Country House Plans - Inspiration From The Past

The country house plans of today are inspired from the past centuries' country houses belonging to the peasant families. The spacious porches that extend living space, the short fences and the large family reunion rooms are the elements that make the country house plans worth and work.

The country farms and cottages developed from the needs of the rural families. The main request for a country house plan was to provide functionality, as they had to adapt to the limited comfort that the past centuries could offer. In older times, a back entrance of the house was necessary, because of all the agricultural work, which implied transporting vegetables. This was also near a water source and the kitchen, where families spent a lot of time, mostly because of the lack of the technological and food products of today. In this way, kitchen was situated at the back of the house and was sort of extending outside, too: the kitchen door was always opened, to release the smoke and there also was a wooden table outside, where peasants preferred to eat during summer. The men usually made themselves the furniture of the house, just like the women handcrafted the décor, which always reflected the nation’s traditions.

Due to the fact that in the past centuries, families tended to have numerous members, the country house plans included a larger number of bedrooms, which, even like that, were sometimes shared. Wooden walls and floors were common and a large living room was traditional in all country homes; here, the family got together in the evenings after the agricultural duties and on special holidays.
 
Country house plans didn't include the need of ornaments or artistic touches, as life in the natural décor, surrounded by fruit trees was romantic enough. The exterior façade had minimal detailing and the roof was simple and pitched. The most important part of the exterior was the porch, which was large and covered, wrapped around, with one or two stories. Apple or cherry trees, or a whole orchard in the back usually enclosed the houses. The fence was inexistent or small, as the need of protection was unnecessary in that environment and the fence was seldom used to define the limits of the land.
 
These houses lifestyle represents a fashion nowadays and it is brought back from time and province through the country house plans. The rustic homes have extended even to busy cities, as the country house plans do not apply just in agricultural environments anymore.