A Look at Home Designs: Country House Plans

Farmhouses are some of the most inviting homes in the world. The mention of a country home invokes images of a family sipping after-dinner coffee in rocking chairs on a wrap-around porch, enjoying their home of simple, modest design and proportion in the Southern countryside. If you, too, want that warm, comfortable feel in your home, consider the benefits of including these country home design elements in your house plan.

The porch: It's welcoming. It's accessible. It's covered to protect against weather in the countryside. It might be at the front of the country home plan, or it might wrap around the entire home. You might find a back porch on these homes, but the front porch is much more common and serves as the focal point of many country living house plans.

Windows: Big, symmetrical windows accentuate the exterior of country living house plans. They brighten up the interior too, letting light shine into the kitchen or the parlor. If it becomes too bright, country home plans often provide for shutters.

The roof:Sitting atop one or two stories of a simple ranch house or a large, rambling home, the rooflines of country home plans are usually steeply pitched. You might find a gabled roof on a country house plan, but dormers are much more common.

Dormers:Originally seen in colonial house plans, dormers with windows protrude from the roof of a country house plan to increase indoor light and living space.

Other structures:Country living house plans might have a variety of other amenities, such as a barn, workshop, large detached garage or even a separate guest house.

Country house plans truly capture the emotions and spirit of rural America. If you want to come home to a warm, spacious, inviting living space, a country home plan might be right for you.

Note: The home shown above is The Lyons House Plan 2412.