The decorating forum may be your best bet for colour help.

I like red.

Thanks, I just cross-posted in decorating. I kind of like the Canyon Red but am not sure; my husband thinks anything out of the white/black/gray/brown colors is too much (but could be convinced otherwise). The builder suggested Linen or Midnight Bronze. The architect suggests something in the grays or browns depending on the roofing choice.

I took samples to the site but I'm just really horrible at color-picking.

i like woodland green windows with the champagne metallic roof

OR chesapeake blue or moss with the silver metallic roof

what are those big telephone pole things sticking up on the sketch??

Thanks bmh4796!
The "poles" mark the location of significant trees.

Houzz is a good source for ideas. Use their search feature. Good luck!

Are you building in a hot or relatively cool climate. Down south I'd recommend the lightest (most reflective) roof color.

As for windows, I too used to think that staying neutral was best but then DH talked me into going with a red aluminum cladding for our windows and doors and I absolutely LOVE them. Even after living in our new house for three years, every time I drive up, I'm struck all over again by just how wonderful the red windows look. They just make the whole house sparkle and I'm happy all over again that we chose them!

No doubt the neutral color that I would have chosen had it been left totally up to me would have been "fine" - but I doubt I'd STILL be noticing them and still be smiling over them three years later! Kind of like the difference between a "perfectly fine wedding dress" and "THE PERFECT DRESS"... the one that takes your breath away as soon as you glimpse yourself in the mirror wearing it (or your daughter coming out of the dressing room wearing it if she's the bride you're shopping for) and you know that THIS is IT. No need to look at another dress. LOL!

So what can I say, I personally would recommend the cranberry color regardless of which color roof you go with.

Here are a couple of images from houzz.com of red windows and white siding with silver metal roof that might make your spouse change his mind about sticking with neutrals.

[Traditional Exterior[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2107) by Charleston Architects & Designers Frederick + Frederick Architects

[Traditional Exterior[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2107) by Charleston Architects & Designers Frederick + Frederick Architects

Hi virgilcarter,

I did spend quite a bit of time on Houzz -- almost all of the white houses with metal roofs have windows in some shade of white, a few in some shade of black, and just a couple with wood windows. Maybe that should tell me something.

The color inspirations I came up with were these:

[Traditional Exterior[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2107) by Greenville Interior Designers & Decorators Linda McDougald Design : Postcard from Paris Home

[Traditional Exterior[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2107) by Atlanta General Contractors T-Olive Properties

[Traditional Exterior[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2107) by Clarendon Hills Architects & Designers Culligan Abraham Architecture

Do you think I could get there in the standard palette for windows? I just heard back as to the upcharge for the architectural colors and it is more than we want to pay.

bevangel, I love those pictures! I think those windows are real mahogany though -- do you think the Cranberry would come close?

We are in a very temperate climate (northern California), many houses do not have A/C, and we have plenty of shade on our property.

Oaktown, the standard colors will work to achieve what you show in the photos above.

I'm surprised in all of the photos that the window and door trim is painted to match the siding paint color, ie, white.

That only leaves the windows to introduce a bit of color into an otherwise light white exterior. If it were mine, I'd probably look at complementary colors for windows and trim.

Good luck on your project.

virgilcarter, lol I am hoping the windows will be able to provide plenty of color -- the structural engineer said we have too much window and not enough wall! (We will use some prefab shear panels.) That is one big difference between our house and the ones in the pictures, so thank you for pointing that out!

I got the info for the actual vendor's website to show the Pre-weathered Galvalume roof color -- but the colors look darker on the real-life samples (the silver and champagne look like the ones posted above):

{{gwi:1493394}}

I don't know if the windows in the inspiration pics I posted are real mahogany or not. We have "mesa red" aluminum clad windows from Jeldwen and, to me, they look very similar in color to those windows. I really don't know how close Jeld Wen's mesa red is to Loewen's cranberry but you can probably get a sample chip of the Jeldwen mesa red to compare the two pretty easily.

We did not use white siding and our house styles are very different so I didn't think you would necessarily want to see mine. But just in case it might help, here is a pic I've posted on GW before way back when we were still building so you can see what the Jeldwen "mesa red" looks like when installed. (I'd take a new shot but my camera is currently on loan to a friend.)

Hi bevangel, your colors work so well together I see why you are in love!

I went and looked up the windows in the photos you posted, they are cedar in a mahogany stain. The Kodiak color above is reddish on the actual chip (I guess they now call it "Chestnut Brown"), that might be neutral enough for Mr. Oaktown but red enough in the sun :-) We'll see!

Mr. Oaktown likes Linen, Graphite and Stone Grey. I am thinking Stone Grey is too close to the roof color?

Have you considered unpainted galvalume? If you've been working from printed or online brochures I would get color chips on real metal before making such big decisions and take them outside on your site next to a sample of your siding. I like the graphite which looks like a blue on my screen. Impressive material selections.

i think champagne with woodland will give you the same look as your inspiration pics. the cullingan abraham house is one of my houzz faves! i decided on blue gray windows four our house to "copy" the Abraham house.

i do think the red windows look good. i like them in the pics posted, but if you are going for a more coastal or washed look, like the pics you posted, then go with a gray green or gray blue window and the champagne. i don't like the galvalume as much as the champagne. after seeing them all together, the silver looks too light and galvalume too dark.

dadereni,

We can get (clear) Acrylic-coated Galvalume but Mr. Oaktown thought it looked like a chicken coop roof :-( Maybe we can look at that again. The nice thing about the metallic colors is that they are not so flat as the regular painted finishes. The "real" pre-weathered Galvalume is very nice but has a shorter warranty. If budget were no object we would get zinc!

Yes, the graphite has a bluish cast. That is the only one of the standard colors that our architect likes. The unanimous first choice in the architect's office is Chesapeake Blue (with the Pre-weathered Galvalume), but I won't be able to pick up that color sample until Monday.

I have actual samples of all the standard roof and window colors and have taken them to the site but I really am tone deaf when it comes to color. We have not yet picked a white for the siding since we had planned on painting the Hardie. Maybe we should explore whether there are cost savings with a pre-painted siding.

Thank you all so much for the comments! It has given me a lot to think about. I got updated elevations, we have LOTS of windows so the window color actually will be a fairly prominent feature on the house.

{{gwi:1493396}}

Oaktown, your home is going to be beautiful! Have you posted your floor plan before? I dont recall seing it. And I vote for red windows too!

Thanks mrsfireman! Haven't posted the floorplan -- not making any changes now and it would be considered odd anyway since we are a multigenerational household. Also I think my husband would not like it.