What Color Shingles Does Malarkey Offer? And How to Choose the Right Shingle Color

Choosing a shingle color can be one of the more exciting parts of replacing your roof, but it can also be surprisingly difficult. A color that looks great on a small sample might look completely different across your entire roof. You also have to consider how the color will look with your siding, brick, stone, trim, and other exterior features you probably aren’t planning to change anytime soon.

At Happy Roofing, we’ve helped hundreds of homeowners throughout greater Naperville choose materials for their roof replacements, including Malarkey shingles. We’ve seen how different shingle colors look once they’re installed across an array of different home styles and colors, and how much shingle color can change the overall appearance of a home.

In this article, we’ll walk through the Malarkey shingle colors available to homeowners, show examples of what these colors look like, and explain some of the biggest things to consider before making your final selection.

By the end, you’ll have a better idea of which Malarkey colors fit the look of your home and what you should do before committing to one.

Table of Contents

• What Colors Do Malarkey Shingles Come In?
• How Should You Choose a Malarkey Shingle Color?
• What Do Malarkey Shingle Colors Look Like on a House?
• Can Roof Color Affect Resale Value?
• How Can You Be More Confident in Choosing a Shingle Color?

What Colors Do Malarkey Shingles Come In?

Malarkey offers shingle colors ranging from blacks and grays to browns and warmer earth tones, giving homeowners options that can complement a variety of home exteriors.

The exact colors available to you can depend on the Malarkey shingle line you choose and which products are available in your area.

Compared to manufacturers like GAF, Malarkey tends to offer a more curated color lineup. Rather than providing a large number of distinctly different color choices, many of Malarkey’s options focus on natural-looking blends of blacks, grays, browns, and earth tones.

This can make Malarkey’s color selection feel somewhat limited if you’re comparing it to a manufacturer with a wider variety of colors. However, the colors they do offer are designed to create dimension through variations in tone rather than making the roof look like one flat, uniform color.

You’ll see this in options like Weathered Wood, Heather, and Black Oak, where multiple tones are blended together to create a unique appearance across the roof once installed.

Some of the colors you'll see across Malarkey's architectural and designer shingle lines include:

• Midnight Black: A dark black option for homeowners looking for a bold, high-contrast roof.
• Black Oak: A dark, blended color that incorporates black with warmer variations rather than creating a completely uniform black appearance.
• Storm Grey: A gray option that can work well with cooler exterior colors and homeowners looking for something between a very dark and very light roof.
• Weathered Wood Plus: A blended neutral designed to create a more natural, weathered appearance rather than one solid brown or gray.
• Natural Wood: A warmer blend intended to create the appearance of natural wood tones.
• Heather: A blended color with warm, earthy tones that can complement brick, stone, and warmer siding colors.
• Antique Brown: A deeper brown option for homeowners who want a warmer roof color.
• Silverwood: A lighter color option that can give the roof a softer appearance than darker blacks and grays.
• Sienna Blend: A warmer blended option with earthy color variation.

Not every color is necessarily available in every Malarkey shingle line or every market, so confirm availability with your contractor before making your final decision.

How Should You Choose a Malarkey Shingle Color?

Start by looking at the permanent exterior colors of your home and deciding whether you want your new roof to blend in or create more contrast.

There isn't one shingle color that looks best on every house. The goal is to find a color that works with the features already present on your particular home.

Here are some of the biggest things we recommend considering.

• Look at your siding color: Your siding is one of the largest visual elements on your home's exterior, so it is a natural place to start. A light-colored home paired with a very dark roof creates more contrast. Pairing that same home with a lighter gray or blended roof can create a softer transition.

• Consider the color of brick or stone: Instead of trying to find a shingle that exactly matches your brick or stone, look at the colors already mixed throughout it. For example, brick may appear predominantly red from a distance but contain brown, black, tan, or gray undertones when you look closer. Choosing a shingle that picks up one of those secondary colors can help the roof feel connected to the rest of the exterior without making everything the same uniform color between the house and roof.

• Decide how much contrast you want: Ask yourself whether you want your roof to stand out or blend into the rest of the home. A dark roof against light siding creates noticeable contrast and makes the roofline more prominent. This comes down largely to personal preference, but looking at full homes instead of isolated shingle samples makes the difference much easier to see.

• Think about the size and shape of your roof: The amount of roof visible from the street can change how prominent your shingle color feels. If your home has steep roof slopes or a large amount of visible roofing, a dark or strongly blended shingle can become a major part of the home's appearance. On a home where very little of the roof is visible from the street, the shingle color may have less influence on the overall look.

Once you’ve considered how a color might work with your home, the next step is to see what that color actually looks like across a finished roof.

Look at Other Homes With the Color Installed

One of the best ways to narrow down your options is to look at completed roofs. Manufacturer photos and online visualizers can help you get started, but seeing a color installed on an actual home gives you a much better sense of how the variation looks across a larger area.

If your roofing contractor has installed the color you're considering, ask if they have photos of completed projects with that color. Ideally, look for a home with exterior colors or materials similar to yours.

Look at Physical Shingle Samples Before Making Your Final Choice

Don't make your final color decision based solely on how a shingle looks on your phone or computer.

Screens display colors differently, photography can change how a roof appears, and a small online swatch cannot fully show the variation between individual shingles. Before committing, ask to see physical samples of the colors you're seriously considering. Instead of looking at a single shingle indoors, take the samples outside and view them next to your siding, brick, or stone in natural light.

Malarkey itself recommends viewing multiple shingles before making a final color selection because this gives you a better representation of the shingle's color and variation.

Use Malarkey’s Roof Designer to Visualize Your Options

Another way to narrow down your color choices is to use Malarkey’s Roof Designer, an online tool that lets you visualize different Malarkey shingles and colors on a home. You can start with one of the homes provided in the tool or upload a photo of your own home to get a better idea of how different colors could look with your siding, brick, stone, and other exterior features.

This can be especially helpful if you’re deciding between colors that look similar on a small shingle sample. Seeing the color across an entire roof can make it easier to compare how dark or light each option feels and how much contrast it creates with the rest of the home.

Just keep in mind that a visualizer is still a digital representation. Lighting, your screen, and the natural variation between shingles can all affect how the finished roof looks, but it serves as a good starting point.

What Do Malarkey Shingle Colors Look Like on a House?

Malarkey shingle colors can look noticeably different on a completed roof than they do on a small sample or computer screen. A shingle sample only shows you a small portion of the color blend. Once hundreds or thousands of shingles are installed together, the variations between those shingles create the overall appearance you see from the ground.

A roof may appear lighter in direct sunlight and darker on an overcast day. Different slopes on the same roof can even appear slightly different because sunlight hits them at different angles.

That is why we recommend looking at more than a digital color swatch when possible.

Below are examples of several Malarkey colors on various homes using Malarkey's Roof Designer, so you can get a better idea of how each one looks across an entire roof:

Malarkey Midnight Black

Midnight Black is one of Malarkey's darkest color options, available for their Windsor line designer shingles. It creates a strong contrast against lighter siding and trim and can give a home a clean, defined appearance.

Because it is such a dark color, it can also make the roof a more noticeable part of the home's exterior.

Malarkey Black Oak

Black Oak provides a dark overall appearance but has more color variation than a uniform black roof.

This can be a good option for homeowners who like the contrast of a dark roof but want some additional dimension when viewing the shingles up close.

Malarkey Storm Grey

Storm Grey gives homeowners a neutral gray option that can work with a wide range of exterior colors. It can be especially useful if your home already has cooler colors, such as gray, blue, white, or certain types of stone.

Malarkey Weathered Wood Plus

Weathered Wood uses a blend of neutral tones to create a less uniform appearance.

Because it incorporates multiple tones, it can work well on homes that already have several exterior materials or colors that you are trying to tie together.

Malarkey Natural Wood

Natural Wood brings warmer tones into the roof and can complement homes with beige, cream, brown, wood, brick, or other warm exterior features.

Malarkey Heather

Heather is another warmer blended option. Its variation can pair well with brick or stone exteriors where choosing one solid roof color may be difficult.

Malarkey Antique Brown

Antique Brown creates a distinctly warmer roof than Malarkey's black and gray options.

It can be a natural fit for homes with brown, tan, cream, brick, or other earth-toned exterior materials.

Malarkey Silverwood

Silverwood provides a lighter overall appearance than many of Malarkey's darker options.

A lighter roof can create less contrast against certain siding colors, which may appeal to homeowners who don't want the roof to dominate the exterior appearance of the home.

Malarkey Sienna Blend

Sienna Blend combines warmer tones to create a roof with noticeable color variation rather than a single uniform shade.

It can complement homes with warm brick, stone, tan siding, and other earth-toned exterior finishes.

Can Roof Color Affect Resale Value?

Your roof color can affect how potential buyers perceive your home, but roof color alone is unlikely to determine your home’s resale value.

Your roof takes up a significant amount of the visible exterior of your home, especially on homes with steep or prominent rooflines. A color that works well with your siding, brick, stone, and trim can help create a more cohesive appearance.

On the other hand, a roof color that strongly clashes with the rest of the exterior may be less appealing to some buyers.

If you’re planning to sell your home in the near future, choosing a more neutral and versatile color can make sense because it may appeal to a wider range of buyers. Blacks, grays, browns, and other natural blends are commonly used because they tend to complement a variety of exterior styles and colors.

However, the condition and age of the roof, the overall condition of the home, and the preferences of individual buyers can all matter more than whether you choose one shingle color over another.

How Can You Be More Confident in Your Malarkey Shingle Color Choice?

Narrow your choices down using photos, then compare physical samples against your actual home before making the final decision.

Choosing a roof color can feel difficult because you're making a decision that will affect the appearance of your home for years, often based on a sample that's only a fraction of the size of your finished roof.

You don't have to know the “perfect” color immediately.

Start with your home's existing siding, brick, stone, and trim. Decide whether you prefer more contrast or a more blended appearance. Then look at completed roofs and physical samples to narrow down the colors you like most, or use a roof designer tool to visualize what certain colors look like when installed.

If you’re preparing to replace your roof and are still deciding which shingle and color are right for your home, you can schedule a no-commitment roof inspection with our team. We’ll assess your roofing system, walk you through the Malarkey shingle options available for your home, and help you compare colors so you can make your final selection with confidence, without any obligation to move forward with us.