This 2,500 square foot house plan utilizes every square foot. The designer of this two-story house plan has created a well-designed and flexible floor plan that offers easy living spaces and exceptional entertaining opportunities. The kitchen is designed with every amenity a cook would want – a center prep island with dual sinks and plenty of counter space that can easily accommodate seating for four; the oven is centered with plenty of wall cabinets; a corner refrigerator and a separate counter space with extra cabinetry. There are no walls blocking the entrance to the dining room and great room which both enjoy easy access to the covered terrace making indoor/outdoor gathering a breeze. The great room has a large fireplace surrounded by plenty of built-ins and 10-foot ceilings. The oversized master suite features a master bath with dual sinks, a walk-in closet, hot tub and shower and access to the terrace. There’s a first floor room that can be used as a den, office or guest suite. Upstairs are two full bedrooms and a bath.
August 19, 2010
August 16, 2010
Designed For Perfect Living
The Vida Carinosa is truly a gem in our collection of two-story house plans, which are less than 3,000 square feet. This home offers exceptional living and entertaining opportunities with its flexible/open living areas. Key features include a two-story family room with a fireplace and balcony, covered front and rear porches, library/media room, office, breakfast room, a grand staircase and a gourmet open kitchen that extends into the dining room and great room. The master suite is elegant and secluded with an enormous walk-in-closet, garden tub and shower.
You’ll love the detached two-car garage, which is connected by a breezeway and of course all the available bonus/flexible spaces to design a dream home that fits your lifestyle. This is one home that you will enjoy living in through all stages of your life.
July 30, 2010
July 20, 2010
House Plans With Spectacular Windows
The recent issue of Dream Designs, our free weekly e-newsletter, showcased five fabulous house plans with exquisite window designs to create aesthetically pleasing living spaces so you can enjoy exceptional views, maximum ventilation and natural light all while improving your home’s energy-efficiency.
Enjoy this Mediterranean estate with gorgeous stacked windows and plenty of elegant architecture inside and out.
The two-story foyer of this European design offers an open view directly to the vaulted living room and rear-covered porch.
The rear of this home offers a wall of gorgeous windows to enjoy the outside. For added outdoor living there’s a bbq deck, screened porch with fireplace and large corner deck.
March 13, 2010
Decorative accents enhance your home
When you’re choosing decorative accents and accessories for your new home, don’t forget about the exterior, because decorative accents like — shutters, mantels, moldings, door surrounds, mounting blocks and gable vents — will provide the finishing touches you need to a create a home of distinction.
This week’s issue of Home Ideas explores Mastic Home Exteriors exclusive Designer Accentsâ„¢ collection of finishing accessories. Our architects and designers recommend using Mastic on their house plans, because they offer a full-line of eco-friendly designer accents, which compliment any architectural style and are made to last a lifetime.
February 25, 2010
Look for plans with bonus rooms
A good house plan allows for expansion over time as your lifestyle changes or your family grows. A bonus room provides that and can be finished when you build your home or at a later time when your needs change or budget allows. You’ll find that bonus rooms are often over a garage since they can be easily and inexpensively designed into the trusses, but really can be designed on any floor of the house. The additional space can be used for an office, playroom, home gym, media room, extra bedroom or anything you want it to be. Be sure your bonus room includes energy-efficiency features such as sufficient ceiling insulation and well-sealed double-glazed windows. Enjoy browsing through our extensive collection of house plans with bonus rooms.
February 19, 2010
Great ENERGY STAR® house plans
Our ENERGY STAR® and green home plans have all been selected from our best-selling collections and architectural styles, which include everything from tiny house plans, country home plans, fabulous kitchens to luxury one story and two story house plans. Our ENERGY STAR® house plans have a wide range of energy saving elements that can help you save 20% to 30% off your energy costs. Check out our some of our best selling ENERGY STAR® and Green home plans in this weeks issue of Dream Designs.
On of our best-selling ENERGY STAR® house plans is the Bellingham, a contemporary two-story craftsman with great curb appeal. From the eloquent pergola entry and covered porch to all the custom designed windows. Inside the open great room and hearth room share a double-sided fireplace. Entertaining is made easy with the over-sized kitchen area that leads into the dinette and hearth room or for outdoor living you can easily access the screened porch with fireplace and back deck. This plan comes with an optional basement that features a recreational room, game room, wet bar, wine room and additional bedroom. The three-car garage feeds into an oversized storage area with lots of built-in lockers and walk-in closet.
January 30, 2010
Great article on home exterior options
Every week I look forward to getting my Home Ideas e-newsletter from The House Designers. It always has interesting articles about home building tips and trends and products. Their writers must be very trendy since they find some of the most interesting topics to write about and the coolest information about building a new home. While I must confess, I haven’t purchased a house plan yet — I have spent the last year creating a file from many of these articles and feel I am closer to deciding how I want to design my new home. I’m pretty sure that my husband and I can agree on a house plan by the end of the month. So far we have three that we really like, the Belle Demure Lorraine House Plan, which coincidentally was the feature house on this week’s Home Ideas, the Babcock House Plan and the Amboise House Plan in the log exterior.
Speaking of this week’s Home Ideas, I highly recommend checking out the latest ledgestone by Cultured Stone® and the insulated siding by Ply Gem’s® American Essence®. These are two really great looking and energy-efficient products. There was also a great article about the latest trends and styles available for home exteriors.
January 28, 2010
Homes designed with contemporary flair
Our collection of contemporary or modern house plans come in a wide variety of styles so you can build a truly unique home that represents your personal taste and requirements for a truly functional home. A trademark of many of our designs are large windows, dramatic rooflines, stone exterior and open floor plan. Our editor’s have picked some of their favorite contemporary designs in the latest issue of Dream Designs, based on what plans consumers consistently buy from that collection. A big seller is the Hammond House Plan, which has great curb appeal with its columned front entry, arched windows, asymmetrical roofline, accented by peaks and dormers and elegant stone exterior. The inside is luxurious with a large foyer and tray ceiling which lead into the two-story, octagonal great room with large windows, plenty of columns, a fireplace, media center and French doors leading to the backyard. Upstairs are three bedrooms and a bonus space.
January 4, 2010
Perfect Craftsman House Plan
I have been searching for over a year for the perfect Craftsman house plan. I had a list of things my new house must have, which included a two-story with a large front covered porch, open floor plan and most importantly a gourmet kitchen with center island because I love to cook and entertain family and friends. Last month I took advantage of your $100 discount and bought the Pipestone house plan. I didn’t want to go over 3,000 square feet and this plan clocked in at 2,909, which was perfect. With four bedrooms and 3.5 baths my children and I have plenty of room to enjoy our own privacy. I love that all the bedrooms are on the second floor and that there’s an additional bonus space to create a media/play room for the kids and their friends. Since we have lots of toys like quads, dirt bikes and a small motorboat having a 3-car garage will really help with keeping everything clean and organized. I can’t wait to break ground in the spring! I can already imagine all the summer dinners and cookouts on the rear covered porch and cozy dining room.

The open floor plan of this craftsman house plan feature a gourmet kitchen, center island, casual dining room and great room.
November 20, 2009
New house plan inspired by Caribbean
New for November, is the Bahama Breeze house plan, which was inspired by the casual elegant resorts of the Caribbean. This European-style, two-story home was designed with lots of large windows and sliders to capture the outdoors. There’s plenty of curb appeal with its beautiful mahogany and gas lantern entrance, front porch and balcony featuring large decorative columns and double entry doors. The grand room is magnificent with its wood beamed ceiling and staircase. When it comes to entertaining you have a large kitchen with island and open dining space. There are plenty of outdoor living spaces with the enclosed veranda, front and rear porch and balconies.
As for pampering and privacy, the second floor master suite has a see-thru fireplace into the spa-like bath retreat with garden tub and walk-in shower. The ceiling is vaulted with beams and there’s a large 20 ft wide window seat. There’s a wet bar and private access to a home office.
Additional amenities include a wet bar, elevator, exercise room with morning kitchen, 2 laundry rooms, second floor media room, a veranda with retractable screens and much more.
November 5, 2009
Timeless two-story house plan
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.
September 29, 2009
Exclusive Contemporary Two-Story
I was looking for a unique mountain house plan so I could finally start building on my Vermont property and came across the Candlewood. It had everything I was looking for and more. I definitely wanted a 2 bedroom house and couldn’t believe this floor plan, which had 3 bedrooms and 3 baths…AND a private master suite on the top floor. My husband and I were so excited to know that we would enjoy our privacy while entertaining family and friends. Other great features to this home are the two-story great room and wrap-a-round deck. And did I mention the master suite has a balcony. When I called to order this plan, I was told that it was an exclusive design to THD and that I would be receiving a $50 discount off the house plan. Thanks THD!!! I’ll send photos when it’s finished.
September 2, 2009
Small & Green Home Plans
Our eco-friendly, small house plans have a wide range of energy saving elements, including ENERGY STAR® details that can help you save 20% to 30% off your energy costs. Our green home plans have all been selected from our best-selling collections and architectural styles, which include everything from tiny house plans, country home plans, fabulous kitchens to luxury one story and two story house plans. Check out our some of best selling green, small home plans in this weeks issue of Dream Designs.
One of our more popular green designs is the Shelton Road House Plan, THD-1858. This beautiful traditional green design is easy-to-build and features a flexible floor plan. The great room has 11’ 6†trayed ceilings, built-in cabinets and large energy-efficient windows to let in natural lighting. A well-equipped kitchen offers easy access to the formal dining room as well as the casual breakfast area. The expansive and well-appointed master suite features a 10’ trayed ceiling, his and hers walk-in closets, an oversized jet tub, separate shower, compartmentalized toilet and dual vanities. This home plan also comes with a 240 square foot unfinished bonus room.
July 21, 2009
Designing The Right Stairway
A staircase is an integral part of any two-story home. When it comes to design and style, stairs can be steep or gradual, narrow or wide, purely function or grand and showy. Some staircases are built in place by stairmakers, carpenters or woodworkers, while others are prefabricated and shipped to your home, where it will be installed onsite by your builder.
You should take into consideration the function of your staircase before you choose your design. If it is an entry stairway that will handle a lot of foot traffic and be highly visible from your foyer, than you will want to choose a beautiful, yet durable staircase. For out-of-sight stairways leading to the basement and/or attic, then think economically and choose a pre-built staircase.
Here are a few tips to find the right design for you:
* Match your staircase to the style and décor of your home.
* Consider whether or not you want to use the underneath of your staircase for storage space.
* Allow for natural light by positioning your staircase near windows, since staircases generally can be dark.
View the entire article, as well as get inspired by some of our elegant stairways in our newest issue of Dream Designs.






















