Search our Country House Plans collection The popularity of the Country style home design has continued to grow since its resurgence as an architectural trend over 25 years ago.  The style’s popularity may be somewhat attributed to the increased population of Southern states over the past quarter century.  A more potent factor, however, is the [...]

Search our Cottage Home Plans collection Thinking of Cottage style homes, one might become swept away with images straight out of a children’s story book.  Quaintly pitched roofs, hand-hewn beams, candle-lit shuttered windows, cobblestone walkways, etc. (not to mention hard-working dwarves, cuddly forest animals, poison apples, etc.)  One thing is for sure – Cottage style homes, no [...]

Search our Contemporary Home Plans collection Jutting angles.  Sleek styling.  Clean lines.  Polished glass.  Are these the words to describe a work of modern art?  Perhaps.  But just as easily, they might portray the look and feel of a Contemporary style home.   Contemporary homes are designed as architecturally inspired sculptures, yet they offer their occupants practical living [...]

Search our Colonial House Plans collection With nearly four centuries of popularity, the Colonial has long been considered the classic American home.  Two-story symmetry articulates the “look” of the Colonial home, and often – but not always – these homes employ the theme of “five over four, with a door” (five upper-level windows, stacked above four main-level [...]

By David Porter AIA – consulting architect to the Garlinghouse Company since 1989 Since I am a licensed architect, I would be remiss if my answer wasn’t just, “of course, you need only an architect.” But, nah, for your use in designing a house, that isn’t necessarily so. I will first explain the differences between [...]