DaVinci Roofscapes Celebrates National Curb Appeal Month with Tips for an Impressive Roof

Can a roof affect the resale value and curb appeal of a home? Absolutely. That’s why DaVinci Roofscapes is celebrating National Curb Appeal Month in August by sharing information and tips on creating an impactful and impressive roof.

“The roof plays a major role in creating curb appeal because it can be up to 30 percent of what you see as you approach a home,” says Kate Smith, president of Sensational Color. “Homeowners should make a conscious effort to blend the color of their roofing material with other elements of the home exterior to create an overall cohesive look.”

Smith, who has authored the free online FRESH Home Exterior Colors and FRESH Color Schemes for Your Home Exterior guides, spends a good deal of her time advising homeowners, remodelers and builders on selecting the perfect colors for the exterior of the home.

“For curb appeal it’s all about creating ‘top down’ color by working from the roof down through the different elements of the exterior such as siding, windows, trim and doors,” says Smith. “For example, a colonial style home with a warm Autumn Blend polymer shake roof could be ideally matched with a home exterior in a neutral stone color. Then, for adding ‘pops of color’ for curb appeal, chocolate brown frames could be added on the vinyl windows, shutters and trim around the home. A stand-out color like pine green or marine blue could be added to the entry door to add personality to the exterior.

“However, it’s important to remember that it all starts on the roof. When you’re working ‘top down’ with unlimited color options from a company like DaVinci Roofscapes, a homeowner has an open palette for designing the perfect home exterior.”

How important is curb appeal to homeowners? More than three-quarters of U.S. homeowners* (78 percent) report that their home’s curb appeal is either “extremely” or “very” important to them.

According to the 2011 DaVinci Roofscapes’ Homeowners Exterior Preferences Study conducted online by Harris Interactive©, 61 percent of homeowners say that when house hunting or designing their home, the most attention-grabbing exterior feature was the style of the home, followed by how the house looked on the property (43 percent).

And, when it comes to adding curb appeal to a home, color counts. Fifty-nine percent of homeowners place a lot of emphasis on the role that color plays when they think about replacing major exterior home features. Color availability is so important to homeowners that a majority of them (54 percent) are influenced to buy a specific brand of product based on the color options available from that brand.

“This study shows us clearly that color influences homeowners’ buying patterns and decision processes when it comes to exterior home features,” says Smith. “People want their home to be appealing from the street and they’re looking for colorful key products — such as the roof, door, trim, siding and windows — that will help them create the impression they wish to convey on their home.”

While color is important to homeowners, don’t expect pink, orange or purple houses to pop up in neighborhoods anytime soon. According to the study, homeowners prefer neutral colors for their home’s exteriors.

“The majority of homeowners (67 percent) report that they prefer earthy, calm colors such as beige, tan, white, gray or brown as the dominant color on their home’s exteriors,” says Smith. “You’ll find these colors are very popular for sidings and in different combinations for roofs, while homeowners like to have ‘bursts of color’ on the outside of the home in smaller portions (such as on doors and trim) to add to the structure’s curb appeal.”

National Curb Appeal Month has been launched by Fypon® starting in August of 2014. The comprehensive and colorful online guides created by Smith are available for free download.