Lately, we have seen a rise in the popularity of prairie style houses.  People are constructing them all over the place.  I have seen multiple episodes of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with a prairie style home being built.  Everyone has caught this midwest madness.  It’s not that hard to see why, either.  Prairie house plans are very attractive designs.  Every since the beginning, architects have been combining eye-catching design with functionality that saves money and the environment.

When architects started designing what is nowadays called prairie houses, they were looking to make a house that didn’t have European influence.  They knew that they could build a home that could stand by itself without needing help from eastern architect.  They started by making plans for a structure that would sit low on the horizon, something that would be attractive but wouldn’t take away from the picturesque Midwestern landscape.  Through a lot of trial and error, they came up with the beautiful styling that we know as prairie homes.  Prairie house plans can fit into any surrounding because of their unique exterior design.  You will see prairie houses in big cities and little towns.  I have noticed that a simple change of exterior coloring can make a prairie home fit into your neighborhood.

A prairie house plan consists of a lot of low pitched hip roofs that extend far out and have large overhangs.  They are almost always a one story house that has a lot of squares on the exterior.  The Plan Collection just recently received a wonderful, new prairie design from that could be built on a slope.  M-2640 shows how much flexibility a prairie house really has.  You can make a prairie design look good on any type of landscape.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

I know a lot of people have been interested in seeing house plans from ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, so I just posted a new article on the homepage of The Plan Collection. You should Check it out!

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

So yesterday, I wrote a quick post about two house plans that were featured on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Unfortunately, I lied.

I’m not exactly sure how I missed it, but I just found out that The Plan Collection actually offers THREE separate home plans that were used on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The links I shared in my last post were for the homes used in Wyoming and Oklahoma, respectively. While browsing through some other house plans at The Plan Collection, I came across this modern charmer — M-3985 Extreme

M-3985 Extreme was built for the Byers family in Corvallis, Oregon, and according to Denise Cramsey (the show’s producer), “This is probably the best home design we have ever built.” It is definitely one of kind! You should really Check it out!

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

I don’t have a lot of time to write today, but I thought that some of you might find this interesting: The Plan Collection now has the house plans for two of the homes built and featured on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Now I know I’ve shared my feelings on this topic before — I think that the producers should provide the families with smaller, more sustainable homes — but there’s no denying that these are some pretty amazing homes!

Here’s the link to an on-site article:

http://www.theplancollection.com/house-plan-related-articles/Extreme-Makeover-Home-Edition

And here are the links to the actual plans:

http://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans/home-plan-22568

http://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans/home-plan-25161

The Plan Collection has a bunch of other great plans as well. You should check it out!

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

So my little girls love to watch this show on ABC called “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Some of you may have heard about it. The idea behind the show is great, and it’s really neat to see people’s lives changed for the better. But i wonder sometimes if they go a little overboard with the homes. I know there is probably a lot network politics, influences to keep ratings, and advertisers probably determine some things as well.

Some of these families have had terrible tragedies, others are destitute, and some are both. I wonder if building them a smaller, nice home that was equipped with solar panels and/or other systems to make the home and family self sufficient might be better than just building them a huge home. A huge home comes with huge heating bills, power bills, higher taxes, more maintenance etc. Would it be better to help the family out by providing a nice home that is low on maintenance, taxes and energy costs be better for the family in the long term?

Just some thoughts for anyone at ABC that may read this [doubtful]. Either way, it’s a neat program and wonderful that they are able to help so many families in need. And I guess many of them now have fund raisers to help pay off the mortgage, or help give the family a nest egg to help them out in the future. And, if the homes weren’t as big and spacious, the ratings might not be as good. Still, i’d like to see them build a modest, modern and self sufficient home for someone, sometime.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.