katgarr - congrats on your build! We, too, had to choose our selections upfront...the roof was a challenge for us too! We used an Arkansas field stone sample to select our roof color...and then, when the actual stones arrived, we had to re-think our roof choice...the sample board was much different than what came out of the quarry! Here is a photo of our roof with our stone, chicago brick and sienna driveway...we used Certaineed Weathered Wood - we looked at the Owens driftwood too.....they are similar. I know you are looking for a warm gray roof, but I thought a photo of our home with Driftwood would help!

I've done some virtuals. When we were looking at siding 5 yrs ago my contractor gave me a CD from Certainteed. (He told me contractors get them free from manufacturers to help clients with choices.) It allowed me to import photos of my own home and apply Certainteed products such as roofing, siding, windows, etc. I was going to suggest your talk to your GAF roofing contractor and snag some software, but when I checked GAFs site, lo and behold you can download it for free and import your own photos. (You can also pay them to do the 'virtuals', which costs a bundle. Software isn't that hard.) See "Virtual Home Remodeler" in menu on left side of their page if you want to try it. I downloaded to try it since we'll be shopping for a new roof this spring, too. For our home, once I had siding styles and colors narrowed down to a handful via software and large real life samples (a must to obtain), I asked the contractor for job sites I could drive by that contained those siding styles, as lkplatow mentions. That was a tremendous help, I ruled out my favorite immediately because it rendered way too green in real life. I didn't hesitate to knock on doors, tell owner what I was doing, and ask questions. (I mentioned contractor's name right up front and that I was shopping, so they wouldn't think I was just someone who had randomly stopped by.) No one was rude. They were flattered and more than willing to share their experience. Now the Virtuals: Certaineed software sometimes gets glitchy, suspect it's made more for Win98 than WinXP. Did the best I could with it. I created a Primary album for you here. If you look over on the left you'll see I created two sub albums, Certainteed and GAF. I PURPOSELY included bad colors and ho-hum styles in the album just to show you how a roof can completely alter the look of a house, as SQH was getting at above. Your home is lovely and your roof has character, and no doubt it's going to cost a bundle, so a well thought out choice is good ;D The GAF software is a bit more complex, but it didn't take long to get the hang of it if you want to try it. The problem I ran into is you have to put in height and width of each section ("region") of roofing, and since I didn't have those dimensions I guessed. Large areas came out just OK, small ones are not remotely scaled to size because of incorrect dimensions. I might fiddle with that some more, to see if I can tweak it. Just like virtual paint, it's best to use it as a tool out what does NOT work (too dark, too bland, etc.) Here are a couple samples: Your Camelot Sheffield Camelot Williamsburg Slate Certainteed Ambassador Shake, "Shenandoah" Certaineed Shangle "Colonial" More at your album, see link below... Here is a link that might be useful: n2bach1 Primary Album. See Sub Albums link on left

jterrilynn, thank you SO much for taking the time to do that!!! You really came up with a beauty of a house using ideas I would have never imagined. That is a totally different house for sure! Even though I'm very much attracted to it, I'm not so sure I would be brave enough to make such a drastic change all at once. As someone else noticed, I'm more partial to the pale yellow or tan family. I'm now beginning to think that the architectural shingles aren't meant for my house and that's why the roofs are looking too busy. Every single new roof in my neighborhood is going that way and I guess I was trying to keep up with the new trend and not look like I was taking the cheap way out by sticking with 3-tab, flatter shingles, but I think that's what I need to do. I recall when I had this roof done last time I had asked for architectural shingles and the contractor said it wouldn't look right. All these years I've been disappointed for listening to him because I thought he was just trying to get away with cheaper material, but maybe he was right. As for the door, I already splurged on it a few years ago. Believe it or not, it cost me approximately $2,500 for the door and installation. It has pretty frosted glass with detailed gold etching which can't be seen in this photo because the wreath is covering it. Thanks everyone, I really appreciate putting all these ideas out there for me and I will have to reconsider my whole plan. Good thing I didn't put that signed contract and deposit check in the mail yet!

“ I would have to rethink the black over the bottom windows . . . “. Why? I guess if you wanted the black to be gone, reshingle the roof-ette on the right to match the regular roof, and paint that black trim piece (is that what it is?) on the left to match the body of the house.