Contemporary house plans date back to the 1960s, but you wouldn’t know it to look at them. These cool, sleek structures typically don’t have historical ornamentation, which keeps them looking modern no matter what - an important consideration if you ever plan to sell your home, as homes built with contemporary house plans maintain their curb appeal. Explore the options to see if a contemporary house plan is for you. Design Features of Contemporary House Plans are famously feature open, often informal floor plans that let rooms flow into each other. No matter the vintage, contemporary house plans are characterized by clean, simple lines and lots of glass, including oversized windows. You’ll often find interesting shapes and angles too, especially on the exterior - for instance, trapezoidal-shaped windows.
Flat roofs are also popular for contemporary home design, likely as part of the pursuit of clean lines and minimal ornamentation. These homes are all about functionality and efficiency, and they’re perfect for a homeowner who prizes those things. Customizing a Contemporary House Plan The open floor plans of contemporary house plans offer you plenty of opportunities to make this design feel like it’s truly your home. Despite adhering to strict design principles, contemporary house plans are actually one of the most flexible house plan designs when it comes to customization. Sit down with your builder and think about how you can make these key qualities of contemporary house plans work for you. The open floor layouts usually found in contemporary house plans maximize usable square footage, especially in shared areas like the living room, and flood those spaces with plenty of natural light. What kinds of spaces and amenities could you create around a bank of beautiful windows? Many contemporary house plans emphasize indoor-outdoor living spaces.Think about incorporating a deck or patio as an outdoor destination that’s almost a continuation of your indoor space, featuring abundant outdoor cooking and views of your landscape. One way to create a smooth transition between indoors and outdoors is to incorporate natural materials like wood and stone that connect the indoors to nature and pave the way for the transition to the outdoors. Short on ideas for materials or floor plans? Draw ideas from other design styles, like Mediterranean or European, that complement the classic contemporary house plan styling.
Open floor plans benefit from design strategies that play on their spacious nature. Cathedral ceilings and exposed beams that draw visitors’ eyes upward help emphasize the large, roomy aspect and make the house seem bigger than it is. Important Considerations for Contemporary House Plans When you’re customizing a contemporary house plan with your builder, it’s important to look at modern home improvements that can save you money in the long term even if you’re going for a more vintage look with your contemporary house plan. For example, large windows are a key feature of contemporary house plans, but windows also don’t have a very high R-value (a measure of how well a material insulates). Talk to your builder about what you can do with your windows to avoid heating and cooling the whole neighborhood, like upgrading to double- or triple-paned glass or applying high-performance window film. A design with high ceilings makes a big impression when visitors step through the door, but it can also be hard to heat because the heat will naturally rise toward the ceiling - in that case, make sure to talk to your builder about a low-speed ceiling fan that can push warmer air back down toward you in the winter. Is a contemporary house plan the right step for your new home? Call Ahmann Designs at 1-800-725-6852 to learn more about your options for contemporary home design.
