In this episode of the HousePlanGallery.com podcast, we’ll be talking about what are the most popular home design features that people are looking for in their new house plans.

In part 2 of this 3 part series, we’ll talk about another very important aspect of what makes a particular southern house floor plan design MUCH more popular than another… and that is the much-requested “split floorplan layout”…

Again, before we get started, we’d love to hear your feedback on what features you’d like to see in your new house plans, so be sure to give us a call at 601-264-5028 or contact us via our contact page….

#3: Split-Floorplan Layout – There are two basic types of new house floor plans layouts, which are primarily differentiated through their inherent treatment of the master bedrooms suite vs. other bedrooms vs. public space (i.e. great room, den, kitchen, etc.).

The first type of floorplan layout is a traditional layout whereby the master bedroom/suite is usually located on the same side of the house as the other bedrooms. The logical grouping of the home’s bedroom spaces, within a relatively-contiguous location in the floorplan, lends itself to several different design styles of homes, and may be an alternative for particular groups of home-owners, including families with infants / small children and/or retired couples with little need for multiple bedrooms, who utilize the extra space as a small home office which is conveniently located.

Both the primary advantage and disadvantage of this type of layout relate to the location of the master bedroom vs. other bedrooms. For example, if you prefer more privacy in the master suite OR you have teenage/college children in the house OR (name your specific condition here), the traditional best house plans floorplan layout would probably not be the best choice for you.

Alternatively, the split-floorplan layout addresses the shortcomings of the traditional layout by physically separating the master suite from the other bedrooms, and many times, from the more highly-trafficked public areas such as the kitchen, great room, and eating area. It is this feature that has made the split-floorplan layout increasingly popular with today’s home buyers.

The primary advantages of this type of layout is that of its relative privacy and sound-deadening benefits that such a physical room arrangement can provide. The downside to this floorplan layout can be that it is sometimes a little more difficult to implement in the home design, especially on narrow lots, since certain floorplan spaces and features only lend themselves to positioning in a relatively small number of locations in the home.

For example, a foyer is normally located off the front of the house and the great room is usually (though not always) positioned in the rear center of the house to provide views of the property. The additional bedrooms are usually located in close-proximity to one another since they normally share bathrooms, etc, etc..

The combination of all these type items increase the complexity of developing a solid split-floorplan house plan design that meet all of the livability features of today’s home builder. Regardless of these type items, the split-floorplan layout continues to enjoy exceeding popularity with family’s looking to build a new home.

If you’re looking for a specific example of an Award-winning split floorplan design, you can check out one of our most popular home designs – The Remington – at http://www.houseplangallery.com/HPG-1752-1

This traditional ranch style home has become very popular with our customers and has a tremendous amount of usable space, not to mention including many of the most requested floorplan features in 1,752 square feet of living space.

Again, you can view this plan online at http://www.houseplangallery.com/HPG-1752-1

Thanks for listening to this week’s podcast. Join us for next week’s episode, where we’ll continue into part 3 of our series on the most popular home design features in stock house plans.

Finally, we’re always here to help you find a house plan for your family, and you can always feel free to visit us online at http://www.HousePlanGallery.com or give us a call at 601-264-5028 if we can help you with your new house plans.

Thanks again, and let us know if we can help!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.