I would do a darker gray roof and with that house I would be doing MCM landcaping to show off the house .Right now it is hard to even see where your main entry is . I use this pic for inspiration often for MCM landscaping maybe look in to that even look at the siding color , entry door etc

Here is agreat look for your house exterior

I would do a darker gray roof and with that house I would be doing MCM landcaping to show off the house .Right now it is hard to even see where your main entry is . I use this pic for inspiration often for MCM landscaping maybe look in to that even look at the siding color , entry door etc

This is a Ralph Fournier house for exterior inspiration too

Your landscaping is very nice, I don’t agree with Patricia at all. It fits your house so much better than the severe modern look in her example. And your entry is very obvious.

(Not that you asked.)

If you can find a program, or someone to do it, mock-ups would be very helpful in this case. And if you haven’t already, do some searches on each of your choices to see if there are pictures of houses with them.

Wonderful house, hope you update us.

I also think your house and landscaping look nice. As for the shingle colors, grays are my own preference. However, something leaning brown/warmer seems good if you plan to stay with the current paint colors.

I think it is a toss up between weathered wood and driftwood. The weathered wood has gray tones while the driftwood has green tones in it. Both have the same brown tones. The reasons why I like them both is that they look more like real wood in their color variation AND they both look great with your current creamy siding color. If you ever want to go more gray or green with your siding or trim, they will still work. Probably I would choose the weathered wood color because the driftwood, on your home, might bring out the greenish tones that you say you sometimes see in your siding. Note: a neighbor of ours with a white painted ranch home just had a new roof installed. She was talked into a blue roof (!!!). When it was installed, everyone asked if she had painted her house blue! With a gray roof it had appeared white, but with the blue roof, you can see the cool tones in the white paint. It now looks pale blue!)

Thank you all so much. I was really stuck between weathered wood and driftwood . . .keep going back and forth. PTRECKEL - your point about driftwood having greenish tones is very helpful and makes me favor weathered wood. Patricia - thanks for the photos. Especially love the 2nd one. You can't see my front door (on the side) or back door - both are painted orange. (Actually I decided this orange is not orange - red enough so nagging my BF to paint them!)

In one sense I'm stuck with brown since my windows are a faded grey-brown. :)

ALSO re landscaping. I'm posting a couple pictures from a few years ago. The yard is a bit unkempt now b/c my landscaper Mark just had his hip replaced and has cut back his work. He takes such good care of me and is so personally invested in my yard that it would break his heart if I got someone else to prune things. Hopefully I can get him to come out this fall. I love what he's done. (And he is amazing. He knows I'm on a budget so often he'll dig up someone else no longer wants, and plant it in my yard. OR he gets the Japanese maple trees at the end of season and sells them to me at a bargain price. My back yard just looks AMAZING (and at one time it was mostly overgrown with honeysuckle). So one picture of my front yard, and the view of PART of my backyard from my dining room window.

I love this house. Feel so lucky to be here. The neighborhood is Ridgewood / all Ralph Fornier houses. And my neighbors are the best (everyone looks out for everyone). The house is small (1170 ft) and only one bath (3 small bedrooms). But it's perfect for me (and my puppy). My boyfriend and I talk about him moving in but he insists we'd have to add a 2nd bathroom. :) That's a big undertaking! (We are talking about adding on a screened porch at the back of the carport.)

Again - I really appreciate your input so much. I am not great with colors (especially seeing undertones) so I love advice from those who CAN see them.

Front yard in August 2020 (you'll notice I've gotten a new driveway since then)

View from my dining room window

Donna, you sound like someone anyone would want as a neighbor. I love the pic of the dining room window view. Lovely tree and colors.

I would be very tempted to put a metal roof on that house. If you think you guys might live to see another roof job, it could be worth it.

the metal roof would look killer. I agree w/deco.

Here's driftwood.

And Max. Def-weathered wood )same brand, diff line)

any way you can get some samples and bring them out to the house? Weathered wood seems a bit more reddish, driftwood has some slate gray tones to it

will you ever be changing out the windows? will you always be sticking w/brown tones? If so, how about a warm gray color? warm charcoal?

Geaorgetown gray?

I thought about a metal roof but I'm 64 so this is likely my last roof. and I'm guessing metal will be much pricier?

Beth these are all the colors I'm considering. I have the large sample board of weathered wood. I thought that was the color until I looked more closely at driftwood. I've looked at lots of photos online and honestly either would probably work fine but I do like driftwood better in pictures.

THEN I saw Georgetown Gray. (I tried all the colors are the visualizer that is on the Certainteed website.) In that visualizer, the Georgetown Gray looks fabulous. . .but that's not real life.

If weathered wood has red in it ... ugh. Definitely don't want anything red. (My current - very old - roof is brown but looks reddish to me and it doesn't go at all.)

I don't have large sample boards of driftwood or Georgetown Gray. . . yet. I emailed my roofer yesterday to ask if he could get me the large sample boards. I've also asked him if he has put any of these colors on roofs in the area that I could look at them. Waiting for his reply.

I don't see myself changing my windows anytime soon.

Love all of this advice. . thanks!

Donna

I wouldn’t want metal in this situation. They’re very popular in my area (Tx, my dad currently has one), but I don’t think it’s the right look for your house.

Are you working with one person? If the company has an office with other people in it, I’d ask if you could stop by and look at real life-sized samples and get the advice of the people who work in the office. Bring all your paint samples and photos.

My sales guy did not bring real samples to the property. He picked one that he thought would look best (before the house was painted) and I wasn’t that picky. But I wanted to stop by the office and see all the color choices in person with my paint samples, and ask about alternative product lines. The woman in the office had a lot of experience and she offered me her opinion as she showed me the samples. I changed to the color she liked best for my project. I asked her a lot of questions. I’m really happy with the color she picked.

Having said that, I found reviews of the product and color I picked on one of the big box store web sites. One reviewer said the color looked like pond scum! I laughed, because pond scum is actually a great color for my house in the woods that will get coated with pollen in the Spring. I don’t think it looks like pond scum. Everything looks different to different people in different environments.

Look at reviews online of specific colors, look at pros and cons of metal vs asphalt shingles, and visit the sales office if you can and talk to the people there. The project managers/sales guys/roofers may not be as design-oriented as you are or even as an office manager would be. They are there to close the deal and get the project started. The subtle differences between roof colors and how they manifest in a full-scale roof are not always what they spend a lot of time thinking about.

Also be sure to do a rendering simulation if you can online. The manufacturer web site would probably have one. A small rendering is not going to be big enough to see the entire effect. Also, the roof, like paint, changes color and perceived texture at different times of the day in different lighting.

Donna, I just reread your last post, and that is exactly what I went through. The roofing office manager worked through all those color issues with me. Good luck!

On second look, I would take your paint color outside with a real full-sized sample board, where you can see the individual pebbles(?) that make up the roof shingle.

Online, I see a lot of brown in your paint color, which makes me feel like weathered wood would be a better choice. But you never know until you see it IRL. And you could contrast - that would be ok if you like it.

I have driftwood in an Owens-Corning line. It looks similar to the driftwood pics posted here. My shingles actually have blue pebbles in them, along with several other colors including dark brown. I am painting my house green and dark brown. That is why the consultant picked that color. That is also the color that a reviewer said looked like pond scum on her house (the owens-corning line). It was also featured on the cover of their brochure.

I think driftwood could be risky on your house, but it’s definitely worth a look. It might conflict with your paint color.

Just did a quick picstitch with the comparison photo someone else posted and the BM body color. This is low quality and you can’t really tell anything online, but maybe it will help a little:

You can do your own comparisons with picstitch which might narrow down your choices a bit.

This was an attempt, but I don’t think the roof samples are correct. I got them from this link.

Driftwood on the left. Weatherwood on the right. The driftwood doesn’t look the same as the other samples I’ve seen online.

I couldn’t find mission brown.

Kelli!! Such great advice, thank you. Just got off the phone with my BF and think we're going to go to the showroom of the company that sells the shingles. And I will take the paint chip samples with me (I would not have thought of this.)

The more I look at pictures the more I really like the Weathered Wood. But I will see in person.

Thank you!!!!!

Donna

Donna, though you might be interested in seeing some other Fournier homes (are you in St Louis by chance?)

These first two are his.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/arts/2014-02-12/reflection-maryville-exhibit-showcases-mid-century-modern-pioneers

These others are very similar design, materials and colors to yours. tried to get few w/carports

I really like this one w/the dark siding. they even have the brown roof!

roofline like yours

rendition. love the yard design and the carport.

Thanks! Im in St Louis - a few of these you posted are in my neighborhood. thanks for sharing !!!

how cool! have you guys done the inside?

Great house, and lucky you! Awaiting pics of the pup.

Just talked to the roofer ... gonna go with weathered wood. I'm done stressing about it. And here is Pete, my dog. He is a 13 week old mini goldendoodle. He is handsome, stubborn, and smart as a whip.

And CUTE as can be!!!

Beth - Re: the inside? I’ve done some updates to the inside but just did what I wanted vs necessarily staying true to MCM. Updated my kitchen several years ago and my bath last year. will see of i can find pics.

Bathroom before and after

A great neutral! Good choice. Love your house. And I really enjoyed reading about Ralph Fournier homes. Ended up researching them for fun! Lucky, lucky you!

ptreckel I had no idea of the history behind these houses when I moved here. A friend lived nearby and her friend was selling this house. I just wanted a house near work to get rid of an hour commute each way. (This house is 2 miles from my office at the college.) Then I learned about the houses and fell in love with them. Thanks for all your advice throughout. It was so helpful.

roof came out great!

Really really nice!!!

Thank you for updating us, looks fantastic!

Good choice!