As a home exterior blogger, I’ve been asked more than once, “What if I already replaced my roof and then I want to change something else on my house?” People seem to think roofs can only be matched to your house color, and it can’t work in reverse. As I pointed out in a recent article on matching your roof and siding, the roof color can indeed be your starting point! To be sure, when you pick a standout architectural shingle, it’s important that it visually coordinates with the rest of your home.
I thought my roof was going to be the finishing point of my curb appeal design, but that ended up not being the case. My husband and I bought our York County home in 2009—a traditional-style house with brick front and almond-colored vinyl siding on the other three faces. It was built in 1994 and needed major updates inside, not to mention the rather bland and sad outside. But it had good bones, and we were excited to make it our own.
Here’s how the front looked when it was listed for sale:
We first decided to add a wood balustrade over the front door, to make the entryway a stronger focal point by connecting the Palladian window with the porch:
The next year, we added shutters for even more character… I chose a brown-gray vinyl that complemented the brick’s brown undertones, with black vinyl hinges and S-hooks for an Old World effect. I painted the front door black.
A few years later, it was time for the BIG purchase: a new roof. I called Quality Built Exteriors, and TJ came out to my house with some of the company’s color samples from Owens Corning (hands-down the best roofing brand out there!). Together, we decided on the color Teak… it complemented the brown-gray of the shutters nicely. The new roof went up in a matter of days, and for a final touch, I painted my front door a bold yellow:
Hooray, I thought, my home exterior was at last complete! A few more years went by. And I found myself glaring at that red brick. I was tired of it. It was boring. I kept seeing photos of painted and whitewashed brick, and couldn’t shake the desire to do something drastic like that to my own house. But I had just put in this expensive new roof!
Then I realized: that roof could be a beautiful starting point for a new look to my house. It has a lot of different colors to pull from: browns, burgundies, grays and beiges.
What cinched my decision was a visit to see my parents in Charlotte, NC, this summer. All around town, new neighborhoods were going up, and many of the brick homes had an antique patina on them. I was especially drawn to houses with European-style brown shutters and gutters.
I came home and started collecting inspiration images:
Then I began photoshopping how my house might look with that effect, and created this mockup:
It was this rendering that convinced my husband how great it would look (he has trouble visualizing!). I submitted it to our HOA for permission, and was quickly approved. Now, I had to decide between whitewashing and limewashing the brick. After careful research, I opted for limewash—a centuries-old technique that actually absorbs into the brick and hardens. Unlike paint, it won’t peel or flake, and it allows the brick to breathe, so you’re not creating potential moisture problems. Limewash costs more than paint, but I decided the benefits were worth it. I chose Romabio limewash in Riposo Beige, from Home Depot, because it best matched my siding.
I also wanted to find a richer shade of brown to paint my now-faded shutters, and decided to also go brown on the front door, sidelights, and the Palladian window trim (as an accent). I looked again at my Owens-Corning architectural shingles for inspiration, then found a great match: Van Buuren Brown, a paint from Benjamin Moore’s Historic Colors Collection.
Right before work began, I decided to also have the gutters repainted that same brown. My gutters are older (though Quality Built Exteriors rehung them for me with a more secure attachment a few years ago), so they are not the sleek seamless gutters that Quality Built installs. Therefore, I had a LOT of rusty nails showing along my otherwise beige gutters, and it looked awful. But I knew a couple of coats of brown paint would forever camouflage the rust spots, as well as making plain aluminum gutters look like copper!
The paint crew used their sprayer to apply the limewash, though most people who DIY brush it on, and then we went back after about 30-45 minutes and hit it with the hose to antique it. I also had them paint some random bricks with a more solid covering, to add some variety.
Here are some progress shots:
Finally, the newly repainted shutters and gutter downspouts went back up. I additionally had the painters recoat the shutters’ vinyl hinges and S-hooks in a shiny new coat of black, scrape and repaint my metal porch railings, and paint my side door and garage door (and carriage-door details) to match it all.
The “after” shots:
I just love how it came out, and the roof tops it all perfectly. Is your home part brick and part siding? You might want to consider the same treatment… especially if you are planning to replace your vinyl siding. You can get everything done in the same color, at the same time. It makes a house look bigger and more cohesive to have the same color throughout. And yes, it can all start with, or end with, a new roof!
Looking to replace your roof or siding?
Contact Quality Built Exteriors for your free estimate!