architectural planning styles

Acadian Plans

Acadian style house plans share a Country French architecture and are found Louisiana and across the American southeast, maritime Canadian areas, and exhibit Louisiana and Cajun influences. Rooms are often arranged on either side of a central hallway with a kitchen at the back. They typically feature a steep, sloping roof with gables that shed snow and moisture effectively.

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Adobe Plans

The Adobe style is a regional architectural style of the Southwest which draws inspiration from the Pueblo and Spanish Missions in New Mexico. They are typically stucco construction, with  a flat roof and rounded edges. Decorative features often found on this style of home included wooden beams projecting from the roof line, hand-hewn wood lintels inset above deep window openings and walls that slope inward. 

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Beach Plans

Beach or seaside houses are often raised houses suitable for the shoreline sites. They are adaptable for use as a vacation house near water or even in mountain areas. The Tidewater house is typical and features wide porches, constructed of wood with the main living area raised one level. If interested in beach houses you may find something that suits your tastes by looking at ourvacation home or our small house plans.

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Bungalow Plans

Bungalow home plans share a common style with Craftsman, Rustic and Cottage home designs. A great porch for your rocker, typically one level and over-hanging eaves are some of the classic features. Have you been searching for a Bungalow plan to build the home of your dreams? Check out some of Architectural Designs home plans and start the conversation

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Cape Cod Plans

The Cape Cod originated in the early 18th century as early settlers used half-timbered English houses with a hall and parlor as a model, and adapted it to New England's stormy weather and natural resources. Cape house plans are generally one to one-and-a-half story dormered homes featuring steep roofs with side gables and a small overhang. They are typically covered in clapboard or shingles and are symmetrical in appearance with a central door, multi-paned, double-hung windows, shutters, a formal, center-hall floor plan, hardwood floors and little exterior ornamentation. Some cottage house plans share Cape-inspired elements.

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Carriage Plans

Carriage houses get their name from the out buildings of large manors where owners stored their carriages. Today, carriage houses generally refer to detached garage designs with living space above them. Our carriage house plans generally store two to three cars and have one bedroom and bath. These plans make an interesting alternative to a vacation home plan or a cottage house plan.

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Colonial Plans

Colonial revival house plans are typically two to three story home designs with symmetrical facades and gable roofs. Pillars and columns are common, often expressed in temple-like entrances with porticos topped by pediments. Multi-pane, double-hung windows with shutters, dormers, and paneled doors with sidelights topped with rectangular transoms or fanlights help dress up the exteriors which are generally wood or brick. Additional common features include center entry-hall floor plan, fireplaces, and simple, classical detailing.

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Contemporary Plans

The common characteristic of this style includes simple, clean lines with large windows devoid of decorative trim. The exteriors are a mixture of siding, stucco, stone, brick and wood. The roof can be flat or shallow pitched, often with great overhangs. Manyranch house plans are made with this contemporary aesthetic.

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Cottage Plans

A cottage is typically a smaller design that may remind you of picturesque storybook charm. It can also be a vacation house plan or a beach house plan fit for a lake or in a mountain setting. Sometimes these homes are referred to as bungalows. A look at our small house plans will reveal additional home designs related to the cottage theme.

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Country Plans

Overall, our most popular style, a country house embraces a front porch or a wrap-around porch and is topped with a gabled roof. It can be one or two stories high. While everyone is different, people who look at Country home plans also may want to consider ranch house plans, cape cod house plans or craftsman home designs.

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Craftsman Plans

A backlash against the elaborate Victorian style of the turn of the 20th century, the Craftsman house displays the honesty and simplicity of a truly American house. Its main features are a low-pitched, gabled roof (often hipped) with a wide overhang and exposed roof rafters. Its porches are either full or partial width, with tapered columns or pedestals that extend to the ground level. A combination of natural materials are used, such as wood and stone, and often a combination of more than one type.

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European Plans

European houses usually have steep roofs, subtly flared curves at the eaves and are faced with stucco and stone. Typically, the roof comes down to the windows. The second floor often is in the roof or, as we know it, the attic. Also look at our French Country, Spanish home plans, Mediterranean and Tudor house plans.

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Farmhouse Plans

Going back in time, the American farmhouse reflects a simpler era when families gathered in the open kitchen and living room. This version of the country home usually has bedrooms clustered together and features the friendly porch or porches. Its lines are simple. They are often faced with wood siding.

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Florida Plans

A Florida house plan embraces the elements of many styles that allow comfort during the heat of the day. It is especially reminiscent of the Mediterranean house with its shallow, sloping tile roof and verandas. It also includes the Tidewater or raised Key West house, faced with wood, one or more porches and verandas and windows that provide the cooling breezes to freely flow throughout. These homes make great vacation homes in southern latitudes.

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French Country Plans

Rooted in the rural French countryside, the French Country style includes both modest farmhouse designs as well as estate-like chateaus. At its roots, the style exudes a rustic warmth and comfortable designs. Typical design elements include curved arches, soft lines and stonework. Inside, you’ll find wood beams, plaster walls and stone floors as common thematic features. For a broader selection, enjoy our European house plans.

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Georgian Plans

Georgian home plans are characterized by their proportion and balance. They typically have square symmetrical shapes with paneled doors centered in the front facade. Paired chimneys are common features that add to the symmetry. The most common building materials used are brick or stone with red, tan, or white being frequently used colors. Stately and elegant, fans of Georgian home plans should look at our European house plan collection.

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Hill Country Plans

Texas Hill Country style is a regional historical style with its roots in the European immigrants who settled the area, available building materials and lean economic times.

The settlers to the hills of central Texas brought their carpentry and stone mason skills to their buildings. The locally available white limestone and later brown sandstone were used with the local cedar to construct these well-crafted attractive homes.

The more rustic simple nature of Texas Hill Country style is also due to the lean times when the area was being settled, resulting in a simple and authentic style. The Hill Country style has a modern elegance because of simplicity, materials and detail in construction.

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Log Plans

The log home of today adapts to modern times by using squared logs with carefully hewn corner notching on the exterior. The interior is reflective of the needs of today's family with open living areas. The log home started as population pushed west into heavily wooded areas. Today's log house is often spacious and elegant. Also look for log-inspired plans in our vacation house plan section.

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Low Country Plans

Low country house plans are perfectly suited for coastal areas, especially the coastal plains of the Carolinas and Georgia. A sub-category of our southern house plan section, these designs are typically elevated and have welcoming porches to enjoy the outdoors in the shade.

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Mediterranean Plans

This house is usually a one-story design with shallow roofs that slope, making a wide overhang, to provide needed shade is warm climates. Courtyards and open arches allow for breezes to flow freely through the house and verandas. There are open, big windows throughout. Verandas can be found on the second floor. Typically, the Mediterranean house is constructed with a stucco exterior and has a tile roof. These homes make great vacation homes in southern latitudes and overlap with our Florida plans and Spanish home plans.

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Modern Plans

Modern house plans feature lots of glass, steel and concrete. Open floor plans are a signature characteristic of this style. From the street, they are dramatic to behold. There is some overlap with contemporary house plans with our modern house plan collection featuring those plans that push the envelope in a visually forward-thinking way.

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Mountain Plans

Mountain home plans are designed to take advantage of your special mountain setting lot. Common features include huge windows and large decks to help take in the views as well as rugged exteriors and exposed wood beams. Prow-shaped great rooms are also quite common. There is some crossover between these designs and vacation home plans.

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Northwest Plans

Designed by architects from the Northwest, this home is usually simple in design, devoid of excessive exterior details and is made mostly of wood. The roof is usually medium to low-pitched with deep overhangs. Windows can be large bringing light to the interiors. These houses are applicable to any region in the country and can serve as a primary home or vacation home. They also share traits with our Craftsman home plans.

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Plantation Plans

Plantation home plans typically boast stately white pillars, a symmetrical shape and sprawling porches associated with the South, although they can be found all over the country. The grand features and spacious scale suggest the charm and genteel lifestyle of the South.

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Prairie Plans

Prairie-style home plans came of age around the turn of the twentieth century. Often associated with one of the giants in design, Frank Lloyd Wright, prairie-style houses were designed to blend in with the flat prairie landscape. The typical prairie-style house plan has sweeping horizontal lines and wide open floor plans. Other common features of this style include overhanging eaves, rows of small windows, one-story projections and in many cases a central chimney. Our prairie-style home plan collection represents work from a number of designers. You’ll find designs featuring many different exteriors and shapes. All of them will share some similarities of the original prairie-style home designs from the early and mid-twentieth century with upgrades we’ve all come to enjoy today.

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Shingle Plans

Born in New England and popular through to the West Coast, shingle style home plans are informal and highly imaginative - a summer "cottage" style often built for wealthy clients. Called the the architecture of the American summer, these house plans are known for their casual style and their ability to blend into their surroundings with wood shakes in natural colors. Wide porches are quite common and invite you to spend time outdoors. People interested in shingle style house plans will want to see our Craftsman home plans.

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Southern Plans

To accommodate the warm, humid air of Southern climates, houses of the south are sprawling and airy with tall ceilings, large front porches, usually built of wood. A wrap-around porch provides shade during the heat of the day. Pitched or gabled roofs are usually medium or shallow in height, often with dormers. Many Southern home plans are closely related to our country house plans and low country house plans.

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Spanish Plans

Characterized by stucco walls, red clay tile roofs with a low pitch, sweeping archways, courtyards and wrought-iron railings, Spanish house plans are most common in the Southwest, California, Florida and Texas but can be built in most temperate climates. Their charm adds a romantic appeal that blends Mediterranean, Moorish and Spanish Colonial elements into a single stunning house plan.

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Traditional Plans

A traditional home is the most common style in the United States. It is a mix of many classic, simple designs typical of the country's many regions. Common features include little ornamentation, simple rooflines, symmetrically spaced windows. A typical traditional home is Colonial, Georgian, Cape Cod saltbox, some ranches. Building materials are either wood or brick.

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Victorian Plans

While the Victorian style flourished from the 1820's into the early 1900's, it is still desirable today. Strong historical origins include steep roof pitches, turrets, dormers, towers, bays, eyebrow windows and porches with turned posts and decorative railings. Ornamentation and decoration are used along with shingles or narrow-lap wood siding. These homes are mostly two-story in design. Many people looking at Victorian house plans are also interested in our larger cottage house plans.