alishaes - have you made your decision yet? Sorry for my delayed reply, I just saw your question. I agonized over a roof decision because every roof I viewed look different than the samples I received from Certainteed. We opted for Charcoal, but upgraded to Pro....it was only an extra $700 and the warranty was much better for such short money. I could not be more happy with my choice! Even though Charcoal is the darkest option, it's not TOO black. Also, it doesn't have SO much variation that it looks super busy. I'm not home because we're living at my parents' during the renovations, but if you're still undecided I'll try to get you some pics.

I've visited Victoria twice, it's a beautiful, touristy city. The Empress is a majestic hotel, I did not stay there, it is expensive. As for things to do, you can walk all around the downtown area, it's not that big. The inner harbour is pretty with the Empress a central landmark. Lots of little shops to browse in. I did not get to the Butchart Gardens but from the photos I've seen it is beautiful. One day I will go there. You can drive there or take a bus, it's not that far outside the city. There's the Royal British Columbia Museum which I found a little outdated in it's displays. THere's the undersea gardens, a boat in the harbour (I did not go on that). There are a few parks, one with a lot of totem poles, right next to the museum. There is also Beacon Hill Park, lovely to walk through and close to downtown. Chinatown is nice to walk through. Here are some of my photos. Here is a link that might be useful: Victoria BC

I didn't get an opportunity to look at homes with Colonial Slate. I admit, this was a poor choice on my part. The roofer didn't have any addresses in the vicinity and I emailed Certainteed but never heard from them. The roofer didn't have many install dates available so I had to give him a colour to proceed. Now the Colonial Slate is here I'm wondering about the amount of white/light grey in the shingles but I think you're right that it will look much different when it's on the roof and viewed from the ground at an angle. Plus it's raining today and the white on some of the shingles that are damp have taken on a duller grey colour. My concern with Colonial Slate is mainly around the pattern being an overtly dark/light ("mosaic") pattern appearing on the roof. I would prefer a more consistent darker look but I guess I'll find out once it gets installed in a couple of days...too late to go looking at homes now and arguing with the roofer to change the shingles he's already delivered! The other frustrating piece is that when you search for Colonial Slate online, you find very different pictures from homeowners claiming they have Colonial slate (some look like exactly what I'm looking for including the Certainteed website and roof visual tool they have, other homeowners are showing a dark/light mosaic look). Thanks everyone, I'll plan to post pictures once the shingles are up on the roof...here's hoping Colonial Slate doesn't disappoint!

i am painting the brick. And the trim. I wanted brown stained trim or painted but now I do not know what color to paint the brick. I had picked out Sher-Williams paint color shoji. Will that still work with the green tint roof? Brown trim? Thanks