Three Most Popular Home Architectural Styles

When it comes to choosing a house plan, the architectural style of the building will lend feeling and grace to the final product. There are three extremely popular home architectural designs. These include Craftsman, Traditional, and Southern.

The Craftsman Home

The Craftsman style home is one of the most popular designs used in home architecture. This is due to the easy, laid back feeling of the design. Unlike other home designs, this design depends on the least complicated ideas and the least expensive materials. The most common characteristics are low ceilings, straight lines, and shallow roofing.

Building a Craftsman style home is all about being hands on. These home designs were built by wood worksmen with hand held tools of the manual sort. Today, with the advent of retro-electric tools, some of the same Craftsman designs can be created without the months of intensive labor.

Each Craftsman style home most often exhibits the same style and function. Nearly all include chimneys, porches, symmetrical windows, masonry foundations, and stairs leading to the front door of the home.

The Traditional Home

When designing a home of traditional style, the area the home will be built within will denote the traditional characteristics of the home. In the south, for instance, there are classic design elements that make the home design traditional. The expansive front porch, pillars holding up the facade of the home and tall stair entryways are all common in Southern traditional architecture.

On the other hand, a traditional style home in the New England states will not hold any of the same qualities. The key to designing a traditional home is to find homes in the area that were built 25 to 50 years before. These homes were stick built and offer a style and grace embracing the locality. These homes can be used as a template for your traditional style.

The Southern Home

When it comes to the south, bigger is always better. The Southern home is one of grandiose measures and plantation-esque features. The front porch extends the outdoor living space of the home by hundreds, if not thousands of square feet. The stairs leading to the entryway of the home are tall, providing the home with a sense of height unlike any other home style.

This huge home may evoke a "Gone With the Wind" image. But, this style of Southern home is not really that southern at all. The old South home is actually based upon Greek or Roman architecture used all over the United States. After the Civil War, the southern homes were not torn down and rebuilt like much of the United States and thus they are considered Southern style architecture to this day.

The house plan you choose should not only present a beautiful finished product, but a connection with your heart. Your home is an extension of you and finding just the right home style whether it be Traditional, Southern or Craftsman only requires learning a bit about these extremely popular styles.

Find more on house plan.