If you are looking for a small house plan with big curb appeal and an open floor plan, they you’ll want to check out house plan 7739. This two-story Colonial is ideal for a narrow lot and still includes a two-car garage (which can alternate with a breakfast room). Inside this 1,553 square foot home you’ll find a spacious kitchen with a large walk-in pantry that flows into the dining area and living room with fireplace. Upstairs is a master suite with a tray ceiling, garden bath and walk-in closet. Two ample size bedrooms are also located on the second floor.

Free flowing design makes this two-story home feel larger.

Today, homes are being designed with open floor plans rather than small individual rooms. You’ll find that cabinetry design is embracing this new trend to create large open living areas by creating cabinetry that has the look of furniture. With more space to be creative, cabinets don’t have to be pushed to the room’s perimeter but can become part of furniture groupings that are a key component to the overall design, functionality and décor of the living space.

This week’s issue of Home Ideas is all about cabinetry – “Cabinets Key Ingredient In Kitchen Design,” “Options For Kitchen Cabinetry” and “Consumers Crave Functionality.” Get inspired our collection of Fabulous Kitchen Floor Plans, which include everything from small beach cottages to sprawling one-story house plans featuring a professional kitchen design.

Open Floor Plan

Looking for a craftsman house plan? Look no further than this wonderful collection of craftsman house plans. Our craftsman homes range from small bungalows to spacious two story floor plans and they are all designed to be informal, warm, inviting and eco-friendly. The Halstad is a perfect craftsman-style home with its charming dormers, sprawling three-car garage, shake and stone siding and generous master suite and open kitchen floor plan.

Spreading out luxuriously from the large, rectangular foyer is the great room with a view to the back via a wall of windows. The dining room takes a smart and casual approach by being placed next to the open kitchen with its beautiful island cabinetry and built-in hutch. The main floor master suite is a haven of comfort and privacy with a built-in TV cabinet, a backyard view, a spa tub and a roomy closet.

Enjoy browsing through our entire collection of craftsman house plans. And don’t forget to check out today’s Dream Design featuring six of our favorite craftsman homes.

Great floor plan

While many baby boomers are looking to down-size and prepare for retirement, most are just interested in finding the right-sized home so they can enjoy easy and economical living without sacrificing their needs and changing their lifestyle. For some, that may mean a small house plan with a large outdoor living space and open floor plan so they can still entertain and have room for the grandkids. For most, it means a home with lots of flexible spaces to accommodate overnight guests, a home office, entertainment/media room, and craft and hobby room.

One thing most home plans have in common for boomers are they are one-story or ranch house plans, have a large master suite, flexible living spaces and bonus rooms. You can enjoy browsing through our collection of small house plans, open floor plans, empty nester, one-story house plans and bonus room house plans.

Enjoy reading our latest issue of Home Ideas featuring three articles about aging in place – Homes Designed for All Ages, Designed With Baby Boomers In Mindand
Top Tips for a Healthier Home.

This beautiful European country one-story house plan features all of the amenities that your family needs for easy and enjoyable living. Two large bedrooms, each with plenty of closet space, share a bath complete with dual sinks and a tub shower. The master suite features a raised ceiling, a large walk-in closet, and a great bathroom layout. The great room features 10 ft. ceilings and a gas log fireplace which provides a perfect atmosphere for relaxing with family and friends. This one-story house plan comes with a bonus room floor plan, adding 347 sq. ft of additional living space to your new home.

Enjoy some of our best-selling one-story house plans in our latest issue of Dream Designs, which all feature open floor plans.

best-selling house plan

A good way to ensure proper kitchen design is to use your present kitchen as a starting point. Do you like where your ovens are located? Is the refrigerator in a user-friendly location that doesn’t cause traffic while you are trying to cook? Would another sink or oven be helpful with food preparation? Is there ample space near a pantry to set down groceries? Where do you plan to prepare vegetables and meats? Is the rubbish drawer conveniently located to discard vegetable and fruit peelings? Is the dishwasher placed for efficient loading and unloading? Does your countertop space adequately allow for appliances and cooking utensils?

Appliances should blend in with other design elements in your kitchen. You can achieve this by having them built into the cabinets or paneled to look like them. Or if you prefer, you can make a statement with a stand-alone, like those made with a decorative vent hood and carved wood ornamentation or a stainless steel refrigerator. Keep in mind where you place your appliances will affect the other design elements in your kitchen. For example, a range or a separate cooktop and oven could change your countertop and cabinet space plans. Remember, the time to make changes is before the plumbing and electrical work is started.

Check out our collection of fabulous kitchens featuring creative floor plans for your dream home kitchen. Many of our house plans feature great kitchen photographs.

Creating flexible living spaces that adapt to your changing lifestyle and needs is a popular trend in new home design. This is especially important in small house plans, that can’t afford to waste any space. Common flexible spaces include rooms that can be combined to create in-law suites, home offices (even his and hers), music/media rooms, craft or hobby rooms, dens that can become guest rooms and dining rooms that can become offices.

Our latest issue of Home Ideas features an interview with Mark Mathis, a THD design partner and president of House Plan Gallery discussing the importance of creating flexible living spaces. He specializes in designing stock house plans with flexible spaces for homes between 1,000 and 3,000 square feet.

You can learn to live green by adopting new habits and ideas that not only reduce the impact our lifestyles have on our planet, but create a healthier home environment. Here are some easy tips for living green in your new home:

Use ceiling fans.
Ceiling fans are far more energy efficient, economical, and quieter than air-conditioning units and they can cool almost any home if placed properly. It’s a good idea to put one above each bed for comfortable sleeping. A much overlooked but practical space for a ceiling fan is in the stairwell because it assists with the overall cooling of your home and in the winter you can reverse the blade direction to help keep warm air on the main floor.

Install a clothesline or drying station.
Give your dryer a vacation by installing a clothesline (either the traditional long line or the more compact umbrella style) or incorporating a drying station in your laundry room design. If you like the idea of fast, free and fresh drying, but are concerned with the crisp texture of line drying, simply soften towels, socks and jeans with a 5-minute tumble in the dryer.

Build and decorate with natural materials.
You’ll find that there are lots of eco-friendly products to choose from when you begin building your new home. The more natural products that go into building your home, the healthier it will be. One product that is hard to overlook is wood. Wood floors will keep you warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Use eco-friendly cleaning products.
Maintain and clean your home daily by using eco-friendly cleaning products. One of the most basic cleaning products are vinegar and baking soda, but thanks to most cleaning manufactures offering a green line of products, you can choose from a variety of your favorite brands.

Use your windows for more than a view.
Be sure that your windows are designed properly because by controlling the size and location you can effectively manage the amount of light and heat they let inside during different times of the day. Simple steps like drawing the blinds or curtains on a hot day to keep the cool air in and hot air out or opening opposing windows so air flows more efficiently can greatly reduce energy costs.

Control your lighting.
One of the easiest things you can do to save on energy costs is to install CFLs (compact fluorescent lights). Another great idea is to use dimmers because you not only can control the look and ambiance of a room but the energy savings are great. Dimmers will double the life of your bulb and use less wattage. You can enjoy multiple uses in one room, by selecting different fixtures with dimmers. And if you have children, sensors are a great way to be sure lights aren’t left turned on.

Put your house to bed.
Make putting your house to bed a nightly routine, which includes turning off all lights and lamps (nightlights work great in hallways), turn off all electronics, check that all major appliances are shut down properly and lower your HVAC.

Enjoy browsing our collection of green designs, as well as reading about building green and ENERGY STAR in our green building guide.

When it comes time to looking for a floor plan every family in the world has different needs and tastes, which is why it is important to explore various collections of house plans. A couple with young children is usually looking for bedrooms that are close to the master suite, as well as a large bonus/flexible space that can be used as a playroom.

Last week I received a call from a couple looking for a house plan that was designed with all the bedrooms together and a large bonus room. I easily found a plan that would satisfy both these needs with the Madison, which features a master suite, three additional bedrooms and a bonus room on the second floor.

The kitchen also had two key features – a work island and a built-in desk to keep the family schedule organized. The work island provides extra space for the preparation of family meals and in today’s economy preparing meals at home has become a family event.

The Madison floor plan allows for a young family to enjoy all the open space and still will be a great floor plan when the children move out and the empty nester phase of life starts.

When you graduate from The Culinary Institute of America, you can be sure that when you build a new home, you’ll want a fabulous, gourmet kitchen. When I received a call from a customer looking for a cook’s kitchen I knew I had the perfect house plan with the Tasseler, which is designed with a professional kitchen and lots of other great living spaces like a massive vaulted great room, formal dining room and theater.

The newly graduated chef was looking for a kitchen that had enough workspace to create several dishes at once, as well as host cooking classes. The gourmet kitchen features two dishwashers, dual fuel range, pot filler, warming drawer, hammered copper sinks, granite countertops, butcher block cutting board table and a pantry. The kitchen overlooks the spacious great room and dining room with beamed ceiling and stone fireplace. In addition to the center prep island there’s a separate countertop with seating for eight.

The couple was so thrilled with the spacious kitchen and open design that they purchased the house plan without even looking at our complete collection of fabulous kitchen floor plans. They knew that they would enjoy this home for many years to come because it had all the space they would need to start a family.

The House Designers have put together a premier collection of open house plans culled from their best and most popular designs. If you’re considering building a new home, first decide whether you want a single or bi-level house design and then begin our advanced search. Be sure to include open floor plans in your search criteria so you can preview our most popular designs.

An open floor plan invites light, air, flexibility, and style into your home so your home can change with you and your family for years to come. Even in a modest-sized home, open floor plans create a spacious feel typically found in larger, more costly homes. This week’s Dream Designs features some of our newest open floor plans.

Chastaine House Plan