Hello! I am a sometimes-poster.

I googled Cypress Green (very nice color...) and I am inclined to say black or dark grey for the roof. Where do you live? Metal roofs have become very popular where I live in New England (very durable in harsh weather, I guess) and people do things like brick red or blue, but I have always been a fan of very dark grey or black roofs, which is a traditional look around here. When I searched to find out what Cypress Green siding looks like, I found a number of photos of houses with that color siding, dark roofs (asphalt, but the general look is the same as a dark metal) and black shutters. That is probably the combo I would go for if I were in your shoes, because again it is a pretty traditional look. You could go with a brick red door, or maybe black.

I'm sure someone else can do several mock-ups for you to envision the options!

Oh, P.S., that is from another GardenWeb thread, poster sorriso.

Thank you for the responses. We live in the sandhills of North Carolina. I posted a picture of the color Burnished Slate. Burnished Slate is dark and you can see where there is some brown tones in it. I think it may be the winner, feedback? I do like the idea of going black shutters and a brick red door.

If you need the tax credit associated with metal roofs, you have to choose the ones in the lighter colors. The darker colors absorb too much heat, which transfers into your attic, which is why they aren't eligible. The eligible colors are usually starred on the manufacturer's brochure. One of the light greige colors, or even a light grey would look good with the green. The white trim, maybe not. You may want to revisit the white trim and choose a darker color for the trim if you go lighter on the roof.

I love the burnished slate. I had never seen that color and now it's my favorite. You chose well. Please post a pic when it's all done. I love to see results lol.

Just good sense, Hollysprings. Jeep, are you sure you wouldn't be interested in going at least light-er, bounce more of that heat right back into the sky instead of soaking it in? Real comfort and energy bill issues are involved here.

Traditionally, a lot of roofs here in the South were even white, including your area, for obvious reasons. I wanted to throw back to that sensible tradition when we custom built 5 years ago, but, to my amazement, the excitingly in-style colors of black, charcoal and dark brown (!,!, and !) were being put on tract developments everywhere at the time and there wasn't a white shingle to be found in the entire South. The best we could do was a pale gray. We also painted our porch floor a light blue instead of the dark woodland green I would have liked, and because of that I can walk out there barefoot these afternoons instead of hotfooting fast back inside, ouch, ouch, ouch-style.

FWIW, "Burnished Slate" does go nicely with the woods, echoing the tree trunks, especially when they're wet.

Thank you all. I do agree that the lighter colors do reflect more of the heat. There have been some very good advances in reflective properties of the darker colors. Burnished slate is energy star rated at 32% Total Solar Reflectance(TSR). Gray is 35%, White 46%. Not much of a difference. Even black is energy star rated at 25%. Technology is nice. :)

Rosie, you made me laugh about the hot footing!

Our porches and unshaded terraces (in Virginia) were always pale gray for that very reason. I don't remember ever wearing shoes at all in the summer except to go to Sunday school or downtown.

A lovely couple from Vermont moved into our neighborhood a few years ago, and wanted to add a terrace on the south-facing side of their house. When she came over to show me her sample of lovely deep blue slate for the surface, I put it out on our open back terrace, made us a glass of iced tea, showed her something we'd done recently inside, and then made her go out and step on it in her bare feet. That was the end of the slate idea!

One thing to note with the metal roofs, the color does fade. When I first moved to NM, I fell head over heels for some of the metal roofs I was seeing. Fortunately, I did not build my house right away because it became apparent that the colors were fading, quite markedly. My guess is that the fade will not be quite as quick in NC as it is in NM but it is something to be aware of. We went with gavalume for this reason, still getting the benefits of the metal roof but not worried about the fade in color.

Bronwynsmom, what a good, and gracious, neighbor you are. :)

Jeep, I love what technology does and can do for us. Never been wise enough to fear at least a little, it's always, ooh! what's next? Helping people in hot climates reduce the energy footprint of roofing is a good thing, even if it just ends up encouraging even darker roofs. That said, those numbers didn't ping. Apples with apples? Union Corrugating's TSR ratings for their product are 32% for Burnished Slate, 55% for unpainted metal, and 65% for their white. Maybe theirs is a different product, but the rating makes more sense.

Whatever, I wish choosing a metal roof color was my problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: Energy Star color ratings

I would recommend a lighter gray color to go with that green siding you like. A lighter gray or silver color would make your house look happier, and it's a bit more energy efficient than a darker color. I am attaching an image of a standing seam metal roof, with a lighter gray color. I am also going to include a reference to a helpful article on how to choose the right color for your home:

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.metalroof.info/how-to-choose-a-right-metal-roofing-color/

I vote burnished slate. It is beautiful!

I was going to suggest brown, so I think the burnished slate is a winner and would look very nice.