Newswire — Few architectural designs have stood the test of time throughout American history than perhaps the farmhouse. For hundreds of years, the farmhouse has served as a beacon for a simpler way of life, built sturdy and practical to withstand the elements and provide for working farm families. Over the years, the farmhouse style has evolved in some respects while still retaining several classic design elements. Today’s “...
EUGENE, OR.—June 4, 2019—Often celebrated as man’s best friend, dogs touch nearly every aspect of the daily lives of their owners, from the moment they wake up to feed and walk their beloved pets to the last scratch between the ears as they say goodnight. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that when dog owners decide to build a new home, their furry four-legged companions factor prominently in the design of the house.
According to Statista.com, there are more than 89 million dogs living as pets in U.S. homes today and most of them are considered an important member of their human family. Rick McAlexander, CEO of The House Plan Company, a leading residential design plan company based in Oregon, can attest...
EUGENE, ORE.—May 21, 2019—As the days get longer and temperatures grow warmer in anticipation of summer, our migration to the outdoors begins—the time when we focus our efforts, energy and money on turning our living spaces inside out.
“One of the biggest trends in home design in the past several years has been the addition of well-defined and often elaborate outdoor living spaces that seamlessly blend with the indoors and add significant value to the property,” said Rick McAlexander, CEO of The House Plan Company, a leading residential design plan company based in Oregon.
Several of the more popular design features in today’s outdoor living spaces, include the following:
Newswire - The eternal question for any homeowner planning to build a new home is, “How much will it cost?” But asking builders how much a new home will cost, and more specifically, how much it will cost per square foot, will likely elicit a wide range of responses from low to high and somewhere in between. Cost per square foot analysis may seem like an elusive math problem, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
“Cost per square foot analysis is difficult for homeowners to get their arms around because it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison and there always seems to be many different answers.
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Building a new home is an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and selecting the perfect home design and floor plan to meet your family’s needs can be daunting, but it’s a critical step toward realizing your dream home.
Rick McAlexander, CEO of Associated Designs, a leading residential design plan company based in Oregon, offers four important pieces of advice when choosing the right floor plan for new home construction.
1. Define the Goals of Your New Home
The first step in selecting the right home design, even before purchasing a building lot, is to determine the goals of your new home and create a “wish list” of the desired spaces, features and amenities based on your lifestyle. According to McAlexander, this...
Newswire —Feb. 1,2019—You are considering a new home and are stuck trying to figure out what style of living area will best work for you, your family, and the way that you live. Well ponder no further. The House Plan Company has prepared this helpful guide to the three main types of living areas and how they live.
The Vintage Layout: Separated Family and Entertaining Spaces
Formally defined spaces and separation between family and gathering spaces is the traditional approach to arranging the living area of a home. As showcased in the...
Trend Spotter: Up and Coming Design Styles for 2019
With the New Year thoughts wonder to what the year will hold. It can be both uplifting as well as thought-provoking. Maybe something that you did in the old year you’d like to not have happened in the New Year. But a trend that works, that fits well and catches on, you probably want to repeat.
Same goes for home trends. The best trends can be passed on into the New Year, whether it’s the style of house, a specific layout or design element, or even a room that becomes an amenity in and of itself.
“That’s kind of what happened with garages in 2018,” said Rick McAlexander, CEO of Associated Designs. “The garage became an...
The need for your home to grow with you has been a long standing concern with homeowners. Moving is time consuming and expensive so without spending too much on a larger home finding ways to adapt the current space is critical.
Originally the solution for this problem was the bonus room. Smartly maximizing the additional space created by the truss system over the garage, the bonus room provided family’s with the opportunity to spread out as budget and lifestyle allowed.The pitfall with the bonus room is the need for stairs in homes that are otherwise on a single level and being tucked away over the garage can leave the room feeling detached from the rest of the house. For homeowners’ looking for a solution to their growing needs that isn’t as separated as the...
If there’s one thing most homebuyers find intimidating, it’s building a house. The planning, the project management, the contractors, the blueprints, the permits, the time… it can all become overwhelming.
“It’s the one thing that always gets my clients a bit bewildered,” said Rick McAlexander, CEO of Associated Designs, Inc. in Eugene, Ore. “They start thinking about all the little details and they get blindsided. But I always tell them, the benefits of building far outweigh all the other concerns they might have.”
The reason for...
It wasn’t too long ago that the only thing you did in a kitchen was prepare the next meal. Think back a couple decades and you might remember sitting in the living room while someone put the finishing touches on dinner in another part of the house, disconnected from the rest of the family. The distant sounds of pots clanging were all that was noted. And the kitchen was small and box-like in most cases.
Nowadays, the kitchen is more than a kitchen. It’s the social hub of the home, with all the amenities and features needed to entice friends and family to gather around and chat. Yes, a meal is being prepared, but it’s not hidden from sight. It’s happening right in the middle of all the buzzing activity.
“The modern home has an open floor plan,...
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