A Look at Home Designs: Farmhouse House Plans

Looking back to the rural and agricultural roots of many parts of the U.S., the farmhouse home design style has become a common part of the American landscape.

"Farmhouse" can refer to an actual building or to a design style, but in a general sense a "farmhouse" refers to the main building of a farm, which would be a large home in an open setting, surrounded by outbuildings of many differing kinds. A farmhouse serves various roles on any working farm, and traditional farmhouse-style plans reflect the features that were developed to serve specific functions in relation to these roles.

Common features of farmhouse home plans include:

• Wrap-around porch. Farmhouse plans often have a large porch on multiple sides of the house that sometimes wraps around the entire perimeter. Many house plans that include other farmhouse-style features can have a porch added.

• Focus on storage and intake of daily and seasonal needs and necessities. A working farmhouse must be designed for all seasons and all crops. Farmhouse-style homes feature large pantries, mudrooms and storage areas.

• Emphasis on the kitchen.The heart and soul of any rural farmhouse, a large country kitchen serves a practical purpose when feeding hungry farm workers. As such, even with contemporary farmhouses in more urban settings, the kitchen is synonymous with the farmhouse style.

• Style variations and combinations. The practical farmhouse style blends well with other design schemas, especially Cape Cod architecture.  Farmhouses of the past would also be remodeled and extended. An authentic-looking farmhouse-style house plan could have a mixture of materials and architectural style elements.

• Rectangular or T-shaped design. Oftentimes, farmhouse house plans were built in a practical simple rectangular or cross shape.

Features often found in contemporary farmhouse house plans vary, but again the focus is on pragmatism, productivity and handling the flow of traffic from the outside world. A traditional plan might include a fireplace and media center. More Victorian farmhouse home plans feature more ornamental elements than contemporary farmhouses. Other modern farmhouse-inspired designs focus on spacious open floor plans and may include extra amenities such as a shed or outbuilding.

There are many benefits to the practical and simplistic style of farmhouse house plans. This type of home offers enough flexibility and features to suit many needs – from entertaining and relaxing, to cooking comfortably with your family, to blending indoor and outdoor work areas. In any case, there are many different farmhouse home plans to pick from.

Note: The home shown above is The Garnell House Plan 2418A.