10 Top Tips on Selecting Roof Color from Expert Kate Smith

By DaVinci Roofscapes. 

This expert advice will help you avoid getting stuck on color choices for your new roof. 

You’ve found the ideal roof profile for your home. Now it’s time to decide on a color. The family debate is raging…a solid black or a blend of colors? 

What’s the best color for your roof? Listen to your home…and the expert color advice of Kate Smith, chief color maven at Sensational Color. She’s provided roofing color advice to thousands of homeowners over the past decade. As part of her support to DaVinci Roofscapes, she talks with consumers about their home setting, its style and fixed features. 

There’s no need to have a family war about color — or to get stuck on color choices. Here are some top tips Kate offers on how to select the roof color that can work best with your home. 

Tip 1 - Do your homework. Don’t rush a decision. Try to envision the total color combination of a home exterior that you will like next year, five years from now, and then 20 years from now. 

Tip 2 - Squint. Look at your home and squint. What colors come through? Those are your predominant colors. You most likely will want to consider those colors to “play up” or “play down” when selecting a roof color for your home. 

Tip 3 - Consider your options. While a solid color roof may work for some home styles, a blend of several colors may offer a “softer” look with more accent options. Some composite manufacturers, like DaVinci, offer pre-bundled roofing color blends. These are available with two, three, four or five different colors that, when blended together, complement each other. 

Tip 4 - Request life-sized samples of your favorite color roofing tiles. Then place the samples up against your current roof. Look to see the change that a new color will make for your home. Look at the samples during different times of the day to see how they appear as the light changes. 

Tip 5 - Look at your fixed features. There are parts of your home you must live with for a very, very long time. These are the fixed features that will never change. Look at the colors of your brick or stone siding, walkways, copper accents and hardscape materials. Anything that has color (or a color cast) to it that cannot be changed should be considered as you select a roof color. 

Tip 6 - Look at the other homes in your neighborhood. Your home should either blend in or completely stand out from other homes. However, it should never clash with the rest of the homes in your community. A roofing color can help achieve a harmonious look. 

Tip 7 - Know when to say no. A roof generally takes up a great deal of “eye space” on a home. It certainly captures a vast amount of the curb appeal of a house. Just because your favorite color is pumpkin orange or navy blue, it doesn’t mean you should have that color on your roof. If those colors are important to you, select a neutral roof color and then add those “pops of color” on your trim, shutters and accent pieces of your home exterior. 

Tip 8 - Investigate different roofing color tools available to you online. Most roofing manufacturers have online color tools. Use them to upload a picture of your home and see what different roofing colors look like on your house. 

Tip 9 - Look for free online color guidance. Roofing manufacturers want to help you make a color decision you’ll be happy with long-term. Search their websites and you’ll find solid resources. Under the “Color” section on the DaVinci Roofscapes site, you’ll find four different free downloadable eBooks written by Kate Smith to make it easy to choose the best color for your roof. 

Tip 10 - Get assistance from a professional. Just as selecting the roofing product is a big decision requiring assistance of a pro, so is the choice of the roof color. “Ask an Expert” and use the color tools and advice they offer to gain a strong comfort level in the roofing color you choose. 

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