New House Plan Unveiled

We are focusing on creating a new series of home designs featuring Main Floor Master Suites.  Here is a sneak preview of our "Pine Gabl...

Readmore »

Warm Air Rises

I received a question the other day pertaining to the image below. "How much does it cost to heat a space like this?" Great room v...

Readmore »

New Home Design features Granny Flat!

Simply Elegant Home Designs is now offering a new house plan featuring an above garage "granny flat" apartment - The "Deepha...

Readmore »

Best House Plans - No Groupon Required!

Here at Simply Elegant Home Designs we are convinced that we offer the absolute best house plans in the business. To prove this point we ar...

Readmore »

Green House Plans Gone Wild!

Green is the big thing now in the design world and the house plans business.  I recently ran across these images of Icelandic houses that de...

Readmore »

Design Ideas - Special Fireplace

I ran across this sculpture installation that really caught my eye.  A really simple fireplace wall composition with one spectacular piece o...

Readmore »

New House Plan Offering - The Excelsior Cottage

Simply Elegant Home Designs is very proud to offer an amazing new house plan - the   Excelsior Farmhouse Cottage ; designed by Ron Brenner o...

Readmore »

New Simple Yet Dramatic Home Design

I just completed a new home design for a client that will be built in "Tapestry at Charlotte's Grove"; a new community in Lake...

Readmore »

Home Design Ideas - Funky Fireplace

You can learn much from studying rooms that you love. Below I have attached a living room picture from a home I designed a few years ago. ...

Readmore »

Home Design Ideas - Eclectic Kitchen

My better half (Kelley) sent me the kitchen photo below. She loves it and so do I. Here are a few observations: No upper cabinets - most of...

Readmore »

Home Design Ideas - Floating Stair

Here is another nice home design idea - a floating stair. The residential design world tends to do things the same way over and over while ...

Readmore »

Design Ideas - Make Your Island Special!

This is the first in a new series that I will be starting called "Design Ideas". What I would like to do is illustrate little des...

Readmore »

Nice Space, Good House Design

I ran across this photo of a nice modern bedroom space and thought I would pass it on along with a couple of thoughts. Obviously the design ...

Readmore »

Its Complicated House

Over the past year I have had several clients make reference to the movie "It's Complicated" starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldw...

Readmore »

Architects Have Great Tools!

Every once in a while I like to give you an example of the tools we use in this business called Architecture. Things have come a long way s...

Readmore »

Efficient Framing for House Plans

Fine Homebuilding has a new article on the future of framing house plans. For many years we have been framing houses basically the same way...

Readmore »

Design Challenge for a 2000 SF House Plan

Lately I have been getting inquiries for modestly sized new home designs that feature main floor master bedrooms. A search of the web revea...

Readmore »

How to design a bay window!

I have had many clients in the past tell me they want a bay window. Sometimes I have been a bit reluctant to the idea because I have seen s...

Readmore »

Old simple house plans - design inspiration

I posted an article the other day on gaining inspiration from old houses. Below is another great example - a bungalow that I stumbled upon ...

Readmore »

New Dutch Colonial House Plan Unveiled!

Simply Elegant Home Designs has just made the "Tonka Dutch Colonial" house plan available for purchase. The home was designed by R...

Readmore »