color names for reference and photobucket refuses to Save names. :/

Summie, wanted to do some for you & have yet to find the pics you refer to. (I really do get lost in blogs. *rolleyes* )

Some are neutral/traditional, some are beach color whimsical. Some might be over the top, I dunno, I just kept playing with color. ;) Sometimes peak area contrasts, sometimes not. Hopefully it will give you some ideas. Due to heavy shadow around door area, I ran into a brightness/contrast issue, so door might look a bit day glo in some. A sampling below, the rest are at the album.

A mid gray/blue body, lighter gray peak, white trim, lime door (with aforementioned day glo issue)

Medium khaki body, light khaki peak, cream trim, bird's egg door:

Freesia body, Oyster Peak, White trim, Kiwi Door

Raisin, Celadon Windows + White trim (I clicked on Raisin by accident and really liked how a rich, regal purple looked. ;)

Soapstone body, Wick trim/peak, marigold door

Willow body, a shade deeper on the peak, a cream trim, Morning Mist blue door

A deep cream/oyster, lighter cream trim, palest periwinkle door

A little different twist. Eliminated contrast on the peak altogether. Soapstone body, wick trim

Here is a link that might be useful: moneypitzela's album

Wow! Just Wow! This definitely is what's meant when one says that they "get the picture". i LOVE the novelty of the raisin and celadon but fear my husband would shoot me. The creamy clean lighter colors look great, with a fun door color. Miss Jane and Layla would know just what to do. Thanks again for being so quick and clever with the colors, Moonshadow. I'll post further once I contemplate a bit more. Painter is prepping the house now, so my party might be over sooner then I'd like.

Moonshadow, you rock! Ilove all these combinations.
Diane

You're welcome.
And thank you both. ;)
I'd love to know which direction you end up leaning toward.
With painter prepping, guess the pressure is on!

I had to do a double-take when I saw your photo because at first it looked like a house that is at the end of the street near our summer place in RI! You're not in RI, are you, by chance?

We're doing over our house and we just had to pick our siding color (we're doing prefinished cedar shingles). A lot of the houses around us are that pale gray color so I wanted something different, but still coastal looking. We ended up choosing a 'greige' color. We had to work with some stone we're putting on the chimney, so the field wasn't exactly wide open for color options. I literally held up the shingle sample on my neighbor's house to make sure the color was different enough from theirs! I would have loved to do something daring, but I'll save that for the front doors -- thinking a dark teal blue.

Love that raisin color above!

Hi Sueb20; we're around the corner in MA on buzzards bay. Many newer builds around us use the pre-finished shingles,which in the long run are more economical than painting every few years. It boils down to putting up the $$ now to save later. I always take the easiest (and least expensive) road. Painting this house is so costly, and it's literally a money pit w/ one major thing after another...having to put in sewer; french drains for flooding; a leaky roof; and on and on. And yes, neighbors are another tricky issue.. Wouldn't want to "steal" their paint color!

Me too...about a fun door color. Like the idea of teal blue to match the ocean...but would that be stealing an idea from you?? I'm leaning towards lighter colors for the house...maybe something creamy w/ a clean white on the trim. I have been inspired by posts here, and especially by the Lettered Cottage blog -- my new fav. addiction. Thanks for the input. I'd do raisin if i had a different husband.

Ta Da! Finally, after long periods of rain delays, tons of wood rot that needed replacing, painter delays, and delays delays, the cottage is painted! Shiny and clean looking, it feels like summer! Here's a look at my new door color and paint picks for those who wondered what I ended up with. Thanks to all who posted and helped. Your input, mock-ups, and suggestions were invaluable. The drastic improvement isn't that evident in the before/after pictures, but the improvement is dramatic!
AFTER

I sure can tell the difference. The new creamy yellow and the way you did the trim and gables along with that gorgeous blue door is very charming! I love it. Good job! Thanks for coming back and sharing.

Thanks for the update. I always love seeing the "afters".

Laurie

I love the creamy yellow and the blue door. Would you mind sharing details on the colors?

I thought I only liked weathered gray shingles for beach houses but your cottage has changed my mind! It has such a holiday feel now.

moneypitzela...I just wanted to say that your home is just beautiful....so many great colors to choose from.
I also wanted to say "hi" because we summer every year in Onset which is right near Buzzards Bay. We used to live in Plymouth right near the Sagamore Bridge and are hoping to retire there in the next few years!

What a lovely new color!