Online search data reveals Southern style house plans are surging in popularity, with major search engines showing a 500% increase in searches for the design style over the past 12 months. This emerging trend has been validated by The House Plan Company, a house plan marketing firm based in Eugene, Oregon that has watched five of its southern-inspired home plans grow in popularity over the past year. The designs offer a mix of modern, hillside, palatial estate, vacation home and urban living architecture.
“Southern living plans may be growing in popularity because of their eye-catching, yet simple exteriors and flexible floor plans,” said Rick McAlexander, CEO of The House Plan Company. “With more time being spent at home, people are looking for homes that offer extra room to set up home offices or remote learning spaces, and large covered patios or balconies that offer places to escape the interior of the home and enjoy outdoor living.”
Loaded with curb appeal, graceful rooflines and generous indoor and outdoor spaces that encourage gathering and provide more spaces to relax, work and entertain, southern-style home plans share commonalities with popular farmhouse designs. Simple exteriors often highlight wood, stone and brick details, while columns, shutters and porticoes signaling their inspiration from plantation architecture. Homeowners gravitate toward the spacious interiors these designs tend to incorporate, including expansive kitchens, bonus spaces and master suites with luxurious bathrooms.
The House Plan Company’s southern-style plans generating the most interest include:
Rosewood Farmhouse (Design #11228) (featured above)
This symmetrical two-story home design features three-bedrooms, three and a half baths, a contemporary open floor plan with 2,435 square feet of living space and an expansive wrap around front porch framed by simple, modern columns. An outdoor kitchen housed under the covered rear porch can be screened to provide a welcome respite from seasonal weather and bugs.
Making the most of a downhill sloped lot to provide lake side or mountain views from most rooms, this five-bedroom, three and a half bath plan emphasizes a current design centered around Great Room-style living. Covered decks provide ample outdoor entertaining spaces, and a walk-out basement level features recreation, boat or garage storage in addition to the main level porte cochere.
Palatial Southern Estate (Design #35553)
A spacious classic southern plantation-inspired design that has been modernized to include both formal and informal living spaces, this plan stands out with its grand columns and a covered porch and balcony that wrap around the entire home. The 8,333 square foot three-story floorplan includes a well-appointed master bedroom with fireplace, sitting room, luxurious bathroom with access to the expansive walk-in closet, and direct access to the wrap around second floor balcony. Plans include a detached three car garage, elevator and an attic room in addition to distinct basement level spaces for entertainment.
An ideal lakeside vacation home, the Sea Oats plan offers a modern, open floorplan with three-bedroom suites that all feature their own private full bathrooms. Windows are generously placed throughout the home to allow natural light to stream in, while expansive covered porches provide plenty of opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.
Urban Southern Living (Design #90592)
Perfect for first-time homeowners or those living in metropolitan areas, this narrow lot design offers 1,667 square feet of living space, three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The kitchen and living space consume the main level, with bedrooms on the second, and bonus space on the third. A covered porch and balcony encourage outdoor relaxation.
“We’re seeing southern-inspired designs grow in popularity because they are well aligned with what people are looking for in this moment,” continued McAlexander. “It seems a natural evolution from the farmhouse designs that have persisted as a dominant trend.”
As seen on PRUnderground
