Thanks for the kind words. My heart is typically drawn to one allover exterior, but am now fearing a brick entry would be overkill. Curious as to what a shingle/siding entry might look like as we are doing shingle siding on the dormers. I tried to repost with a different title but it may have gotten deleted. I have always love the cottage cedar shake look but was fearful of using in oklahoma. No one does it here unless you are in a historical district(like soonermagic) I wasn't crazy about doing a brick home with rock entry which everyone does here. I just couldn't fit the rock in with what I had in my mind. I guess I am still trying to find a cottage/beach house/hampton vibe in there somewhere....

I have been researching products to help my roof/attic in Phoenix. I have started to deploy Radiant barriers, but have thought that the best spot is on the exterior of the home. The price for metal shingles (Decra) seems to be in the $400 to $600 a square. A bit expensive. The GAF/ELK shingle could be a miracle product. If they were really created in conjunction with 3M, then there is a liklihood these shingles have the ceramic (borosilicate spheres) in them. This is what is used in Ceramic based radiant barrier paints. The insulate to the max thought simply is not correct in the high heats of the desert. See the story at the link. Emissivity and Radiant barriers are explained. As is adequate Attic Venting. Something else that is usually not done correctly. Regarding the reduction of attic heat, one of the local GAF reps had sited GAF data that showed an attic would only be 22 degrees above ambient if ...you used their ridge vents and proper soffit vents, to the tuneof 1/150 of the attic square footage. Split as half input and half output. Consider this: you could have R30 or more in an attic with improper venting or even improper radiant barriers installation. The attic super heats to 50 to 100 degrees above ambient. Guess what. You now have attic insulation that is at 175 degrees. WHen the sun goes down, that is the new heat source....dumping its heat into your home. CHeck it out with a heat gun. Or simply monitor your ac late in the afternoon and after sundown. Instead of slowing down, it is running more! The GAF cool roof are twice as much as regular because of the mark up for this reflective/emissive properties. However, realize these are 40 year shingles. Not the whimpy versions at the local home stores. So between solar performance and longevity, it is a lot more than $40 per bundle fiberglass. Yet still a lot cheaper than metal. Yes, metal roofs, with a batten, will indeed chimney very well. Go to the OakRidge National Laboratory site to see about cool roof studies and results. One case compared the results of 12 study homes. Very interesting. When you look at the white papers on the Horizon ENergy site, you can see how well a non traditional home can actually perform using radiant barrier technology and NOT insulating to the limits an attic. I may even be motivated to instrument my attic with thermal sensors Before and After the shingle changeout. In the meantime my roof leaks...and it must be replaced. Here is a link that might be useful: Horizon Energy

How about "I'll chase dust bunnies as soon as they are done growing!" or "I'll chase dust bunnies but I have to watch them grow first" or something like that. It's not quite there, but that's what popped into my head when you said your dog is just laying on the carpet. Sounds to me like a lazy-dog type of layout. How cute! Now that I think of it, the pics of my dog are of her just laying around, too! :) Let us know what you decide. Should be fun. My dog's name is Daisy and maybe I could do something along the "not pushing up Daisies, just letting her sleep" lines. LOL

Wow thanks everyone! This is my first post on this site and it's so helpful. A few responses: @girl_wonder so annoying - both my roofer and the local suppliers say they cannot give out ANY addresses for privacy reasons. So, I have been walking around and literally knocking on doors but have yet to see the weathered wood on a roof (that I can confirm). That said, it;s the one I am leaning toward and it's super helpful that a few people here can vouch for it looking good. @jck910 I don't think I can get that GAF colour (I'm in Canada in the pacific northwest). I like the light roof you chose... but am afraid it will be too light for me, especially with the pink. I tried a light colour on one of the apps and it looked odd. @Emily Richardson I agree a medium brown could work, but I can't find one that's not patchy and @beverlyfladeziner those are gorgeous! Are they real wood? I don't think I can afford to do that and keep reading it's not advisable... Thanks also @houssaon I love my little house and want it to have a roof that it deserves