A home’s exterior should represent your style and create a welcoming overall aesthetic for your house. Think of it as the first impression for everyone who enters. With that in mind, how do you want to welcome guests to your home? As custom home builders, we are here to help you answer that question.
Before reading on, familiarize yourself with our House Plans page. Then, click the “Exterior Styles” button at the top of the page. As you read today’s post, filter each exterior style so you can see the differences in some of our favorite custom home plan exteriors. You’ll find that every exterior is beautifully designed, but it’s up to you to define your home’s individual style.
Once you’ve had a chance to browse our expansive gallery, you should have a good idea of which of our custom home exterior elements you appreciate the most. But what sets apart each home style from the others? And how can you decide which exterior has the best curb appeal for you and your neighborhood? Today, we share the specifics on what sets each exterior style apart.
American Tradition: For Timeless Comfort
In our custom home building experience, we have found that our average customer feels a certain sense of comfort when entering an American Tradition home. There’s nothing quite like the classic combination of brick, stone, and siding. Together, they create an aesthetic that is equal parts calming and orderly. Today’s American Tradition homes come in the classic combination of rich brown shades and deep wood tones as well as more modern grays and blues. From one-story cozy oases like the Belmont American Tradition house plan to the expansive Ridgewood with a second owner’s suite, you can create your own family traditions in this timeless style.
Craftsman: For a One-of-a-Kind Feel
Craftsman style homes are known for handcrafted excellence that creates a truly personalized home exterior. This home design style came to be in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the 1900s out of a desire for an artisan’s authentic touch on a home, rather than a standard mass-produced house. Today, no two Craftsman homes are alike. However, the typical craftsman features a low-pitched roof with decorative dormers. Together, this makes for a cozy, comfortable feel, especially when paired with an inviting pillared front porch in muted earth tones like natural browns, soothing greens, and neutral beige. See how the styles can vary with some of our favorite custom craftsman house plans like Olivia, West Point, and Windsor.
Modern Farmhouse: For a Laidback Lifestyle
This design style has been increasingly popular in recent years, both in interior design and on home exteriors. It’s no wonder that this inviting style continues to attract homeowners across the country. It has a nostalgic nod to simpler times with a touch of contemporary that complements charmingly. You’ll know a Modern Farmhouse home when you see it. Look for homes with natural wood columns that add a rustic touch to crisp white siding and a contrasting dark metal gable roof. We love helping homeowners add their own style spin with accents like an authentic barn red door or deep forest green siding that plays off the natural surroundings. The Schumacher custom modern farmhouse house plans range from the more modern side with our Charleston design to the more classic farmhouse style with our Emery design.
Modern Hill Country: For Authentic Country Living
We define our Modern Hill Country exterior style as the perfect mix of the two aforementioned styles, Craftsman and Farmhouse. Our Beverly II Modern Hill Country house plan shows how we bring the best of both worlds in one beautiful design with a balance of artful elements and clean lines. This exterior style is charmingly rustic and authentically historic for the most comfortable country living.
French Country: For Effortless Elegance
Think of a French Country exterior as the Modern Farmhouse style of France. There’s a certain simplicity to this style’s stately structure, as French Country homes merge rustic comforts with European elegance in the form of modest farmhouse warmth and an ode to an elegant chateau. This graceful country style lets complex textures add visual intrigue to a neutral color palette with detailed stonework, curved archways, and elongated windows. See for yourself in our Olivia French Country house plan.
Coastal: For Never-Ending Summer
Coastal home exteriors bring the lightness of a beach vacation to any neighborhood. Coastal-inspired homes offer a casual, comfortable way of living life as they blend indoor and outdoor living beautifully. Though beachy, this style is less nautical, more nonchalant. Effortless, rather than chintzy. From our Seaside Coastal house plan that is classically shingled to our Bluffton Coastal design that is sleekly wrapped in crisp siding, coastal homes are perfectly dreamy and never overly proper. Even if you don’t live beachside, the inviting porches and airy feel will welcome all well.
Modern: For a Clean Slate
On the other end of the home design spectrum, modern exteriors bring a sleek sturdiness to a home’s appeal. In this exterior style, less is more. Ornate columns and adorned windows typical in other exteriors are replaced by indulgent minimalism that makes for an understated statement. Geometric shapes placed in intentional asymmetry evoke clean luxury, especially when made with materials like wood, stone, and concrete. These textures serenely showcase the architectural elements in a polished, contemporary look. See what we mean in our Charleston Modern house plan.
Carolina: For a Handcrafted, Coastal Design
Our Carolina exterior style is a perfect blend of craftsman and coastal styles. Custom stone, handcrafted touches and natural coastal elements embody the Carolina style and is ideal for those that like both craftsman and coastal, but just cannot decide. Our Olivia Carolina model home shows how we bring elements from both together. This exterior style is welcoming and warm, yet embraces the laid back, relaxed style.
Earnhardt Collection™: For Casual Comfort
If you love the great outdoors, the exterior style of this Schumacher Homes exclusive collection is made for you. The Earnhardt Collection™ is named after Kerry and René Earnhardt, who embody the casual lifestyle this collection supports. Each house plan is a true place to escape to with the authentic feel of a real retreat, starting at the welcoming exterior. When creating these exterior styles, we focused less on being showy, and more on creating a naturally beautiful experience. From the whispering welcome of the Hummingbird house plan to the resort-worthy walk-up of the Hickory, our exterior will deliver a true natural comfort feel as soon as you arrive. Learn more about our exclusive Earnhardt Collection™ here.
Modern Retreat: For Natural Beauty
When you choose a house plan from our Modern Retreat collection, you can feel confident that we will design with your personal style and your individual property in mind. This collection works with the beauty of nature to create the ultimate getaway, as inspired by New Zealand’s modern architecture. A Schumacher Homes exclusive, these custom house plans bring a naturally architectural spin on contemporary home design that complements the natural environment for a magnificent home experience. With this exterior style, we invite the natural surroundings to enter with you. Explore all our house plans, including Huka Falls, named after one of New Zealand’s most visited attractions, and learn more about this newly launched collection here.
No matter which exterior style draws you in the most, we at Schumacher Homes will help you create the custom home you can’t wait to come home to. Discover your perfect curb appeal with the support of our trusted team. Contact us today.
About Schumacher Homes
Schumacher Homes, based in Canton, Ohio, is America’s largest custom homebuilder, with operations in 22 locations in 11 states across the country. The National Housing Quality award winning company has built over 20,000 homes, customized to fit each family’s lifestyle, since its founding by Paul Schumacher in 1992. Schumacher Homes takes each customer’s inspiration and gives it a home. Each Schumacher Homes location includes a one-stop shopping design studio and model homes displaying the latest in architectural and product trends.
