gosh, so many GW members are getting new roofs! Awesome. :)

I like the color you have currently - anything close in the new shingles?

I was thinking the same thing.

When I had my roof replaced, the roofer brought by a roof sample book of the brand we were going with. Might that be a possibility? I'd be sure it especially went well with the brick, since you probably wouldn't ever want to paint that (imho).

Sue

I also like the current roof and would try to find something similar.

Our roofer gave us the addresses of homes in our area with some of the shingles we were interested in. We drove around to get a feel for what the roof looked like on a house. Sometimes it is hard to tell from the sample board.

Thanks all. I did receive some samples and the two roofers contacted also suggested giving addresses of homes with the actual shingle colors of interest. I agree probably couldn't go wrong with something close to what we have now.

I'm partial to shakes myself and would just redo it. Any reason not to do so?

This is late but, when I found out that we would be getting a new roof I looked, and looked and looked at shingles. Then the roofers brought sample books when they came to give estimates. None were any of the samples I'd been pouring over online.

Finally chose a roofer and both the roofer and I were going back and forth over options and profiles (we are also getting siding on the dormers). Suddenly I turned to my husband and said "What are your thoughts?'. He picked out a roof color, siding and siding profile in about 1 minute. His selections are perfect - better than any combo I was considering! I guess the moral of my story is that sometimes we obsess too much and should ask a non-decorating interested friend.

I do like the look of the shake shingles but I believe they are much more expensive. However, now that I ave received my first bid for architectural I am going to get a bid for shake for comparison. If the price is comparable I will go with shake. My guess, though, is that it will be 2x the cost.

My roofer nailed samples of my four top choices to my roof so I could see how they looked in real life. The time of day affects the look, to further make you crazy. I also drove around and looked at jobs they had done.

The Certainteed site is very helpful. You can try different shingles on different styles and colors of houses. If you are really motivated, you can upload a picture of your own house and try shingles on them.

Here is a sample picture I saved of a house that is similar to mine with Colonial Slate shingles. Go play with that site!

While your current shakes are really pretty, I'd definitely replace with an architectural style that was NOT shakes simply because shakes are considered a fire hazard for homes. You should see your homeowners insurance go down significantly once you re-roof to a non-combustible material. I also like the current color or darker charcoal.