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Mexican-influenced House Plans from The House Designers

by on May 6, 2012 in Architecture, Home Plans

In honor of the 150th anniversary of Cinco de Mayo, The House Designers is showcasing house plans that were inspired by the rich culture of Mexico. You’ll find homes designed in Adobe (also called Santa Fe and Pueblo house plans) with large open courtyards that are great for entertaining and Southwestern/Spanish styling featuring stucco, stone and clay exteriors with red tile roofs, exposed beams and arched openings. The interior of these homes typically feature sun-drenched colors (reds and oranges), stone accents, wood-beamed ceilings, bright tiles, iron and copper decorative accents like clavos, which is Spanish for decorative nails to capture the rich, hand-crafted details of Mexican architecture.

Here are some of our most popular Mexican-influenced homes from our collection of Southwestern and Spanish house plans

Luxury Spanish house plan from The House Designers features a unique open design.

 

This striking Spanish home features a courtyard with grand rotunda entrance. The foyer is flanked by a dining room and den that leads into a circular great room with a 14’ foot viga ceiling and large bay windows that overlook the outdoor patio. The master suite enjoys complete privacy in the front right wing of the home while the rear left wing features three bedrooms and a casita, which shares access to the two covered patios. Tucked behind the side entry three-car garage is a kitchen with center island and circular nook with large bay windows.

Classic Adobe and Sante Fe house plan featuring an open floor plan and plenty of amenities for its 1,675 footprint.

 

This one-story home plan features all the traditional styling of an Adobe/Sante Fe home including a flat roof, clay exterior with large timber beams that poke through the exterior to give the home its distinctive look.

A large covered patio adds to the appeal of this new Spanish design from The House Designers, so homeowners can enjoy their connection to the outdoors.

 

The Coronado House Plan is one of our newest Spanish house plans featuring Old World craftsmanship that starts from the moment that you walk up to the private courtyard and rotunda. Once inside there’s a vaulted great room and gourmet kitchen (perfect for making some spicy Mexican dishes) with a large corner pantry and cozy morning room. There’s a private flexible space that can be used as a den or office. Three bedrooms including the large master suite with his and her closets occupy the right wing of the home.

Be sure to visit The House Designers storyboard of Southwestern-inspired home plans at Pinterest.

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Creating Gorgeous Floor Designs

by on February 12, 2011 in Architecture, House Plans, Open Floor Plans

Whether you are building a new home or renovating your existing home, you’d be surprised how easy it is to create a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind floor design by using simple upgrades such as borders, medallions, hand-distressing and painting, mixed media and exotic wood species.

If you are building a new home, take the time to sit with your designer and builder and have them walk you through each room to discuss not only the best flooring options, but the best design options based on your budget and your home’s interior design. This way your builder can make the necessary modifications to your house plan before construction begins.

For example, borders can be used to create a custom frame effect that contrasts with the look of your room’s main flooring area. Medallions add a unique look to any room and are available either pre-manufactured or custom-made at the job site. Like borders, medallions can incorporate multiple wood species and mixed media, such as stone, metal and leather.

Distressed floors add warmth and character to any room by bringing the beauty of nature indoors. There are many techniques used to distress a wood floor, which greatly affect the cost and quality. Keep in mind, that a little paint can transform an ordinary wood floor into something unique. Look at your floor as a canvas in which to create a work of art that reflects our personal style and taste, such as rustic, formal, contemporary or even whimsical.

Exotic woods can add an entirely new look to any room and are available in a variety of colors and species. If you’re looking for an affordable way to give your wood floors an entirely new look, try custom stains.

This week’s issue of Home Ideas is all about flooring and how to create the perfect outdoor living room. Most of our house plans feature open floor plans and outdoor living spaces, so it is easy to get inspired by the latest flooring and outdoor designs.

If you are not receiving our free weekly e-newsletter Home Ideas, please click here to enter your name and email.

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Designing Your Front Entry

by on September 7, 2010 in Architecture, home building, House Plans

There are so many options available when it comes to choosing and designing your front entry that you’ll want to check out as many product lines and house plans as you can to get inspirational and practical advice. Most door manufacturers like Therma-Tru® (the leader in fiberglass entry and patio doors) offer several different lines designed to complement specific architectural styles.

One of the hottest design trends is adding a touch of decorative glass to your entryway. Aside from creating a unique and dramatic entrance to your new home, glass provides many green elements — like conserving heat and energy.

Rather than try to imagine how a door will look on your home, you can actually see your door on your home or at least a very similar style home by utilizing designer tools like Therma-Tru’s® Interactive Door Designer, where you can choose your door height, style, glass, sidelights and transoms to create a custom design that you can “try on” before you buy.

Create a grand entrance with Therma-Tru® Classic-Craft American Collection™ fiberglass doors.

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Save Money With Stock House Plans

by on July 27, 2010 in Architecture, home building, Home Construction, home designs, Home Plans, House Plans

Stock house plans offer something very important to new consumers — great value. Not only is the cost of a stock plan considerably lower than a custom design, but you’ll save on building costs because stock house plans have already been built and the design is proven. A custom plan works out the kinks as you go along, which can dramatically increase your cost to build.

For example, a custom blueprint by an architect or designer can begin at $2 per square foot, which means a 3,000 square foot home plan would cost minimally $6,000. A similar stock house plan averages around $750. Even with modification costs, a stock plan can easily be half the cost of a house plan drawn from a custom designer or architect.

You can save on construction costs when you use stock house plans, since most stock home plans have already been used at least once so any construction issues regarding the plan have already been resolved. You can also avoid unnecessary building costs and have more accurate budget estimates since the building process should be faster and more efficient.

One of the greatest things about using a stock house plan is the selection. There are thousands of architectural styles and collections to choose from so most likely you will be able to find what your are looking for. Don’t think for a minute that you’ll be forced to accept every single detail in your stock house plan. Making a few changes is no problem, because house plan modifications are very common and offered by most companies. Even with the additional modification costs, stock house plans give you more value for your money.

Our best-selling house plan is also ENERGY STAR approved.

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Inspiring Spa-Like Bath Designs

by on July 23, 2010 in Architecture, home building, Home Ideas, Home Plans, House Plans

Our recent issue of Home Ideas, our free weekly e-newsletter focused on how to create a stylish, spa-like bath that resembles the look and feel of a real spa. You’ll enjoy browsing through our designers and architects hottest house plans featuring photographs of well designed and amenity filled bathrooms. No matter what size the house plan all our designers are spending extra time creating a spa-like retreat in the bath.

Learn how to incorporate a vessel sink into your design to create a really unique look. Vessel sinks are available in so many sizes and shapes that it’s easy to find one that will complement your homes architectural style and décor.

The master bath in this two-story luxurious house plan has been integrated with the master bedroom to create a haven for rest, relaxation, pampering and romance. No amenity has been spared in this design.

This house plan is ENERGY STAR® approved and features one of the most gorgeous green bath designs. Enjoy a great view while relaxing in the hot tub with an oversized window seat and large glass window.

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House Plans With Spectacular Windows

by on July 20, 2010 in Architecture, Home Ideas, Home Plans, House Plans, two-story house plan

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.

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House Plans With Great Kitchen Designs

by on June 29, 2010 in Architecture, Floor Plans, Home Ideas, Home Plans, House Plans

One of the main reasons the house plans featured in our latest issue of Home Ideas remain our most popular is because of their kitchen design. Our designers and architects understand the importance of designing a functional and gorgeous kitchen space, since it is typically the busiest and most important room in any home. Learn how to choose functional and stylish kitchen cabinetry, check out the most innovative cabinet accents and check out the top products from leading cabinet manufacturers like KraftMaid®, Wellborn®, CrownPoint® and Wood-Mode®.

This kitchen is designed to be functional and stylish with it's cabinetry design.

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Flexible & Fun Floor Plan

by on June 22, 2010 in Architecture, Floor Plans, home building, Home Plans, House Plans, Open Floor Plans

My husband and I have been looking to buy our first home for over a year now. Uninspired by the selection of existing homes, we finally decided that we would build our own home so that it would be EXACTLY the way we want it to be. Our first step was to find a house plan, so we did what everyone does and popped the word house plan into Google and starting browsing the top three websites.

We’re both 28 and don’t have any children yet, so we wanted to find a house plan that had a flexible floor plan with lots of fun elements like a media room, outdoor living space, pool, office space, bonus rooms and wet bar. Ironically, we both visited The House Designers and signed up for their free weekly e-newsletter called Dream Designs. This week they featured some of their most popular flexible floor plans and my husband and I both fell in love with the same house plan. It was the perfect size — just under 2,100 square feet and had 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

This plan is perfect for us! It has a gourmet kitchen (my husband is a chef), a two-sided fireplace from the dining room and living room, a barbeque porch with another fireplace, a media room, a master suite that reminds of the hotel we stayed at on our honeymoon and a second floor bonus room.

What really blew us away was the basement floor plan that had an additional 1,524 square feet featuring a guest suite, oversized media room and game room and tons of storage space. We’re not usually impulsive buyers, but we ordered the house plan and can’t wait for the UPS man to come this week.

The dining room and living room share a double-sided fireplace.

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Exclusive ENERGY STAR®/Green homes

by on June 10, 2010 in Architecture, ENERGY STAR, Green Building, green designs, green house plans, home building, Home Construction, Home Plans, House Plans

America’s only collection of ENERGY STAR® approved house plans

The House Designers, the leading online source for residential blueprints and stock house plans, and ENERGY STAR® have put together the ONLY collection of ENERGY STAR® approved house plans to promote consumers and builders to build eco-friendly, energy efficient homes. This collection of exclusive green house plans includes all the necessary tools to build a green home including information on green building products and practices.

“We came up with the idea to implement the first-ever collection of THD/ENERGY STAR® Green Home Plans to encourage consumers and builders to build authentic eco-friendly and energy efficient by implementing sustainable building strategies early in the design phase,” said Tammy Crosby, COO of The House Designers. “This partnership has brought together companies like Danze, Wayne-Dalton and Lumber Liquidators to support our efforts with ENERGY STAR® in educating consumers how to build high-performance, sustainable new homes.

All plans in THD’s ENERGY STAR® Approved/Green House Plan collection qualify as “Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR®”, and include requirements for energy-efficient features and construction details typically found in ENERGY STAR® qualified homes – tight construction and duct systems, properly installed insulation, high performance windows, efficient heating and cooling equipment, ENERGY STAR® qualified lighting and appliances and more.

In today’s price-sensitive economy, THD also helps consumers and builders “go green” by taking advantage of savings and rebates on eco-friendly products offered by residential manufacturers dedicated to promoting sustainable residential construction by offering a money savings/green building section to easily find the latest green building products and rebates.

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Great Outdoor Living Designs

by on May 13, 2010 in Architecture, green designs, green house plans, home building, Home Construction, home designs, Home Plans

The essence of outdoor living is to create an extension of your home, but with all the comforts of the great indoors. With the rising cost in gas and travel prices, families are deciding to stay closer to home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create that great getaway feeling with your outdoor living space, you just have to choose the right elements.

A key ingredient in most outdoor living spaces is a fully equipped and designed kitchen. You’ll find items like sinks, dishwashers, refrigerators, granite countertops, tile backsplashes, gourmet gas and charcoal grills and much more. To further impress, you can add a fireplace, television, stereo system and high-end teak or wrought iron furniture. A popular design trend is having your outdoor kitchen appliances encased in an island or cooking center constructed of concrete, brick, stucco, slate, limestone or similar counters and bases.

Before you go out shopping you’ll need to decide how you plan on using and designing your outdoor space. Do you want to create a retreat or an entertainment space? Do you need a space for food preparation and storage or will a grill be enough? Is a wet bar or hot tub a must for entertaining? Perhaps a combination of all these ideas can be used to create a special outdoor living space that your family and friends can enjoy.

Almost all of our designers and architects are adding an outdoor living space to their house plans, so you can easily create and customize your own private retreat. The latest issue of Dream Designs highlights some great outdoor living designs.

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Perfect house plan for the family

by on January 21, 2010 in Architecture, Home Plans, House Plans

The European architectural elements of this house plan, such as an eyebrow dormer, batten-style shutters, and corbels, are anchored with variegated stone cladding that recalls an ageless appeal. The interior complements this timeless architecture, ensuring the home will outlast the trends. Arches frame the views from the foyer into the dining room, great room, kitchen, and breakfast nook. Built-ins flank the fireplace in the great room, and the breakfast nook provides passage to the backyard. The den features a bay window and built-ins, so it can double as a home office. The upstairs master suite features a triple-window view to the backyard, a vaulted ceiling, a fireplace, and built-ins. The attached bath has a corner spa tub, an oversized shower, and a spacious walk-in closet. Upstairs also has three other bedrooms and a media room. Conveniently located near all the bedrooms is a large laundry room.

Perfectly crafted house plan for the whole family to enjoy.

Perfectly crafted house plan for the whole family to enjoy.

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Kitchen Lighting Design Ideas

by on December 5, 2009 in Architecture, Floor Plans, home designs, Home Plans, House Plans

The kitchen is probably the most important room to have proper lighting design. The goal in kitchen lighting design is to create a bright working space combined with various layers of light to create ambiance, since your kitchen is not just a place to work and create great dishes, but also a place for entertaining and dining. From chandeliers to recessed and track lighting to sconces, the combinations and options are endless for your new kitchen. Whether you are considering a tiny house plan, green design or luxury house plan, you need to take special care with the design of your home lighting, particularly in the kitchen. You can learn more by visiting the lighting experts at LAMPS PLUS® and exploring one of the largest selections of home lighting.

This kitchen is a chefs delight with an abundance of counter space for food prep and entertaining. The L-shaped center island is filled-in with a rounded glass serving bar.

This kitchen is a chefs delight with an abundance of counter space for food prep and entertaining. The L-shaped center island is filled-in with a rounded glass serving bar.

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Your Home May Not Appeal To Others

by on May 19, 2007 in Architecture, Home Construction, House Plans

Just because some things are included in floor plans in certain locations, do not think it is mandatory you follow the crowd. It is your house for which you are paying and you are free to design the floor plans any way you seem fit. 

However, you should realize that if the time comes to sell the house, not everyone may appreciate the non-traditional methods you used when building your home. It would take a like-minded person to show an interest in your house, as well as one to consider buying it. 

Many modern or contemporary floor plans exist that utilize lofted ceilings and extended exposed rafters that make an impact on the interior design of a home. Some visual aspects while attractive leave a lot to be desired in the area of functionality. High ceilings are also traditionally more expensive to heat so building a house with cathedral ceilings in a cold climate may make it difficult to sell if that time arrives. 

Floor plans are a matter of personal choice and there are several that closely resemble others due to the fact that a majority of people appreciate their simplicity or their function. Most often called traditional floor plans, they are in use in many areas of the country because they sufficiently serve the purpose. 

Others may look for floor plans that fit into a landscape instead of a pattern, and although they may be aesthetically pleasing, they may not provide for productive use of space. Closets that are not part of a bedroom may still be closets, but few people may want to get dressed in the hallway. 

Loft bedrooms are somewhat popular, but often due to roof lines do not allow for the installation of doors to hide a messy child’s room or to give them privacy when they grow older. While they may look appealing, they are not really functional as a bedroom.

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