Well, the way I look at it is that it's like paint. The cost of the paint (or shingles) in a a paint (or roof) job is piddly compared to the cost of the labor. So you want to get the best paint (or shingles) you can so that it will last a good long time before you have to outlay for the labor to repaint/reroof. The camelots not only look great, but they're thick and heavy and have a better wind rating and warranty than regular shingles. IMO, they're worth the extra cost (but then again, I'm kinda biased, LOL!) I think you see enough of your roof that it will make a cosmetic difference. Your roof also doesn't seem to be overly huge, so hopefully the cost difference won't be staggering in "real money" terms. One thing you may want to check on is that the camelots are very very heavy - much heavier than regular architectural shingles. This means they'll last longer, but you want to make sure your roof can support it. Most modern roofs are fine, but yours looks like an older house - you may want to ask your roofer to be sure. When we reroofed, we went from shake (which are very light) to an entire layer of 3/4" plywood plus the camelots. Our roof is fine so far, but we do hear a lot more "cracking/settling" type noises than we ever did before - guess the house is adjusting to the extra weight.

J6 - You are awesome! And just helped us make our decision. We got larger samples of the Moire Black and Pewter and hated them both. Unfortunately, the driftwood samples were unavailable. But we LOVE this look. We wanted to go with the Pro shingles, but I think we will just go regular because it looks more uniform. Your house looks GORGEOUS by the way!

Is that a piece of the siding with the roof samples? While I like the gray roof better (black is so severe), I don't know how that would look to have the roof the same color as the house. So I suppose I vote for the black.

I would remove the shutters, beef up the window trim, bust out those two brick columns and paint the board and batten siding traditional white. Use the German Smear technique on the brick to continue the farm cottage feeling. Replace the garage door with a more countrified white one that has black wrought iron trim (you can get faux trim cheaper.) Then put the focus on the front door with a full glass storm and interior door, all painted black. Add larger country lantern lights, and replace the stumpy mushroom shrubbery with lots of flowers and airy greenery for a less formal feeling. I don't think the roof color will matter as much if you pull the focus down to the curb appeal and entry. Save up to do a standing seam metal roof later, or pray for storm damage/hail to take that one out, once you're well insured!