Tag Archives: dream home

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Human societies have been building and living in homes for thousands of years. These historical architectural styles reflect regional influences as well as the ongoing development of human architectural stylesculture. As societies form, the structures echo the needs of the present place and time and, over the years, this has come to provide us with numerous architectural styles that reference these past design trends and point towards our future.

These days, we use architectural styles to denote those sociohistorical trends that guided past design choices. They are quite helpful when searching through a large archive of house plans on a site like MonsterHousePlans.com. Ultimately, however, many of the distinguishing features of one house plan design style will also be reflected in other styles of house plans. The wide front porch of architectural stylesthe Southern Country style house plan is similarly a common feature of the ever-popular Craftsman house plan as well. It’s difficult to say which claimed the front porch feature first, or if they developed simultaneously. But this is just one example of the way seemingly-signature features are often incorporated into other design styles.

This is good news for those shopping for their dream house plan. A good designer will meld various styles into a seamless reflection of the current trends while also applying an expert’s hand in terms of structural integrity and feasibility. As our lifestyles grow custom architectural stylemore diverse, the homes we choose to build echo our evolution. With modern families taking so many various forms it’s quite amazing really to see the way our clients are taking full advantage of the opportunity to create something unique and functional for their lives. And although there are always some house plan styles that remain popular in the long term, there will also always be room for artistic development and socially-influenced modifications. Perhaps this is what draws us as architects to this field: this constant evolving of form and function, and the ultimate pay-off of a happy family loving the space they live in.

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Courtyard House Plans Add Elegance

No matter what size lot you plan on building on, considering a courtyard house plan is one of the most traditional ways to elevate the elegance and maximize available space.

Most of the house plans that offer a courtyard already in the design are of the traditional variety: European designs in particular favor this feature. But several of the more recent American trends have also adopted the courtyard garden as a way to provide private outdoor space that is both open to the air and protected from the stronger elements.

Enclosed patio in courtyard house plan

Enclosed within the main structure of the house, a courtyard garden often exists in the center of the lot, with the main arms of the house surrounding it. But there are options: a courtyard can also be situated towards the back and side of the house, or can be built between the main house and a detached garage and used as a vestibule space. There are countless options for bringing this lovely space to fruition, and several reasons why it’s a good idea to consider for your own dream house plan.

Courtyard house plans typically have a few features in common:

  • Water fixtures:  Either large or small, and used as part of landscaping irrigation or simply toWater feature in a courtyard house plan provide a quiet, tranquil background noise in a peaceful setting, a water fixture is a classic element to a courtyard. Even something as subtle as a stone bird bath with a slow trickle of fresh water running into it can make an enclosed courtyard garden feel like a haven from the stresses of the outside world.

 

  • Patio: Built into the center of the courtyard with features and landscaping plants arranged on Paved patio in Courtyard House Planthe periphery, a patio makes for an intuitive gathering space. Paving stones, brick, or other natural materials are typically used here, and ground cover allowed to expand between the stones makes for a romantic and traditionally elegant setting for a summer’s evening meal or glass of wine.

 

  • Low maintenance landscaping: Typically, a courtyard is designed to be relatively low-Low maintenance plants in Courtyard House Planmaintenance compared to other styles of yard spaces. Choosing plants that are capable of being left unattended for short periods of time are a functional addition, while many would opt for plantings that will grow and expand on their own over time. Training vines like clematis and wisteria are good options for a setting such as this.

The garden space inherent in a courtyard house plan can elevate your dream home to a new level of simple elegance and make efficient use of space on your chosen lot. Search our large selection of House-Plans-With-Courtyards.

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Using a house plan to build your custom home is not only for those seeking a new primary residence. For any number of factors people will continue to choose to live in urban areas, or in housing developments in which the homeowner’s level of control is managed by a larger organization. Maybe a condominium is perfect for you right now, with its lack of yard maintenance and convenient locations. These can all be very functional living arrangements for many. But the dream of building a unique living space infects us all, and vacation homes offer a viable option.

Smaller house plans with features designed for comfort and convenience are very popular on our site these days. The requirements for a vacation home are often different from those of a permanent residence, but no less inventive. Typically boasting open floor plans, ample storage and closet space, and gathering spaces, these house plans are all about bringing people together. Smaller square footage and simple roof designs can keep the cost of building a vacation home economical, while easily adaptable custom features make for a uniquely functional space. Also with these smaller house plans comes a greater adaptability in terms of lot choice.

While packing up the car this weekend with all the accouterments a camping trip requires, allow yourself to imagine for a moment how easy it would be to spend the long weekend at your vacation home. Rather than mounting the kayak to the top of the car, its waiting in the garage of your lakeside cabin. Instead of eating out for the duration of your trip, you stock your kitchen with the necessary ingredients and cookware. Rather than struggling with a sleeping bag on uneven ground, you rest in a bedroom that opens onto a screened-in porch for that open air feeling. Whether your vacation home is a cabin in the woods, a beach house on the coast, a log cabin by the side of a lake, or an A-frame up in the mountains, the options are truly limitless.

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Save Money with Solar Panels

Building a home can be an expensive endeavor, and most people preparing to embark on this project are on the lookout for ways to save money- both in the construction phase and in the future years of living in your dream house. The decision to go with alternative energy sources is one that is best made early-on as you browse for floor plans, as the house plan you choose to build from will impact your options for alternative energy sources.

Solar panels have been on the commercial market now since the 1950’s and recent developments in technology have greatly improved the efficiency and storage capacity of solar panels. Versions of this technology are available in hundreds of smaller products, in everything from landscaping lighting options to solar cell phone and tablet chargers. But solar panels on the roof of your new home can save you hundreds of dollars each year in utilities and reduce your dependence on traditional sources of electricity.

Forbes magazine estimates that installing solar panels of your roof can reduce your family’s carbon footprint by as much as 35,180 pounds of carbon dioxide each year, doing the work of 88 trees. For those interested in green structures and efficient houses, this is an impressive statistic. And with so many people interested in this option, there are now several ways to go about it.

Many companies will lease solar panels and include installation in the overall cost of the agreement. The benefit of this arrangement is mostly financial, as the company who leases the equipment stores the electricity and sells it back to the consumer, often at a lower rate than the electrical company.

For some, installing permanent solar panels will be the best option. There is an initial cost investment in the materials and the skilled labor required to install them, but you can expect to begin recouping that investment right away. Electricity can be harnessed to power lights, heat, hot water heaters, swimming pools and hot tubs, and any other electricity-based appliance. Solar panels are also estimated to increase the resale value of your home by as much as 20%, so for many home builders it is a worthy venture.

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Fenced In

It was Robert Frost who intoned over 100 years ago: good fences make good neighbors. A visible boundary around one piece of property to separate it from the next one, a fence is called upon to serve many purposes. But when browsing through hundreds of house plans and considering building your dream house on a new lot, the decision to include a fence can be based on several factors.

Security

At its most basic level, a fence is a safety feature. Designed to protect your yard and your home from unwanted attention, security fences can be anything from solid wood to chain link. Highly security-conscious consumers can set up electrical fencing as part of an alarm system to warn of intruders and dissuade against the impulse to violate the boundary.

Property Division

Fences are often used to mark out the boundaries of one parcel of land. These can be as simple as occasional markers stuck in the ground to denote a property line or a single wire strung between posts at the corners of the lot. In older pieces of land, the property line can sometimes be marked by naturally occurring divisions, such as a change in landscape or a line of trees or shrubbery.

Aesthetics

A fence is also often used as a decorative touch to the overall vision of your dream house. The ever-popular picket fence is just one example among many of this kind of addition. Ornamental fencing can complete the overall look of your home and can be either quite affordable or very expensive, depending on the materials you use. Because the intention of this kind of fencing is aesthetic, the options are unlimited and can be easily matched to the style of home you are planning to build.

As you put the finishing touches on your vision for your dream home, consider the reasons for building a fence as you choose how to proceed. And with house plans that feature wrap around front porches or verandas, some will choose not to build a fence at all, creating an open feel to the yard and enabling the porch railings to serve double-duty as a protective boundary around the home.

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How to Choose the Best Siding for Your Dream Home

When planning to build your dream home, there are many decisions to be made. Options for house siding are many, and each has its share of benefits and drawbacks.

Wood

Wood is the classic siding choice, and has many applications. Clapboards (horizontal siding), shingles, and board-and-batten are all popular choices and have been used for hundreds of years. Wood siding requires some regular maintenance depending on the way you use it, but it is quite durable and aesthetically pleasing.

Synthetic options exist as an alternative to the cost of using wood siding. Cement fiber, seamless steel, and engineered wood are some oft-used choices, and they boast longer lifespans with less maintenance.

Stucco

A mixture of cement, water, and inert materials like lime or sand make up the material known as stucco. It is painted on the side of a building and can be tinted any color you wish, negating the need to paint your walls in the future. It is very inexpensive and long-lasting and can easily be applied by the savvy DIY-er.

Brick

Few siding options gave that classic old-fashioned look like brick does. Known for its durability and strength, many old buildings sided with brick are still standing and in good working order today. Brick is heavy and can be expensive, and installation labor will add to the cost of the materials. Synthetic brick veneers are available at a lesser cost and are thought to maintain well over the years, but the material has not been on the market long enough to test this claim.

Vinyl

Vinyl siding is an inexpensive, durable, and low-maintenance option often used in houses. Made of PVC plastic and tinted throughout, scratches and nicks are difficult to spot, but vinyl will eventually fade and possibly crack as the years go by. It is lightweight and easy to install and requires very little prep work beforehand.

Stone

Siding the full exterior of your home with stone is impractical and prohibitively expensive, but for hundreds of years houses were built entirely out of this durable material. Home owners today will often use stone as an accent and even this truncated application can be costly to purchase and install. Synthetic options are on the market that can bring the cost down but aesthetically there is some debate about whether or not the look of synthetic stone is close enough to the real thing to be a good alternative.

Whichever option you choose for your dream home, spend some time researching your options. You’ll want to consider the cost of materials, installation, labor and prep work required, and overall longevity of your chosen material as factors in your decision.

 

 

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Every family I know is always trying to find ways to live more frugally and stretch their dollars further. For many people, this begins with identifying waste and superfluous purchases. In terms of the rising cost of food for a family, creating a well-stocked pantry is one of the best and easiest ways to save money in the check-out line.

By focusing on ingredients and food items with a long shelf life, the danger of wasting food that goes bad before it can be eaten is drastically reduced. Here are a few categories of pantry staples to get you started:

Dry Goods:

Dried staples are a great and inexpensive way to save money and keep your pantry well stocked.

Dried staples are a great and inexpensive way to save money and keep your pantry well stocked.

Stock up on things like dry beans, pasta, nuts, popcorn, rice and ancient grains like quinoa. These things benefit from an overnight soaking before cooking, but it is not required especially if you plan on cooking with a slow cooker. With a few minutes’ prep time in the morning you can come home in the evening to a hot pot of chili or soup without making an additional stop at the store.

 

Canned goods:

Canned foods are an easy way to keep your pantry full of easy meal ingredients.

Canned foods are an easy way to keep your pantry full of easy meal ingredients.

Large cans of whole peeled tomatoes, “cream of” soups, evaporated milk, vegetables like green beans and corn, tomato sauce, stock and soup bases, tuna, chili, and peanut butter are some of the major staples that can easily be made into a meal using just what you have on hand.

 

 

Short Cuts: Bouillon cubes, seasoning packets, sauce mixes,

Freezer:

Buy in bulk and freeze extra meat and produce.

Buy in bulk and freeze extra meat and produce.

Depending on how your utility bills add up, many families actually save money by purchasing an additional chest freezer for storing bulk purchases. Food items like frozen meats, berries and other fruits, homemade stock and soup that can be frozen into individual portions, fresh vegetables enjoy a longer life when frozen, jams and jellies, and even casseroles can be made up in large batches and frozen for an easy dinner later on in the week.

In short, planning ahead and maintain a well-stocked pantry can save you hundreds of dollars a year by providing the necessary ingredients for many meals. And by focusing on ingredients rather than buying everything fresh the food waste is significantly reduced simply by lowering the risk of food going bad before it can be eaten.

 

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Imagining Your Dream Home

There are so many practical decisions to make when buying a house plan and planning the home building project, so many variables that need to be considered and worked through. But one of the most important things to make space for in the planning process is for some creative-level open-minded envisioning of your future in your dream home. In between the details, find some time to day dream about how you will spend your time within the walls you’ve had custom built, and ask yourself some specific, open-ended questions:

Where do you tend to spend the most time when you’re at home: Family room? Kitchen? Back yard?

What do you wish you could do in your home now that space doesn’t allow for: Home office, perhaps?

How does your family move through your home, and where do you all tend to come together: During mealtimes? On weekend mornings? Around a kitchen island while cooking meals?

If it were possible, what unusual features would you want in your dream home: A spiral staircase? A tower room?

What are some small features that would make a huge impact on your daily home life: Bay window seats? Lots and lots of storage hidden in clever ways?

How do you imagine your life changing in the next decade: Is your family growing? Getting smaller? Will you consider working from home and/or beginning your own company?

Are animals a part of your life now or in the future? What kinds of needs will they have: built-in dog runs? A cat yard? Outside structures for chickens or goats?

To build a dream home is to make manifest the imaginings of your collective family. And while it takes focus and practicality to pull it all together, the early stages should be joyous and the ideas free-flowing. Especially when you are working with designers who offer customized house plans. Many of the seemingly “crazy ideas” are, in fact, quite possible and easy to accomplish when you work with your designer on implementing your vision. Having foresight when building your dream home is equal parts rationality and creativity; for best results, use both sides of the brain for this project.

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Here at Monster House Plans, we offer many house plans, but the Country style has been one of our most popular house plans for several years. This is a home that is designed to support lots of activity, changes in family structure over time, and offers an expansive living space beyond what just the inside can offer. With its large wrap around porch and features that rank utility over tradition, this country house plan is a perennial favorite for families of varied arrangements.

The wrap around porch greets family members and visitors alike with an expansive, welcoming feeling, while the screened in portion in the back makes for a very versatile space year-round. The inside design prioritizes function over appearance, as can be seen with the large open floor plan, kitchen with eating bar and island, and walk-in pantry. The master bedroom is located on the main floor and good for temperature control year round as well as serving as an option for aging parents or those who have trouble navigating stairs. Upstairs are two additional bedrooms with the option of a gaming room or family media room that many people are choosing to include these days. Alternatively, that space can be used as a home office or third upstairs bedroom.

This country house plan is the very example of modern efficiency in balance with a traditional, intimate exterior. This is a house plan designed to be welcoming and functional, and the inherent versatility makes it clear why it remains one of our top sellers. It is also available for our exclusive Intelligent House Plan service, which delivers a 3-D digital model, including 12 unique house plan views and a materials list, to your inbox immediately after purchase. This is the single most valuable tool available as you prepare to build your dream home, allowing designers and builders to come together for custom alterations and design improvements unique to the needs of your family.

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In a world full of conformity and sameness, there are many opportunities to show your unique vision through your dream home project. Creative solutions to common problems are the specialties of many architects, and these types of issues that require them to accomplish something typical in a new and fresh way is often the bread-and-butter of a design assignment. Here at Monster House Plans, we make it easier than ever to create a custom house plan you can get excited about.

Some of these creative decisions do not require expert guidance, however. Consider that the street view is the first impression your home makes to your family and your guests alike. Curb appeal is a big deal at every stage of your dream home project: it is important in everything from the way you feel as you walk up the front steps and insert your key into the door to the potential increase in overall home value to potential buyers by drawing them in.

Your front door says a lot about your family. For many home builders and home owners, a front door is the single most effective way to make a strong aesthetic statement. It is the perfect bend of beauty and function, as the front door is your welcome statement and also serves some very important purposes. In addition to serving as the entrance space for your home, your front door is also a security feature. When considering an artistic flair for your door, make sure that the basic functionality remains intact. While fancy plate-glass windows might appeal to your decorative sense, you do sacrifice some privacy aspects that a door can provide, and that might not be the best idea in high traffic areas. Dutch doors are quirky and wonderful, but are often preferred in the back of the house as they offer a more intimate entry into your home space.

As you choose your front door to perfectly accent the façade of your dream home, look for ways to balance beauty and function. Often the most aesthetically pleasing choices are embodiments of these two elements in harmony.