House Plan Spotlight: Rustic Style

When you think of the word “rustic", you probably think of cowboys on horseback and campfires. You might also think of a beach scattered with driftwood and a wind battered house on a summit above the ocean. Or maybe your version of “rustic" is a stately lodge on top of a snowy mountain with a stone fireplace and raw wood beams lining the ceiling above you. Or maybe you think of a white house in the middle of a verdant green field with chickens in the yard. And all of those are correct. The Rustic style of home building is homage to the pioneer days of America’s past. And just like our forefathers, we love a nice cozy house to come home to in the evenings.

History of the Rustic Style

The 1800’s were a time of huge changes in the United States. The very landscape of our nation was changing and growing as the decades went on. While there were a lot more very important historical events during this time, I’m going to concentrate on 3 because they pertain to the development of the Rustic style home.

For around 150 years, there was a great boom in immigration to the United States. People flocked to America fleeing poor conditions in their home country. Many of the immigrants were of Northern European stock and hailed from places like Sweden and Ireland. They came to the U.S. to get away from poverty, sickness, wars, and famine. I know that my own family immigrated to America during the early 1800's from England and Wales.

Regardless of where they came from, they usually settled in the urban centers on the East coast. They brought with them the culture and ideals of their homelands. They also brought with them their trades and knowledge.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed The Homesteader’s Act. The Act promised 160 acres of public land to anyone who could pay a small filing fee and live there for 5 years. This jump started Western Expansion in the United States. Many of the people who took advantage of this deal were poor people who had been living in cities in the Eastern part of the U.S. Many of which were immigrants who didn’t have anywhere else to go.

This was a fortunate move for them. Most of the immigrants were farmers or farm laborers and loved the opportunity to get out of the urban centers. So despite the dangers and hardships they moved West.

If they were able to reach their claim, they didn’t have supplies to build homes with them. They instead had to rely on the materials that were available to them. This gave rise to the log cabins and farmhouses. Log cabins were easy to make as long as you had help and plenty and trees. Farmhouses were the same way. Neither one took any great skill to put together and didn’t require any specialized materials.

Changes were happening on the East Coast as well. The 1800’s were a time of expansion and not just of people and lands, but also industry and invention. Large scale factories were becoming the norm in the East and their owners were profiting greatly from them.

The owners built large homes for their everyday residences, but they often wanted someplace to get away. So they had vacation homes built on the beaches of the East Coast. These gave us the inspirations for the rustic cottages.

This is by no means all of the history of the Rustic style homes. You can read more about that in a previous blog post, Examining House Styles: Rustic.

Rustic Style House Plans

Today we get to enjoy many of the riches of the modern world and still keep with the Rustic style. These house plans are the perfect way to balance those two.

The most popular in the genre of Rustic Style homes is the Farmhouse style. So I found this rustic example of a farmhouse that is absolutely beautiful. Blue Ridge Overlook features 3 bedrooms and 4 baths in nearly 4,000 square feet of living area. It also includes a 2 car garage to give you a place to store your horse and buggy, or the modern equivalent.

Walking up to the home your attention is immediately grabbed by a large covered wraparound porch with exposed rafters in a vaulted ceiling. Stone pillars and steps give this home some definite curb appeal. Moving into the home through the foyer, you find yourself in a large open space with a kitchen to your left and a great room with a corner fireplace directly in front of you. Having the kitchen in the front of the home is a trademark of a farmhouse style home.

As you move into the center of the room you can look up at the vaulted ceilings and the walkway between the two upstairs rooms. On the left side of the Great Room/Dining Room/ Kitchen area is a short hallway that leads to the Master Suite. The Master Suite includes a walk in closet, a standing shower and dual sinks as well as a direct opening to a screened in porch on the rear of the home.

If you return to the Great Room/Dining Room/Kitchen you can take a second small hallway on the right side of the room and find a very large laundry area with room for a freezer, a full bath and a second bedroom. Moving up the stairs on the right hand side of the foyer you find yourself on the second floor. This second floor gives you space for a third bedroom with an in-suite bathroom and an office.

The stairs to the right of foyer can also take you down to the basement where you find the garage entrance, a third bathroom, space for a game room or in home gym, storage and a built in safe room. This farmhouse home gives you all the space you will need for your family to grow. This plan can also be customized to fit your needs.

You can’t talk about Rustic style house plans without looking at a log cabin. And The Sunset Ridge plan is a beautiful example of one. This home has nearly 5,000 square feet featuring 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths with a 3 bay garage. Walking through the covered front porch you step into the foyer and into and immense open space split between the Family Room, Great Room, Dining Room and Kitchen. The vaulted ceilings give the space the feeling of being larger than the square footage.

The Great Room is dominated by a fireplace and the Kitchen area is an open space with a central island for cooking and food prep. To the left of the Family Room is an opening to the Master Suite. Adjacent to the Master Suite is a large Master Bath with a whirlpool tub, corner shower and entrance to the large walk in closet.

To the right of the Family Room you can either go upstairs to the second floor, go down to the optional basement or go down a small hallway that leads to an office space with a corner stone fireplace. Imagine curling up in a leather chair and reading by that fire. Further down the hall you’ll find a large laundry area and a breeze way that leads to the garage.

Going upstairs you’ll find that the stairs open up to a loft that features a view of the rooms below. Bedrooms 2 and three with their adjoining bathrooms and walk in closets are on the right hand side while the left hand side features a Guest Bedroom that could double as a second Master Suite. This home is part of our BarnaLog collection and cannot be modified. If you want to see how it looks in real life, check out the photos from our happy clients who have had this plan built.

Our most popular Rustic Style house plan is our Timberland Cove plan. This is modern living with a Rustic flair. This home has 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths in just over 2,000 square feet of living space. It also features a 3 car garage. When you walk into this home through the covered porch with a vaulted ceiling you find yourself in the foyer.

On the right side of the foyer is the entrance to the formal dining room that has sloped ceiling on each side. The foyer also features a closet to store all of those coats and mucky things that we all need from day to day and season to season.

Moving through the foyer you find yourself in a gorgeous Great Room featuring a fireplace and large door and windows opening up onto the Outdoor Living Space. The Great Room merges with the enormous kitchen with an island with seating for six. On the left side of the Great Room you find a hall way leading to 3 bedrooms and one of the bathrooms in the home. Each bedroom has a walk in closet for plenty of storage.

If you move through the kitchen you find yourself in another hallway that leads to the Master Suite. The Master Suite has room for an optional door to the Outdoor Living Space. The Master Bath features a glass shower with seating, a whirlpool tub and an entrance to the massive walk in closet.

As you exit the Master Suite and move back down the hallway you find the half bath, a large laundry room, the stairs to go to the second floor and the entrances to the garages.

On the second floor you have a bonus room, additional storage and a bathroom. One of the options for the second floor is to have an opened balcony that looks down on the Great Room and Kitchen below it. This plan is also customizable to whatever you may need. This plan also has photos of how the home looks after it has been built. Be sure to check them out!

Nelson Design Group has over 1,800 plans available. Most of our plans are completely customizable and we are always happy to talk to you about your dream home. Give us a call today!

If the Rustic Style doesn't appeal to you, check out my previous blogs on Contemporary Modern style and Contemporary Modern Homes. And don't forget Farmhouses! I wrote some blogs about Farmhouse style and Farmhouse plans, too!