I'm with those who like the house color. It's mine, in fact. Regarding the garage doors, those are the trouble spot in the typical home. Ideally, the garage would be detached and hidden, your chauffeur would drop you off and then make the car disappear too. These days, instead of hiding garages discretely hidden behind hedges, we have big, klunky utilitarian garage doors trying to grab attention from what should be a compelling and delightful front entry. So, my recommendation is to not try to punch up the garage door in any way. THAT's not where you want people to look. Your painter had the right idea, but still went the wrong way in painting it the typical bright look-at-me white. I'd take the house color itself a shade or two two darker and paint the garage doors that color. It's so nice that you do love the front door color, which is lovely with the gray. I agree with Bronwynsmom, though, that more contrast would fix the washed-out effect you're seeing from the street. Just look to something else to add more. Flowers are ephemeral, so not so great to depend on even in the warm seasons and gone entirely in winter. How about establishing more permanent energy with a pair of large, decorative, winter-hardy pots? They could hold flowers in summer, seasonal decor in winter. Yellows-oranges-reds are across the color wheel from blue, and the complement would really make the door area pop. If that's too colorful for your tastes, you could add contrast in a quieter manner by going dark against the relatively pale colors, black, very deep green, eggplant, or...?

I'm still at it ya'll. My GC just met with a second painting contractor today, so I expect we'll get a quote soon. (Just in time for me to go out of town for a bit too.) I've acquired a truly absurd number of paint samples, and now possess both sherwin williams and ben moore fan decks:) I would have done better to just choose from the limited Hardie colors. (tone is hard to convey on the internet, this is all in good humor, with me more or less mocking myself). The good news is, I know what I want to do! (hurrah!) I found a new inspiration picture, and both DH and I went "aha, that's it." The previous photos are fine, but this is the one we both definitely like the best: there are a bunch more photos of this house here - http://www.houzz.com/projects/1042760/burwood-custom-home-grand-rapids-mi I didn't think I wanted to go dark with our black metal roof, but there it is, the first color scheme we're both happy about. I think there will still be enough contrast. They claim the color above is Ben Moore Kitty Gray 1589. So, here are some samples: Sorry about the mud splash, should probably clean that off. From left to right: 1) SW dovetail 7018 2) SW gauntlet gray 7019 3) BM Kitty Gray 1589 *- the one in the insp photo above 4) BM quarry rock 1568 5) BM knoxville gray HC-160 So, internet house color support group, what say you? Kitty gray does not look as vibrant (dark, saturated?) to me in real life or in the photos as it does in the inspiration picture. It looks more gray, as opposed to having some dark blue/green. However, I think I'm just going to stop thumb sucking and pick this color. quarry rock has more green knoxville gray is fairly saturated in real life. it really might be dark teal. maybe that's good, I dunno. Then I have to decide a trim color, whether to paint a contrasting trim around the windows, and what color to paint the garage doors. Whew! getting closer:)

Thx for all the helpful replies and I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I have been reading about this until quite frankly, I feel way more knowledgeable but still undecided. It seems to me the only reason I would spray the roofline like you all mentioned is because the ducts are up there and potentially my AC unit could be. I believe I understand that if I use OC I need to have a supply and return up there etc. If I use CC then maybe I don't. So I'm not an AC person. I get that ducts leak. I'm guessing that this doesn't matter whether you use the rigid ducts like my current house has or the flex ducts. Is the only goal here to keep the temp difference nominal so the unit doesn't run as often? Because if there is some duct leakage, that is just wasted right as it escapes out the ridge vent? Air in the attic doesn't get recycled back into the house does it? I've been sitting here reading on Greenbuildingadvisor.com and to me the biggest issue is roof leaks and being able to locate them which has happened on every house I have owned due to storms when the roof is sprayed. So I still do not get why not spray foam the attic floor with CC, and do a blower test to make sure its sealed up. Then check and address those lines? Also since I'm not an ac person, I would much rather the AC unit not be in the attic. But I'm not sure if I located in the garage storage location, if lines could be ran the 55' to the opposite side of the house. I "think" if they put in the attic, at least looking at some other houses that were done, they would put it central like over the LR and then run the lines out bot ways with two returns. One from each side of the house. I have seen a couple houses like this and then the attic floor was sprayed with CC. The walls had OC in them.

I’m not telling.....just kidding :) They’re bronze. When I was choosing my exterior lights I decided to sample one of each color. When i opened the boxes at home I thought they were mislabeled because they looked pretty much identical. I brought them back to the lighting store because I thought they made an error and gave me two of the same color....they were that close. Either one will look perfectly fine. I think on my home the bronze still looks black but just a little softer and less intense. Very pretty house btw.