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Move over McMansions — the Cape Cod style home is alive and well. Charming, surprisingly flexible, and characteristic in style, the Cape Cod home might, at first glance, closely resemble an old Colonial style home.
You wouldn’t be entirely wrong because early English settlers were the first to build Cape Cods in the 1600s. Inspired by their Old World homes, these British colonial communities adapted the basic design of their thatched cottages for the harsher, coastal, New England winters.
However, this quintessential floor plan is found across the U.S., especially in coastal regions where the salty sea breeze can naturally weather and oxidize those cedar shingles to a silvery gray. Find out more about the easy and effortless beauty and functionality of Cape Cod style homes.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever taken a vacation along the Atlantic peninsula of Cape Cod, you’ll see a bevy of quaint little villages and seafood shacks converted into restaurants. These unique houses, which blend the architecture and structure of old colonial homes with seaside clapboard siding, are clustered around the U.S. state of Massachusetts. They have a rectangular shape, a steep roof with a shallow roof overhang, and two windows on either side, the same as the symmetrical colonial home.
Cape Cod style homes are designed purely for function — specifically, to be able to protect inhabitants against the unpredictable summers storms and winter snows. However, the simplicity and affordability of the Cape Cod style home is that they made it easy for neighbors to build a community around their structures.
Once soldiers returned from World War II, families, communities, and the suburbs sprang up. Along with them came the need for affordable and durable housing. Even if you’ve never visited Cape Cod, the old Long Island community of Levittown, built by William J. Levitt, was officially the first major housing development featuring exclusively Cape Cod style homes.
However, the 1950s and ‘60s were not the first introduction to Cape Cod homes. In fact, the Boston architect Royal Barry Willis updated and modernized this largely colonial style predecessor into a home fit for the 1920s. The interiors were very contemporary, but the exteriors remained traditional.
By modern-day standards, however, even a well-preserved Cape Cod style home will require updates, either through a remodel or through additions. Outdated features like unlevel floors, small rooms, lower ceilings, tired kitchens, and even root cellars make acquiring a historic home slightly problematic. It’s why so many families who do love the Cape Cod aesthetic decide to build their own Cape Cod home using a customizable floor plan.
Today, you can find Cape Cod homes all across the country, but, of course, it’s hard to duplicate the little nuances and details of these historic homes. Certain accents, like faded and weathered sideboards, can take time. However, there are plenty of exterior and interior structural details that can help you bring back the style and make it come alive.
You can recognize a classic Cape Cod home with its:
Interior features of a Cape Cod style floor include:
Glancing at the traditional, cottage-like exteriors, as well as its modern interiors, you may know already that a Cape Cod style home is right for you. In the recent past, updates to the overall architectural design of the Cape Cod floor plan make it much more accessible, ornamental, and even ostentatious.
So if you know you’d enjoy the cozy, seaside feeling but you’d like taller ceilings or more bedrooms, today’s Cape Cod floor plans are fully capable of offering your family these creature comforts. For example, Full or Double Cape Cod floor plans offer a main floor that rises to a generous nine feet in height.
The demands of modern families have created permanent variations on the Cape Cod style design, including:
The modern-day twists and variations of a Cape Cod floor plan make it the perfect starter home and a great option for empty nesters looking to downsize. Cape Cod floor plans are uniquely scalable for a growing family, but they also work very well on smaller plots of land. All you need to decide, then, is which of these modern Cape Cod varieties suit your family and life situation best.
With its variety of exterior features, the Cape Cod style home can provide homeowners who love the classic, traditional look a chance to design their dream home with the precise interior features they’ll need. The first place to start brainstorming variations on a Cape Cod style home is a search through Monster House Plans’ virtually unlimited database of floor plans. Using a few specific keywords and extra search options, you can quickly narrow down your choices and compare floor plans side by side.
Next, use our innovative 3D Intelligent House Plan Modeling Specs to learn more about nuances like sloping lots, foundation, and excavation specifics. Monster House Plans gives you the chance to consult expert architects and designers on any plan and create custom changes or additions based on your preferences.
Any good project needs a solid foundation, and floor plans from Monster House Plans do exactly that. Our unique designs empower you to make the right decisions and design choices you’ll need to build the ultimate dream home in a sustainable and affordable way. Browse the Monster House Plans selection of Cape Cod style homes today!