Coastal Home Design Blog

Maximize Your Outdoor Space for your Elevated Beach House

Make Use of That Great Space Underneath Your Deck

You’ve bought your dream house by the coast, with a beautiful deck and gorgeous water views. In addition, the deck has a decent amount of space underneath it. Of course, this under-deck area is ideal for storage, but what about utilizing that space to create your perfect outdoor oasis?

Ten Tips for Building on the Coast

Thinking about building on or near the coast? There are a few additional hoops to jump through that you’ll want to understand and consider as you are planning to build your beach house. Here are ten tips getting started. Before You Buy Your Property 1) Know Thy Elevation. When you purchase a property, be sure […]

The Inverted House Plan

Ruminations on Living at the Top Here at Coastal Home Plans we offer up a good many home designs that feature what we call an “inverted floor plan.” Also called “Reverse Story” or “Upside Down” house plans, This type of plan positions the living areas on the highest floor while allocating space for the sleeping […]

Hurricane Strap & Tie Primer: Building in High Wind Zones

Residential Construction and Wind Loads Building on the coast in high wind zones requires adhering to a more robust set of building codes. The standards have changed dramatically over the past twenty years. Important testing and guidance comes from a variety of government agencies including the Department of Energy, FEMA and even the Department of […]

Coastal Driveways and Concrete Pavers

Understanding Your Local Codes and Why Concrete Pavers May Be Your Friend Relief. After months of searching, you finally found the perfect seaside lot. You can see it now – a two story home with three bedrooms, large swimming pool, wide spacious driveway, and a porch with an amazing view of the ocean. Next step–finding […]

About Blueprints, Reprodicible Masters and AutoCAD Files

Coastal Home Plans offers house plans from 65+ different architects and designers each offering a variety of purchase options for their plans. To learn more about the options and to help you decide the best format for your project read more below. One of the biggest factors will revolve around the number and complexity of […]

Coastal Design Element #1: Exposed Rafter Tails

What Makes a Beach House Look Like a Beach House? Choosing a design for your coastal property presents the opportunity to explore home styles that are a bit more unique than the designs found in most subdivisions. As you search for a coastal or beach house design that fits your lifestyle, you’ll begin to notice […]

Coastal Design Elements #2: The Metal Roof

by Brett Hanson While searching for an appealing coastal home design that fits both your needs and taste you will undoubtedly discover that some design features instantly add a truly coastal feel to almost any design. The second installment in our continuing series about Coastal Design Elements explores the historical origin and modern implementation of […]

6 Important Steps for Building Your New Home

Building a new home on the coast may seem like a daunting task. At Coastal Home Plans, we’ve helped many people by providing them with some of the best coastal home plan designs on the internet. Having said that, there is more to building a new house than just selecting house plans. If you’re not […]

4 Coastal Building Codes You Need to Know

When you are constructing a home on the coast, there are building codes that are unique to coastal living. Getting familiar with the following “must know” codes will help you immensely during your pre-construction planning phase. In fact, several of these are helpful before you buy your lot. Remember, too, that it’s always a good idea to […]