We have created a special collection of distinct home plans to help you find your dream home based on your needs and lifestyle. Each collection features our architects and designers best-selling, most popular home plans, available in a wide range of architectural styles. Get inspired by our collection of fabulous kitchens, exclusive and luxury house plans or settle into one of our traditional ranch, one or two-story homes with lots of amenities and room to customize.

For this week’s issue of Dream Designs we have chosen some of our most popular floor plans for enjoying indoor and outdoor living. These designs are perfect for entertaining family and friends or enjoying private family time.

You can learn to live green by adopting new habits and ideas that not only reduce the impact our lifestyles have on our planet, but create a healthier home environment. Here are some easy tips for living green in your new home:

Use ceiling fans.
Ceiling fans are far more energy efficient, economical, and quieter than air-conditioning units and they can cool almost any home if placed properly. It’s a good idea to put one above each bed for comfortable sleeping. A much overlooked but practical space for a ceiling fan is in the stairwell because it assists with the overall cooling of your home and in the winter you can reverse the blade direction to help keep warm air on the main floor.

Install a clothesline or drying station.
Give your dryer a vacation by installing a clothesline (either the traditional long line or the more compact umbrella style) or incorporating a drying station in your laundry room design. If you like the idea of fast, free and fresh drying, but are concerned with the crisp texture of line drying, simply soften towels, socks and jeans with a 5-minute tumble in the dryer.

Build and decorate with natural materials.
You’ll find that there are lots of eco-friendly products to choose from when you begin building your new home. The more natural products that go into building your home, the healthier it will be. One product that is hard to overlook is wood. Wood floors will keep you warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Use eco-friendly cleaning products.
Maintain and clean your home daily by using eco-friendly cleaning products. One of the most basic cleaning products are vinegar and baking soda, but thanks to most cleaning manufactures offering a green line of products, you can choose from a variety of your favorite brands.

Use your windows for more than a view.
Be sure that your windows are designed properly because by controlling the size and location you can effectively manage the amount of light and heat they let inside during different times of the day. Simple steps like drawing the blinds or curtains on a hot day to keep the cool air in and hot air out or opening opposing windows so air flows more efficiently can greatly reduce energy costs.

Control your lighting.
One of the easiest things you can do to save on energy costs is to install CFLs (compact fluorescent lights). Another great idea is to use dimmers because you not only can control the look and ambiance of a room but the energy savings are great. Dimmers will double the life of your bulb and use less wattage. You can enjoy multiple uses in one room, by selecting different fixtures with dimmers. And if you have children, sensors are a great way to be sure lights aren’t left turned on.

Put your house to bed.
Make putting your house to bed a nightly routine, which includes turning off all lights and lamps (nightlights work great in hallways), turn off all electronics, check that all major appliances are shut down properly and lower your HVAC.

Enjoy browsing our collection of green designs, as well as reading about building green and ENERGY STAR in our green building guide.

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 (which I’m sure will all be playing Michael Jackson, to honor the late King of Pop) 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.

You can get some great ideas from our latest issue of Home Ideas featuring articles on how to the bring the kitchen outdoors, the latest outdoor appliances by top manufacturers like KitchenAid and tips for building and designing your outdoor living place. Also…get inspired by our collection of outdoor living house plans.

A great room is an area within a home, which nowadays features an open floor plan that combines the functions of more traditional rooms, such as the family room and the living room with the kitchen and outdoor living area. The advantage of a great room over a more traditional room is flexibility. Most homeowners get little use from their living rooms and dining rooms. A great room in combination with a large kitchen can offer you a flexible area for entertaining large parties or sharing a family dinner.

Great rooms are usually rather large, open rooms that can normally take up about 10% to 15% of the total square footage of our home. For example, a great room in a 4,000 square foot home might be 550 to 600 square feet.

Enjoy some of our favorite great rooms in the latest issue of Home Ideas. You’ll find house plans in all sizes and architectural styles that all feature this great open living space.

When it comes time to looking for a floor plan every family in the world has different needs and tastes, which is why it is important to explore various collections of house plans. A couple with young children is usually looking for bedrooms that are close to the master suite, as well as a large bonus/flexible space that can be used as a playroom.

Last week I received a call from a couple looking for a house plan that was designed with all the bedrooms together and a large bonus room. I easily found a plan that would satisfy both these needs with the Madison, which features a master suite, three additional bedrooms and a bonus room on the second floor.

The kitchen also had two key features - a work island and a built-in desk to keep the family schedule organized. The work island provides extra space for the preparation of family meals and in today’s economy preparing meals at home has become a family event.

The Madison floor plan allows for a young family to enjoy all the open space and still will be a great floor plan when the children move out and the empty nester phase of life starts.

Nowadays a well-designed garage does much more than house your cars, it adds value and curb appeal to your home while extending your living space. When searching for a house plan, it is best to decide ahead of time whether you want an attached or detached garage and if you want a one-car or multi-car garage option.

Once you decide what kind of garage you want, you’ll want to choose a garage door that reflects your individual style and enhances the architectural design of your new home.

Whether your style is traditional, carriage house or estate, or your preference in material is steel, composite or wood — most garage door manufacturers like Wayne-Dalton, offer complete lines and countless options for stock and custom garage doors. Aesthetically speaking, you can choose your windows and inserts, color, material and decorative hardware. From a functional perspective you need to check out the insulation and how your door operates (sectional roll downs, tilt-ups or swing).

A tip for choosing the right style: your garage door should not only reflect your personal taste, but should maintain the architectural integrity of your home. One of the most popular styles is the carriage house, which resembles the traditional, swinging barn door styles, but with a convenient twist — they’re available with all the mechanics of a modern garage door.

Learn everything you need about garage doors and designs in the latest issue of Home Ideas.

This Sunday is Father’s day and is also the first day of summer. It is a day to recognize our father, grandfathers and godfathers - the men who shaped our lives through their support, protection and provisions. We should respect and pamper our father’s on this day and of course find them a gift they can enjoy for years to come. For all the dream’s they’ve made possible for us, maybe their dream is to have a new home filled with all the amenities a man loves - outdoor cooking area, a large yard with a pool/patio, a porch or deck or both for relaxing, a recreational or media room to hang out with the guys or perhaps an office/library where they can unwind and admire their beloved Red Sox memorabilia. For some it may be a wall of trophies, a car or train collection, or other memorabilia that they’ve kept tucked away. Our latest issue of Dream Designs features some great home designs for the men in our lives.

When you graduate from The Culinary Institute of America, you can be sure that when you build a new home, you’ll want a fabulous, gourmet kitchen. When I received a call from a customer looking for a cook’s kitchen I knew I had the perfect house plan with the Tasseler, which is designed with a professional kitchen and lots of other great living spaces like a massive vaulted great room, formal dining room and theater.

The newly graduated chef was looking for a kitchen that had enough workspace to create several dishes at once, as well as host cooking classes. The gourmet kitchen features two dishwashers, dual fuel range, pot filler, warming drawer, hammered copper sinks, granite countertops, butcher block cutting board table and a pantry. The kitchen overlooks the spacious great room and dining room with beamed ceiling and stone fireplace. In addition to the center prep island there’s a separate countertop with seating for eight.

The couple was so thrilled with the spacious kitchen and open design that they purchased the house plan without even looking at our complete collection of fabulous kitchen floor plans. They knew that they would enjoy this home for many years to come because it had all the space they would need to start a family.

Deciding what type of windows to use on your new home will be one of the most important decisions you will make. Windows add warmth, beauty and light to your home. Since windows are one of the most visible features of your home from both the inside and out, you’ll want to make a wise and practical choice. Most people spend 10 to 15 percent of their home building budget on windows and doors. Our latest issue of Home Ideas features two insightful articles to help you choose the right window for your new home – Choosing the Right Window For Your Style Home and Understanding Window Styles. You can also get inspired by looking through our collection of house plans, featuring great photography.

Make sure you purchase windows that qualify for federal tax incentives like the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). This tax credit offers 30% of the product cost up to a maximum of $1,500 for qualifying purchases of new, energy efficient windows. Under the ARRA law, the tax credit applies only to windows with a “U” factor equal to or less than 0.30 and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) equal to or less than 0.30. The credit is good only for the windows themselves, not installation costs.

In addition to helping consumers, this tax incentive is providing a window of opportunity for companies such as Jeld-Wen, Andersen, Pella, Integrity Windows and Marvin Windows and Doors, who are looking for a boost from a slumping home building industry.

Whether you are looking for a cozy two-story craftsman with wrap-around porch or a simple ranch, we offer a wide selection of affordable and small house plans to accommodate your preferences and needs so you can build your dream home with out sacrificing amenities and style. Most of our small plans range between 1500 to 2500 square feet and are ENERGY STAR® approved so can enjoy years of savings with our green/energy efficient designs. Explore one of the finest and diverse collections of small house plans on the web in our latest issue of Dream Designs.

I got a call last week from a woman who was looking to build her first home in Virginia. Both she and her husband had moved from Chicago to Washington DC, when she was hired to work for the White House. After living in Washington for several months and knowing that her job would probably keep them in that area for a long time, they started searching for available land around the Washington D.C. area. They wanted to be practical (keeping their commute to a minimum), but still have their privacy, which is why they chose Alexandria. Situated across the Potomac River, they would be able to satisfy their desire for city life and country living.

It wasn’t easy for them to find a lot to build their new home, because they were only looking for a small piece of land to build an affordable home. They also wanted a house design that would allow them to have room to grow. After searching several house plans site, they called us based on the fact that we had the most extensive and diversified collection of small, affordable house plans. They were pleased to find out that we offered free modification quotes and shipping. After talking for over an hour and taking notes about their “must have” design features and lot challenges, I set out to find six house plans to show them that were under 2,000 square feet, had an open-floor plan, wrap-around porch and lots of flexible spaces.

Stay tuned…to see what house plan they will choose. I’m betting it will be the 1917 House Plan, which is not only from our small collection, but is a THD exclusive house plan.

There’s nothing more exciting than building a new home, because you’re in charge. From selecting the lot to choosing your home design to picking out all the products that go into your new home – the process can be overwhelming, but ultimately rewarding when you walk through you new dream home for the first time. Our latest issue of Home Ideas features a step-by-step guide so you’ll know what to expect during every phase of the home building process.

Realizing your dream home all starts with finding the perfect house plan. We realize this can be a difficult task without the right resources, which is why our designers and architects have put everything you need under one roof at The House Designers. Relax and enjoy browsing through our collection of house plans, floor plans, home designs and home plans in a wide range of sizes and architectural styles. All of these best-selling plans are available as green designs so you can enjoy an environmentally friendly and efficient home.

Considering how fragile the economy is right now and how timid banks are to loan money for new home construction, it is no wonder that one of the most frequently asked questions from our customers is “How they can save money building their new home?” It wasn’t that long ago when banks were “basically” giving out loans and the trend was to build large, extravagant homes. Today banks are less likely to fund new construction because of the high costs associated with new construction. The good news is that homeowners are now more apt to build smaller, greener and more affordable homes. But time is ticking as fixed mortgage rates continue to climb.

If you’re set on building a new home there are still many ways you can keep your cost down, which will make the banks more likely to fund your project. You can start by purchasing a stock house plan, which will save you thousands over hiring an architect or designer. With the decrease in new home construction, you can easily find great building and design products at a discounted rate. You also can look to FHA loans, which are still the best alternative to a conventional loan. You’ll want to inquire about a new Federal Housing Administration program, which will let first-time home buyers use their $8,000 tax credit for down payments or closing costs.

If you live in an area where the terrain is often hilly an uneven, it can be challenging to find house plans suitable for your lot. Luckily, the architects and designers at THD have an extensive collection of house plans designed specifically for sloping lots. Their collection of sloping lot house plans feature creative solutions for tough home sites while maintaining floor plans that are logical, livable and available in a variety of architectural styles.

Most sloping lot house plans are paired with walkout basement designs to take full advantage of your available space, while providing access to the backyard via the basement. They are typically two or two-and-a-half story designs and should be chosen based on the how you want your home to sit on your sloped lot. If you want your home to bisect the slope from front to back then you’ll want to find a split-level house plan with the half-story to one side. If your home is placed in the middle of two slopes, you’ll need to find a house plan with a walkout or daylight basement. Our latest issue of Dream Designs features some of most popular sloping lot designs.

When building a home in the mountains of Tennessee the selection of house plans are endless, which means it can take hours, weeks or even months to the find the perfect design. Last week I spoke with a customer who was looking for a house plan to build his mountain retreat in Tennessee and I immediately thought of the Piney Creek.

This plan has so much to offer in just 1,400 square feet. The great room and dining room have a vaulted ceiling that opens to the balcony featuring a sleeping loft, full bathroom and bedroom. There’s a front covered porch and grilling porch in the back that adjoins the kitchen area.

After going through many plans, we always came back to the Piney Creek. The only concern was making the sleeping loft larger in order to put extra beds upstairs for guests. He decided to dormer out the back to have a more private sleeping area like the other bedroom. We are always looking to satisfy our customers and willing to work with them from plan search to modifications to purchase.

If you’re looking for a rustic home check out our collection of mountain house plans and log homes, which are all designed for energy efficiency and total livability. You’ll find these home designs in all sizes, shapes and styles. Special care was taken by our designers and architects to blend old world techniques and common sense with modern conveniences and comfort.