This affordable, two-bedroom cottage house plan is perfect for any waterfront property. Enjoy the view with a full-length porch and second floor balcony. The living room has two-story ceilings for an open floor plan and the master suite enjoys a private bath on the first floor. It also comes with a garage plan featuring a carport, utility room with washer and dryer, storage room and covered porch.
July 28, 2010
July 27, 2010
Save Money With Stock House Plans
Stock house plans offer something very important to new consumers — great value. Not only is the cost of a stock plan considerably lower than a custom design, but you’ll save on building costs because stock house plans have already been built and the design is proven. A custom plan works out the kinks as you go along, which can dramatically increase your cost to build.
For example, a custom blueprint by an architect or designer can begin at $2 per square foot, which means a 3,000 square foot home plan would cost minimally $6,000. A similar stock house plan averages around $750. Even with modification costs, a stock plan can easily be half the cost of a house plan drawn from a custom designer or architect.
You can save on construction costs when you use stock house plans, since most stock home plans have already been used at least once so any construction issues regarding the plan have already been resolved. You can also avoid unnecessary building costs and have more accurate budget estimates since the building process should be faster and more efficient.
One of the greatest things about using a stock house plan is the selection. There are thousands of architectural styles and collections to choose from so most likely you will be able to find what your are looking for. Don’t think for a minute that you’ll be forced to accept every single detail in your stock house plan. Making a few changes is no problem, because house plan modifications are very common and offered by most companies. Even with the additional modification costs, stock house plans give you more value for your money.
July 23, 2010
Inspiring Spa-Like Bath Designs
Our recent issue of Home Ideas, our free weekly e-newsletter focused on how to create a stylish, spa-like bath that resembles the look and feel of a real spa. You’ll enjoy browsing through our designers and architects hottest house plans featuring photographs of well designed and amenity filled bathrooms. No matter what size the house plan all our designers are spending extra time creating a spa-like retreat in the bath.
Learn how to incorporate a vessel sink into your design to create a really unique look. Vessel sinks are available in so many sizes and shapes that it’s easy to find one that will complement your homes architectural style and décor.
The master bath in this two-story luxurious house plan has been integrated with the master bedroom to create a haven for rest, relaxation, pampering and romance. No amenity has been spared in this design.
This house plan is ENERGY STAR® approved and features one of the most gorgeous green bath designs. Enjoy a great view while relaxing in the hot tub with an oversized window seat and large glass window.
July 22, 2010
Join Us On Facebook!
If you’re on Facebook, we would love for you to join us and “become a fan.” Share pictures of your home or tell us some of your favorite stories about building or remodeling your home. Anyone who owns a home has a great story and image to share. You’ll find helpful tips and inspiring information about what’s happening in the home building industry. And of course you can be on the inside of the latest house plans our leading designers and architects are creating. Hope to see there!
July 20, 2010
House Plans With Spectacular Windows
The recent issue of Dream Designs, our free weekly e-newsletter, showcased five fabulous house plans with exquisite window designs to create aesthetically pleasing living spaces so you can enjoy exceptional views, maximum ventilation and natural light all while improving your home’s energy-efficiency.
Enjoy this Mediterranean estate with gorgeous stacked windows and plenty of elegant architecture inside and out.
The two-story foyer of this European design offers an open view directly to the vaulted living room and rear-covered porch.
The rear of this home offers a wall of gorgeous windows to enjoy the outside. For added outdoor living there’s a bbq deck, screened porch with fireplace and large corner deck.
July 18, 2010
Celebrate National Ice Cream Month
Thanks to former President Ronald Reagan, July is National Ice Cream Month, not that we need an excuse to eat this delectable confection, since it’s enjoyed by 90% of Americans and generates over $21 billion in annual sales. We would love for you to Tweet us your favorite ice cream flavor or better yet show us a picture of you making homemade ice cream or enjoying it at your favorite ice cream shop. If you enjoy creating edible masterpieces, you’ll want to check out our collection of best-selling kitchen designs and top kitchen products to create a professional cook’s kitchen in your own home.
July 15, 2010
Stylish Columns & Millwork
Whether you use columns as an aesthetic design element or give it a supporting role — your home will be greatly enhanced by fitting columns into your architectural house plans. Our editor’s recently gathered some of the hottest new columns and millwork products so you can easily create a stylish and timeless look by top companies like Pacific Columns®, HB&G®, Fypon®, Worthington® and a new green comer Spero® by Moulding & Millwork Inc.®.
July 11, 2010
Participate in the WaterSense Campaign
As part of the EPA’s WaterSense new We’re for Water campaign they’re sending their “spokesgallon” Flo on a road trip across America that will go from Los Angeles to New York starting July 14th. She’ll stop at national landmarks in each city to educate people about water efficiency. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
The EPA encourages homeowners to take the I’m for Water Pledge as well as make simple changes to save water at home. If you’re looking to build a new home, you’ll want to find a green house plan that has been designed to be energy and water efficient like our exclusive ENERGY STAR® approved plans which feature WaterSense labeled bath and kitchen products.
July 7, 2010
Tiny Green House Plans
Whether you are looking to down-size, build a vacation cottage or build your first home, our collection of tiny house plans features a wide variety of floor plans and architectural styles so you can build a fully functional and flexible living space without sacrificing any amenities. We have small/affordable homes in our exclusive ENERGY STAR®/Green House Plan collection to help minimize your yearly HVAC and maintenance costs.
This is one of our most popular small and affordable homes. The house plan includes a design option on the blueprints that substitutes one main floor bedroom for a greatly expanded master bedroom with a luxurious master suite. You also get a second floor bonus space and a walkout basement floor plan featuring a game room, full bath, two bedrooms and computer/flexible space.
July 6, 2010
House Plans with Pools & Patios
There is no better time to think about your outdoor living spaces and how to have fun and stay cool in the summer than now. The majority of our house plan collections feature an outdoor living space, particularly a pool and patio. Even if you don’t plan on building your pool and patio right away, it is a great idea to choose a house plan that has the design already on the blueprint so you know it will fit properly and you won’t have to pay extra money down the road to have it designed for you.
This house plan features a great outdoor living space with a gorgeous pool design that is accented by a large covered patio with an outdoor kitchen and fireplace. Enjoy browsing all of our collections and architectural styles, particularly our exclusive ENERGY STAR®/green house plan collection.
June 29, 2010
House Plans With Great Kitchen Designs
One of the main reasons the house plans featured in our latest issue of Home Ideas remain our most popular is because of their kitchen design. Our designers and architects understand the importance of designing a functional and gorgeous kitchen space, since it is typically the busiest and most important room in any home. Learn how to choose functional and stylish kitchen cabinetry, check out the most innovative cabinet accents and check out the top products from leading cabinet manufacturers like KraftMaid®, Wellborn®, CrownPoint® and Wood-Mode®.
June 22, 2010
Flexible & Fun Floor Plan
My husband and I have been looking to buy our first home for over a year now. Uninspired by the selection of existing homes, we finally decided that we would build our own home so that it would be EXACTLY the way we want it to be. Our first step was to find a house plan, so we did what everyone does and popped the word house plan into Google and starting browsing the top three websites.
We’re both 28 and don’t have any children yet, so we wanted to find a house plan that had a flexible floor plan with lots of fun elements like a media room, outdoor living space, pool, office space, bonus rooms and wet bar. Ironically, we both visited The House Designers and signed up for their free weekly e-newsletter called Dream Designs. This week they featured some of their most popular flexible floor plans and my husband and I both fell in love with the same house plan. It was the perfect size — just under 2,100 square feet and had 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.
This plan is perfect for us! It has a gourmet kitchen (my husband is a chef), a two-sided fireplace from the dining room and living room, a barbeque porch with another fireplace, a media room, a master suite that reminds of the hotel we stayed at on our honeymoon and a second floor bonus room.
What really blew us away was the basement floor plan that had an additional 1,524 square feet featuring a guest suite, oversized media room and game room and tons of storage space. We’re not usually impulsive buyers, but we ordered the house plan and can’t wait for the UPS man to come this week.
June 17, 2010
New design packed with amenities
Every month we continue to add new house plans to our collection of over 5,000 best-selling stock house plans to meet the growing needs and styles of consumers looking to build their dream home. Some of the most popular home design features that consumers are looking for in their new house plan are green features like energy-efficiency and sustainable building products, a split level floor plan layout and lots of flexible and functional design spaces.
One of our newest house plans is the La Meilleure Vie House Plan, which is not only ENERGY STAR® approved, but designed with every amenity that you can think of, including a fireplace at lanai, luxurious master suite with garden tub and exercise room, open kitchen design with kitchen island, 12 ft. ceiling in the living room, covered front and rear porch, mud room, nursery room and much more.
The optional bonus plan features 934 sq. feet of family fun and entertainment with a game room, space for billiards and a media room to watch all your favorite movies.
June 10, 2010
Exclusive ENERGY STAR®/Green homes
America’s only collection of ENERGY STAR® approved house plans
The House Designers, the leading online source for residential blueprints and stock house plans, and ENERGY STAR® have put together the ONLY collection of ENERGY STAR® approved house plans to promote consumers and builders to build eco-friendly, energy efficient homes. This collection of exclusive green house plans includes all the necessary tools to build a green home including information on green building products and practices.
“We came up with the idea to implement the first-ever collection of THD/ENERGY STAR® Green Home Plans to encourage consumers and builders to build authentic eco-friendly and energy efficient by implementing sustainable building strategies early in the design phase,” said Tammy Crosby, COO of The House Designers. “This partnership has brought together companies like Danze, Wayne-Dalton and Lumber Liquidators to support our efforts with ENERGY STAR® in educating consumers how to build high-performance, sustainable new homes.
All plans in THD’s ENERGY STAR® Approved/Green House Plan collection qualify as “Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR®”, and include requirements for energy-efficient features and construction details typically found in ENERGY STAR® qualified homes – tight construction and duct systems, properly installed insulation, high performance windows, efficient heating and cooling equipment, ENERGY STAR® qualified lighting and appliances and more.
In today’s price-sensitive economy, THD also helps consumers and builders “go green” by taking advantage of savings and rebates on eco-friendly products offered by residential manufacturers dedicated to promoting sustainable residential construction by offering a money savings/green building section to easily find the latest green building products and rebates.
June 3, 2010
Woman thrilled with ENERGY STAR® home
Last year I bought an ENERGY STAR® approved house plan from The House Designers and I have to tell you it was the best investment I’ve ever made. My builder was so impressed by how easy it was to build our home according to the ENERGY STAR® plans that they provided. It included all the necessary requirements like tight construction and duct systems, properly installed insulation, high performance windows, efficient heating and cooling equipment, ENERGY STAR® qualified lighting and appliances and much more. Last week all the inspections and field verifications were performed by a HERS rater and I am thrilled to report that our new home is not only officially ENERGY STAR® qualified but absolutely stunning.













