Saturday, April 3, 2010

New House Plans Ideas


Small House Plans Offers Many Money Saving Benefits to Homeowners

Owning a small house plan can come with many different incentives. Small homes are very convenient when building on inner city lots. With gas prices rising, many people have found that they can save money by moving back into the city to be closer to work while still having an amazing home design. You can still create a home that uses its space efficiently with rooms that are designed to entertain friends and family. There are several techniques that can be used to make the home look bigger that can be very appealing.

Small Homes within City Limits Will Save You Money

Gas prices are becoming a major concern for many families. Those that have to travel into the nearest city for work know that gas money is eating into funds that could be spent on other bills or for entertainment with your family. For those who are growing tired of not being able to go to the movies, dinner, or bar with friends and family there can be a simple solution. Moving back into the inner city will reduce the amount of gas you have to pay for while still having a fabulous home. Small homes that are designed properly will not feel cramped, but instead bright and airy.

Not only will you save money on gas, but small homes are cheaper to maintain as well. You won’t have to spend as much time painting the exterior or cleaning the interior because there is less area to need to uphold. You will save money on bills because you won’t have larger rooms that need to be kept cool or warm throughout the year. Furniture can be expensive as well, but smaller rooms can mean less furnishings that takes up valuable space.

Southern Living House Plans Ideas


Found throughout the American South, the shotgun house floor plan has its roots in West Africa and the Caribbean. Fleeing the revolution in the 1800s, Hatians introduced the long, narrow houses to New Orleans and their popularity quickly spread to mill towns and cotten plantations all over the South.

The shotgun house floor plan may the the only African American house plan that exists. Although the name sounds as though it was dreamed up by the National Rifle Association, the shotgun house was so named because of the liner arrangement of its rooms. In theroy, you should be able to fire a bullet through the front door and it would go through the house and straight out the back door.

Long associated with poverty, the shotgun house floor plan is now becoming respectable and even chic in some cities older districts. Architects, artists and community groups are working hard to restore the old homes into designer homes as symbols of both black and local heritage and pride. The shotgun house floor plan is the latest cause in the fight to preserve and restore some inner city communities.

With their typical one room wide and 3 or 4 rooms deep design uninterrupted by hallways, shotgun house floor plans can be as simplistic as a child's drawing while retaining the integrity than many other floor plans don't possess. Raised on piers, shotgun house floor plans allow for air circulation both under the house and as a cross-ventilating breeze. This design is well suited for the Southern climate. Porches provide much needed shade from the sun and encourage interaction between neighbors.

House Floor Plans Ideas


Nowdays the computer age is making software for a dazzling array of uses. One such genre is house floor plan software. With this type of program, you can quite literally be your own architect! Whether you're a home hobbyist or a trained professional, anyone can now use software to do everything from create house floor plans to landscaping the back yard of your dreams. Home design software ideas can go from dreams to reality with the touch of a button.

Creating house floor plans from home design software can be accomplished in just a few easy steps. Most programs have a number of notable features.

1. Design, publish and print completed designs in 3D for yourself, family and customers.

2. Customize the home's exterior by adding dormer windows, skylights, sun decks, balconies, terraces, and patios. Door styles and window types can also be customized.

3. Calculate and manage the cost of materials. This feature makes it easy to keep your house floor plan design withing you housing budget.

4. Lighting effects and shifting patterns of sunlight and moonlight can be created in order to see what effect the placement of windows will have on a room via 3D movies.

5. A built-in interior design program and furniture gallery can be used to create different themes before money is spent on interior decor.

6. Some software programs offer an optional landscape and garden program which allows the user to create a detailed design of yard desired right down to the flowers and ornaments. The landscape created can then be viewed through the change of seasons in order to create a colorful landscape year round. Most programs offer drag-and-drop capabilities that make designing your dream yard easy and fun.