Want to make your own choice? Here are some basic rules about roof color choice.

Start with something simple. There are a lot more choices these days than there were 20 years ago. It means better options, but it also means more chances for mistakes.

Black shingles. Almost any color house will look decent with a black color shingle. Start with black and work backwards from there.

Stay away from light colored shingles. These are much more likely to get dirty and change color over time. Supposed heat related benefits are questionable or can be achieved in other ways.

White houses. Lots of colors will look OK. It takes some skill to pick the best.

Tan/Wood colored roofs. These are very popular, perhaps because they are supposed to look like natural color cedar shingles. They are also one of the most commonly misused colors. They may look like cedar, but they’re not. The differences (texture etc.) are significant. Be very careful using these. Many people like to use them with white houses. I don’t know why. It’s usually not a good look.

Tan shingles with a tan house. This is a popular choice – and almost always bad.

Yellow colored houses: These are perhaps the trickiest color to work with. Yellow with a strong brown roof is a very common mistake. A soft/muted brown or the right color grey are your best choices. Black can be too harsh, but will work in limited situations. This is a function of the architecture (the lines and angles) of the house.

Neutral or earth tone color houses: These should be the easiest to work with. There are a lot of great choices to go with houses that have these colors, so there’s simply no excuse for having anything other than a great looking neutral colored house. None the less, there are many neutral colored houses out there that could have better roof color choices. Knowing the matching colors isn’t enough. You have to understand the makeup of the color in the shingle. For example, two different shingles can use the same three basic colors (ie: light brown, darker brown and tan), but they can look entirely different depending on which is the dominant color and how that relates to the color of the house.

Green roofs: These are tricky and done wrong more often than not. Green roof with green house is next to impossible.

Blue roofs: Not much easier than green. Blue with blue is generally not a good idea.

Red roofs: Not for the faint hearted, but can be fantastic and are perhaps underutilized. In general, stay away from the bolder, brighter reds.

Red brick houses. Not as simple as you’d think. There are different shades of red, and they can make a big difference in the roof color. Joint color is also critical, and often overlooked. Joints with a lighter colored mortar, or that stand out more from the brick, tend to require a “quieter” or simpler roof pattern in order to keep from clashing. Not accounting for the joints of a brick house is a very common mistake.

Light-colored brick houses. Quite simply, there are more poor roof choices on these than just about any other color house.

Brown roofs on brick houses. This can look good with the right color brown. Pick the wrong one and it’s just a big dark blob.