Many modern or contemporary floor plans make use of glass and wide open rooms, giving a house the look and feel of being larger than it actually is. By combining floor to ceiling windows with a fewer number of separations, even a smaller home can appear much larger.
From the outside a contemporary design may appear geometric with equal sides and be broken by peaks and valleys. With large areas of glass and great rooms many are reminiscent of vacation homes or beach houses. These types of floor plans may look great near a lake or in the country, but may not fit in with an urban neighborhood.
While you appreciate your individual tastes in floor plans, fitting in to the neighborhood should be considered when choosing floor plans. That is not to say that your house should look like everyone else’s, but it should look as though it belongs in the area in which is was built.
For example, a luxury style three-floor home with four sides covered with stone or stucco may seem out of place in an urban setting, while the same design and size will seem perfectly normal in a country setting. This could be a case of having trouble selling the home in the future if it does not look like it belongs there.
A hipped-roof pavilion style of home may look at home near a lake or stream, as a vacation home, but the open floor plan may not be in its best setting in the city. Where a story-and-a-half colonial may look good in the city, sitting in the middle of a three acre lot may make it seem insignificant.
The suburbs are a great place for houses with floor plans of French influence, with their corner windows and sometimes erratic roof lines and detailed mason work. Most are suitable for larger two-story structures, although a few designs are smaller.
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Christine Cooney
Christine has over a decade of experience as a house plan and floor plan expert. Outside of providing her expertise to customers to help them find and build their dream homes, her passion and knowledge of the home building industry allows Christine to guide families and builders through all of the important steps from finding plans to building custom homes that meet the expectations of today’s new home owner. Christine’s years of knowledge of the diverse trends and needs of the modern homeowner has made her into an authoritative and trusted voice in the online house plan community..