In the midst of the 21st century’s second decade, our lifestyles lead us to open floorplan living, technology affects us in profound ways, and even our pets demand more of our attention. House designers are responding to these changes, as you can see in our latest annual list of design trends.

Today’s open great room style house plans make it much easier for accessibility. Many house plans can easily be revised to include wider and doorless passageways for wheelchair access.One story house plans with wide foyers, hallways and easy access doorways for our Veterans and the aging population are a must.

Imagine gazing at the blue Mediterranean Sea atop a penthouse in Monaco … cocktails at a waterfront villa in Sardinia … or a masquerade ball at a castle in Geneva. Expensive dreams? The real world offers stunning house plan alternatives that will inspire you to create your “forever” home.

Your newly built home is not complete until you dress up the outside with the raiment of landscaping. The bare earth around the foundation and along the walkway and driveway calls out for flower beds and beautiful plantings of shrubs and trees. Here’s what you need to know.

Designing the best walk-in closet for your master suite is the perfect way to clear away all of your clutter behind closed doors. Whether you're creating separate his and her closets or working with one large space, we have the top tips for decorating and organizing the ultimate walk-in closet.

A home's traffic pattern is a big part of the design process. One of the most important aspects when building your home is making an efficient home traffic pattern – the way you travel from room to room inside your home. The flow of traffic should be unobstructed and organized.

Energy efficiency and eco-friendliness should be at the forefront of every homeowner's mind. But despite the shift to LED lighting and efficient HVAC systems, many homes are still lagging behind when it comes to their walls and insulation. Insulated Concrete Form construction may be the answer for your next home!

If exterior painting is on your summer to-do list, there’s plenty of incentive to do the job right: By following proper procedures, you’ll help ensure that your paint job will not only look more attractive but also last much longer, so you won’t have to re-paint anytime soon.

Some materials have obvious natural insulating and temperature-regulating properties and excel at battling the weather, like brick or stone, but they are also very costly. A form of modern stucco – called Exterior Insulating and Finishing System (EIFS) – withstands the elements, is energy efficient, and not surprisingly, is growing in popularity.

With help from architects and manufacturers, concrete – the once plain and boring construction material – has emerged as a hot trend in home interiors. As designers and artisans explore ways to make it decorative, concrete should stay in the spotlight for a while. Here are some innovations that make concrete appealing.