Top 8 Most Popular Home Styles In The U.S

What Are The Most Popular Home Styles In The U.S? Photo: knowinsiders.

Why your home style is important?

Paying attention to your home’s design can make it feel less like a place to sleep and more like an enjoyable space to you spend time. Comfort and warmth are what can make your house feel like a home, and what you do with its design has a lot to do with it, as greatamericanhomestore.com reported.

A home’s design can also affect how you feel, in large part, because of the colors you use. It’s no secret that the colors of your walls, furniture, and décor can subconsciously play with your emotions. Choosing these colors wisely can also make your home a comfortable space for you and your family and friends.

Putting effort into a home can also make it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Design can give you a home you can be proud to live in, but it can also be beneficial if you ever decide to put it on the market. There’s no shortage of design inspiration out there to make your home look nothing short of sensational.

Not only does design allow you to create an eye-catching home, but you also get an outlet to really inject your personality. Many times, you have a clean slate when it comes to your home’s design, so you can make it look completely different from the last person who might’ve lived in it. The customization you get to do with a home is second to none, and you’ll do it through design.

The final reason why your home’s design is so important is that it makes things easier for you. By setting up your home’s layout and design to fit your personal needs, not only will it allow you to get around it easily, but it will also make things far more efficient.

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List of the most popular home styles in the US?

1. Colonial Style

2. Contemporary Style

3. Ranch Style

4. Bungalow Style

5. Cape Cod Style

6. French Provincial Style

7. Victorian Style

8. Craftsman Style

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What are the most popular home styles in the US?

1. Colonial style

Colonial homes refer to a number of home styles popular during the Colonial period.

Photo: smalldesignideas.com.

The first Colonial homes borrowed design elements from other architectural styles, but always kept things simple. These homes are typically based on symmetrical principles.

They are rectangular, feature double-hung windows, and often house the bedrooms on the second floor. Colonial Revival homes were created in the late 1800s and added more features like cornices and shutters, as rethority.com reported.

When you think of colonials today, a regal estate may come to mind. If only that Wedding Crashers colonial could be yours, right? This home style dates back to the 19th century, when American settlers began experimenting with architectural design, focusing heavily on symmetry. Colonial architecture has maintained popularity most prominently in the northeast, especially from Maine to Virginia. The house architectural style is characterized by evenly spaced shuttered windows, multiple stories, chimneys and brick or wood exterior siding.

According to familyhandyman.com, between 1800 and 1945—the first wave of construction—colonial homes were often professionally designed, featuring intricate architectural details made from highly durable materials. From 1945 on, the home style, which is popular in suburbs, became a more assembled style with a simple aesthetic.

Colonial-Style homes are a vivid reminder of the prerevolutionary era when early European settlers arrived in America in the 1600s. As jlambertcustomhomes.com reported, they consist of unique architecture that is still a preferable choice for many people today, mostly because the style suits large families. There are several styles to choose from, such as Dutch, British, Spanish, Georgian, or French, once you decide you want a colonial-style home.

2. Contemporary style

There are a lot of different interior design styles that define homes, and contemporary is one of the most popular.

Photo: architecthonolulu.com.

Contemporary homes are popular across America. The main element of this house style is sophisticated simplicity. Contemporary homes are easily recognizable by their clean lines, unique shapes, building materials, and design elements, as rethority.com reported.

A contemporary home is one that reflects the current style, which in this case would be 21st century architecture and design. It’s evolutionary, meaning it changes and grows as we do, constantly adapting to what’s new, intriguing, and trending in the world of home design.

Because the concept of a contemporary home is so fluid, it often overlaps with other interior design styles. For example, today’s contemporary homes present with many similar elements of modern boho, farmhouse, and mid-century modern design—serving as a testament to the trending nature of these styles.

They often feature lots of slender or large windows to let in lots of natural light. Many contemporary style homes are focused on bridging the gap between outdoors and indoors.

The first contemporary style homes in the United States were built in the 1950s. Today, you’ll find that contemporary houses vary quite a bit. They may have gabled or flat roofs.

Many are built to be energy efficient, and most are one or one and a half stories. Interestingly, contemporary houses are often the homes of villains or the occurrence of scary events in thriller and horror movies.

As moving.com reported, key to note is that a contemporary home isn’t just about adopting the most popular trends from other design styles. Equally important is pushing the boundaries of what’s new, and in today’s contemporary homes, that often means a widening focus on sustainability and smart features, including eco-friendly building materials, energy-efficiency, and smart home products.

Because contemporary design is by definition of the moment, you can often learn a lot about what elements to include in a contemporary home simply by looking at what’s trending in home décor magazines and on social media. That being said, there are some broad features of contemporary design that you can adapt to your own home if you want to bring it more up to date.

3. Ranch house

Though not every ranch-style home is laid out in the same way, all share a few common characteristics that define the style. Nearly all ranch homes are laid out on a single-story floor plan with open flow between rooms and easy access to all areas of the house from the main living area, as mydomaine.com reported.

Photo: monsterhouseplans.com.

No matter the size of the plot, ranch houses always have some sort of outdoor space, be it a deck, patio, or lawn, and in keeping with their low-profile look, ranch roofs are low-pitched with wide eaves that extend past the exterior walls of the house.

The origins of the ranch-style home can be dated back to 1930s California, which was home to several architectural movements at the time, including the rising popularity of Spanish Colonial-style homes and Craftsman-style homes. As these two styles embraced a more sectioned-off layout, the ranch house came along to challenge them with an emphasis on an open floor plan and ease of indoor/outdoor living.

The house style was coined as a ranch or "rambler" home thanks to all this open space and became a booming style built in the suburbs as soldiers returned home to their families post World War II. Today, ranch-style houses can still be easily found across the country and are still a popular house choice.

In short, here are the common features of a ranch-style house.

Exterior:

-Large windows throughout

-A mix of exterior materials, including brick and siding

-Deep overhanging eaves

-Low-pitched roofline

-Sliding doors that extend to a back patio

-Often features an attached basement and/or garage

Interior:

-Single-story living space

-Open concept floorplan

-Separated bedrooms

-Functional basement as a living space

-Simplistic design elements

4. Bungalow style

According to mymove.com, the word "bungalow" derives from the Hindustani word "bangala," meaning "belonging to Bengal." Bungalow houses were first constructed in Bengal, India in the mid-nineteenth century. At the time, India was under British rule and the ambassadors who traveled there sought to design an informal, easily-constructed rest house to use during their visits.Soon after, the style became popular in England and it was eventually brought over to America.

Photo: designingidea.com.

Architect brothers Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene are credited as the most influential early practitioners of this style in the United States.Together, they designed bungalows in Pasadena, California. Their designs were well received and were highlighted throughout the country through popular magazines like House Beautiful and Good Housekeeping. Soon enough, pattern books featuring bungalow designs and complete mail order house kits became widely available, allowing the bungalow style to spread quickly across the country.

Bungalow houses have a unique history in architecture and are still among the more popular housing styles that buyers seek out today. Bungalows are easily-maintained houses that have undergone many revivals over the years, giving them a modern and customized feel.

Bungalow houses are typically rectangular with low-pitched roofs. Often, they feature covered porches and are usually narrow one story or one and a half stories.

This is one of the most popular home styles, especially in California and the Midwest. And they are on the opposite end of the design spectrum as Victorian homes.

The Bungalow style hearkens to the Indian bungalow home style, a simple home with a thatched roof. Bungalow houses have a casual look.

Characteristics of Bungalows

-Small size. A bungalow home is usually a small single-story house. However, a second story (or a half-story) may be built on top of its sloping roof. The bedrooms are often located on the ground floor, with the living room at the center of the layout.

-Balance. The front of a bungalow doesn’t have to be symmetrical, but it often presents balanced proportions. The porch of a classic Craftsman bungalow is typically unenclosed and features thick support columns that are usually squared or tapered.

-Open floor plans. Bungalows typically feature small square footage and minimal storage space. Bungalow-style housing plans often feature rooms that connect directly to each other, rather than hallways.

-Large front porch with eaves. One of the most distinctive features of the bungalow is the veranda, which is typically covered by a steeply-pitched roof.

-Plenty of windows. Traditional bungalows will usually feature double-hung or single-hung windows. However, modern Craftsman-style bungalows may include casement windows or a large bay window.

5. Cape Cod Style

Cape Cod style floor plans feature all the characteristics of original American home design: symmetrical facades, large central chimneys, and pitched roofs designed to shed snow. All of our Cape Cod floor plans put a focus on providing the cozy living space and charming character that you expect from New England inspired architecture.

Photo: OLEG ALBINSKY / GETTY IMAGES

A Cape Cod house is typically single- or two-story, wide and rectangular-shaped, and features symmetrical windows on either side of the central front door. Cape Cods are often defined by their practical gabled roofs with dorm windows, which are composed of two sloping sections that meet in a roof ridge at the top.

The design is usually very symmetrical and simple, with shuttered windows flanking a front door and a chimney accenting the roof. Perhaps the most distinctive part of a Cape Cod house is the roofline. This style of home is often characterized by a somewhat steep gabled roof that pitches down toward the first story—in fact, you'd be forgiven for assuming Cape Cod homes are always one story, since the second story is often obscured by the roofline.

These gabled roofs are one of the most popular roof styles, owing to their simple, unornamental style and practical, weather-friendly pitch. The pitch (or angle) of the sections can be customized for climates that experience a lot of snow or rain. It's also common for many modern Cape Cods to have an attached or detached garage, front walkway, and back patio or porch.

Inside, the external symmetry is kept up with a "center hall" design similar to Colonial styles, but usually with a more modest footprint. The second floor was historically accessible by a steep staircase and was sometimes left unfinished, with the only light coming in through windows at the side of the house. Later styles of Cape Cod homes remedied the issue of having little upstairs light by cutting into the roofline to create dormer windows.

6. French Provincial Style

Photo: realestate.com.au.

According to thespruce.com, known for its stately, manor-like appearance, French Provincial architecture has been a popular building style since the 1600s and remains a popular pick today. Typically, French Provincial homes were constructed by French aristocrats in the provinces—or rural areas—outside of Paris.

Some famous French provinces include Normandy, Brittany, and Provence, as a province usually designated a regional city and its surrounding lands. Although "provincial" can often mean "unsophisticated," these sprawling, country homes were anything but.

Although some elements of French Provincial architecture have changed over the last several centuries, today's French Provincial homes have retained many of the traditional designs and features, like brick or stone facades, steeply pitched, sloping roofs, and high, arched windows. French Provincial architecture has withstood the test of time and remains a popular building style across the United States today.

Unlike many building and decorating trends, French Provincial architecture has retained most its key elements over the last several centuries. Some distinguishing characteristics of French Provincial architecture include:

-A Stone or Brick Facade

-Symmetry

-Steeply Pitched Roof

-At Least Two Stories

-Simple Yet Elegant Interiors

7. Victorian Style

If you’re looking for a home that can suit any class or quality, Victorian house style might suit your aesthetic. Ranging from ornate dwellings with latticework reaching up to every corner, to row houses built in a post-industrial era for Great Britain, Victorian homes cover a wide swath of territory when it comes to traditional architectural forms.

Photo: youramazingplaces.com.

In America, as homesandgardens.com reported, Victorian homes are mostly known for being more ornate, with multi-level houses featuring decorate exteriors from towering turret windows to mounted wooden latticework, such as the one below in Galveston, Texas.

The Victorian house style began under the reign of Queen Victoria in England. In Britain, the design and makeup of Victorian homes came after the Industrial Revolution, allowing for massive production increases in everything from machinery and steam engines to brick and mortar construction.

Regency style homes became less popular over time, with the Italianate design aesthetic enjoying new-found popularity, and a modest blend of the two defining the basis of Victorian house style.

The continued popularity of Victorian house style comes mostly from these homes' ornate styling for a single family space. The vertical limits of the properties also allows for a quaint, cozy feeling in the interiors without having to lose the added room and square footage vertically.

Many of the most notable manors and country homes are also built in a Victorian house style, particularly outside of major cities like New York City. These historical lessons also keep them popular. Above, this more modest house in Pinebush, New York shows all the hallmarks of Victorian house style.

While most notably founded in Great Britain, the homes are also popular across the East Coast in the United States.

Because of the historical aspect of the design style, the East Coast features Victorian homes like this much more commonly than the West Coast because of the movement to the Americas in history.

West Coast editions of the style have also become popular in Northern California and hamlets around San Francisco – as evidenced in the row houses in San Francisco above.

8. Craftsman Style

Photo: windowworld.com.

There's something modest about a Craftsman home. Its appeal is as timeless as a Traditional-style home but more casual in feel and livability. Some would say the beauty comes from its simplicity of both the design and the typical building materials of wood, brick, and stone, as windowworld.com reported.

Undoubtedly one of the reasons that Craftsman houses remain one of the most popular American architecture styles is because they reflect timeless aesthetics and values that never go out of style. A Craftsman home is solidly made with natural materials and nature-inspired colors and motifs, with a focus on the beauty of artisanal craftsmanship. While Craftsman designs were focused on simplicity and functionality, they nonetheless feature more attention to detail and built-in character than today’s streamlined, minimalist contemporary designs.

Craftsman interiors are built to be cozy, homey, unpretentious, and warm. Unlike today’s typical open-plan spaces, they feature distinct living and dining spaces; small eat-in kitchen nooks; and a traditional, human-scaled space plan. Living and dining rooms are typically anchored by one or two fireplaces as central room features, which may be clad in brick or tile.

According to thespruce.com, one of the elements that makes Craftsman homes feel inviting to live in is the extensive use of woodwork. This includes thick wood framed windows and doors; built-in bookshelves, window seats and other custom millwork; beamed ceilings; and hardwood floors. The use of medium to dark-stained wood on the interiors lends Craftsman interiors a traditionally masculine feel.

While Craftsman homes feature large bay or picture windows to let in natural light, they can feel somewhat dark by contemporary standards. While purists would never dream of painting out the wood in a traditional Craftsman home, many people choose to lighten up some of the natural woodwork, usually with neutral shades of white, taupe, gray, and beige paint.

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