Selecting A House Designs Style
There are many home design styles to choose from. Some sketches of the more popular ones are shown here noting their main distinguishing features of the house designs. This should help you to narrow your search for the perfect house designs considerably. You can also combine features for something more unique or contemporary in your house designs. You should take into account the neighborhood you are building in, and the styles already prevalent. Remember to think about re-sale.
The size of house you need and the size lot that you have must be considered here. It is more economical to build up (2 stories) than to build utilizing more real estate. If your lot will not accommodate the space you need in one story, you may not have any choice but to build a 2 story home.
You must also consider whether you want a basement. Dollar for dollar, you will get much more square footage from a basement home than other house designs. The downside is dampness, especially in low-lying areas, and the fact that you will have more stairs to climb and more tiles and bath accessories to use. If you cannot resolve potential flooding problems, I would not recommend a basement home. On a sloping lot, however, a walkout basement becomes feasible for a very economical, prime living space! The split-level home designs also lend themselves to a moderately sloping lot.
You will also have to take into account the view, the proximity of your neighbors home, and any other issues that are unique to the building site, such as the elevation of the foundation in relation to the elevation of the street.
Georgian Home Designs, Maintains symmetry and has a columned entry, Equally spaced windows, and doorway trimmed with carved wood Sometimes wood siding faces north and brick faces south
Cape Cod House Designs, Maintains symmetry and has dormers, Usually built from wood and has shutters
French Colonial Home Designs, Mansard or hip roof usually stone exterior southern Colonial House Designs, Maintains symmetry – large columned entry, Usually brick with carved wood on the porch
Saltbox and Garrison Home front view. Both maintain symmetry but the saltbox house omits to detail, They are usually built from wood and have shutters
Saltbox Home side view, Garrison Home side view Timber detailing
English Tudor House Designs, Unsymmetrical layout, Built with a combination of stone, stucco, and timber
Ranch Home Designs 1 story with large overhangs and low pitch roof
Spanish Colonial Home Designs. Usually 1 story – Low pitch roof Made of adobe or plaster with arches and iron window grills
Country House Designs, Usually 2 stories with a wrap-around porch Very little detail
Dutch Colonial House Designs Maintains symmetry, has dormers and a Gambrel roof
Dutch Hip Roof Home
This is a basic ranch style with a Dutch Hip on the gables
Shown are some very simplified full building floor plans which are how the building would look if it were cut down the center. There is usually at least one with every set of blueprints, many more on complicated buildings.
They show ceiling heights and treatments, a number of risers to the stairs, the thickness of walls, floors, ceilings, and roofs, depth of foundations, structure, total height of the building, etc. If completely detailed they are very informative and also show interior elevations including trim. At this point in the planning stage, they only need to help you determine the house style you will build.