An Architect's Perspective

Low Country House Plans

2007-09-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

Our new Low Country house plans have grown from a tradition of coastal and resort homes - many were originally elevated off the ground! - to be interesting and complete homes that promise satisfaction for everyday living.

Once especially popular in the South, our Low Country house plan designs have been built – with exciting visual impact and full of relaxing comforts – all over America. The slightly formal appearance of the Low Country home plan emerges from the symmetry of the large front windows, the French doors and the broad front steps. But the warmth of the interior offsets that semi-formal first impression. Your family gathering space is one of less formality: the open floor layouts that waste little space to hallways and make for delightful family-style interiors. See this home plan.

Craftsman House Plans

2007-08-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

If you're drawn to an American favorite, consider the broad earthy shoulders, the sheltering eaves and the forceful details of our Craftsman house plans.

Since the earliest days of publishing house plans, Craftsman home plans have been in strong demand.That may be why it’s easy to identify the Craftsman house plan:

The natural materials and master carpentry leap from one element after another.
Your new Craftsman home plan welcomes guests onto a spacious front porch, often boasting tapered columns on stone bases supporting the low protective rooflines.
Wide overhanging eaves with corbels and exposed rafter tails are common features of craftsman house plans.
Wooden angle brackets along the roof edge, with planter boxes and decorative fretwork at gable ends or along the porch.
The windows of a Craftsman house plan may feature transomed windows, with a multi-pane upper sash over one large pane at the bottom.
The options of highly crafted built-ins throughout the Craftsman home plan like ceiling beams, tailored bookcases and a custom-made front door. As if growing out of the earth, Craftsman house plans stand strong – a solid part of the landscape, as if at one with its setting.

Your new Craftsman house plan will be part of a century old tradition but with discriminating new elements and workmanship that have broadened and renewed its appeal – the picture of beauty and strength. See this plan.

European House Plans

2007-07-31T06:49:00.000-07:00

European houses have a distinct look and feel to them. Living Concepts offers European house plans that pull from many different European home plan styles. These plans feature architectural elements from French country, Spanish, Italian, and Mediterranean house plans.

These European house plans tend to be for large homes with 1 1/2 to 2 stories. However, there are small European house plans for one story homes and these are growing in popularity.

Normally a European house plan features a stone, brick or stucco exterior. Roofs for these European home plans tend to be steep and can have sloping and angular. Roofs for these homes come down to the windows.These details give the European home plans that architectural interest. See this plan here.

The Traditional House Plan

2007-07-16T04:56:00.000-07:00

One description that springs to mind when looking at Traditional house plans is elegant simplicity. Its understated appeal has something for everyone. A Traditional house plan can strive to be striking. Many say that Traditional house plans do not borrow from one particular style but instead collect interesting features from several home plan design fashions. The exterior features of this home plan are the best that many schools of architecture have to offer. As you imagine your new Traditional home plan, you will have tremendous flexibility: It can be impressive in stone or brick, stucco or lap siding. It can be dazzling in one story or two. See this Plan.

Affordable House Plans

2007-07-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

The only thing you can be sure of with Affordable House Plans is that they will be less expensive to build.

Affordable house plans are indeed economical. But that is not all. The Affordable Home Plan is just as likely as any other home to be beautiful, charming, and a joy to live in...But the Affordable House Plan we offer, under 2,000 square feet, are not just versatile, inviting and easy to maintain; the cost a lot less to build. Great thought has been engineered into efficient interiors and pleasing exteriors.

The interiors have integrated designs, often with an open style with consideration for the likely placement of furniture. One of the ways that affordability has been achieved is to suggest the use of stock doors, windows and finishes. Limit the corridor space. Even so, you will see that your Affordable house plan can be something very special. Quality and elegance is maintained but without the over the top expense of custom materials.

On the exterior, we refrain from elaborate framing techniques and unique structural fixtures – bay windows for example.

You will find single level ranch plans and two story floor plans in a variety of delightful design styles. Our Affordable house plans have been one of our most popular house plans. Tour through the designs that follow and see if your new dream home is among them.

Tips when choosing a house plan.

2007-06-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

1. Pay close attention to the grade/ slope from front to back on your lot. I have seen a lot of people have such a high foundation wall on the back of a house that they paid for and with just a little more money could have had a basement , finished or unfinished that could almost double the value of the home.
2. A hard finished deck on the house will give a more perceived feeling of value over a wood deck that after a few years will look tattered and dilapidated.
Do not get wrapped up in the square footage as much as the finishes in your home. You can always add more expensive finishes to your house but it is very costly to add a foot back in that Family room or Den where you spend all your time. You have a tremendous amount of control of your final price with the finishes you choose.
See this home.

A Great House

2007-06-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

A great house does not have to be big. I would rather see a small house with good architectural detailing than a huge house that has absolutely no charm. A great house needs to have good flow and traffic patterns and consideration given to how someone is going to live in it. A house needs to have good exterior massing relationships. It is important to think of each exterior mass and how it relates to the other masses that make up the entire exterior elevation. Proper exterior features like cornice and eave details, material selections, roof shapes, and color selections that are true to the architecture style are extremely important. Fenestration of windows and doors on the exterior as well as the relationship of windows on the upper floors to the lower windows is extremely important/. A couple of the worst mistakes that I see as far as the exterior is concerned are as follows:
1. Too many different materials and too many different textures. Don’t get me wrong, texture is important but it needs to make sense.
2. Garage masses that over whelm the rest of the exterior masses.
3. Dormer windows with such large roof overhang that dormer looks like it is getting ready to take off ( the flying nun syndrome I call it).
4. A hodgepodge of windows and doors on the exterior of a home and no thought given to how the relate to each other.
5. Finally, color is extremely important.
The average person typically will look at a house and realize that there is something wrong but does not know what it is. Then again some people have been sold on bad design for so long that they think bad design is good. Our house plans give a lot of attention to the proper elements that go into a Good House.

Budget Myths

2007-06-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Most people focus on square footage as the big item for cost control. This is not always the best place to cut cost. You can build two houses from the same set of plans with different specifications and have a significant difference in price. One house can have a slate roof, granite countertops, lots of trim or molding, etc., while the other house has the cheapest composition shingle, Formica” countertops, and little or no trim and moldings. The biggest mistake someone can make is to pick a plan solely on square footage. Buying a plan with a family room or den that is too small and you end up miserable in the house because of it is a huge mistake. Consider cutting back on finishes to save money. You can always add a nicer roof, granite countertops, or even more trim and molding. But you can not add that foot back to that family room or den.
Frank Snodgrass