Best House Floor Plans

Gargantuan, expansive, and exuding a myriad of design options, mansion house floor plans are greener and more luxurious than ever. Given the magnitude and cost to heat and cool a mansion, opting for the home with eco-friendly features is non-negotiable. Aside from expansive floor plans and high-end amenities, we found these luxury mansions to include a short list of wondrous architectural floor plans:

-    Colonial
-    European
-    Mediterranean
-    Modular Homes
-    Traditional
-    Victorian

In quest of more than guest suites, media rooms, cabanas, Best House floor Plan went searching on the Internet for luxury mansion floor plans, highlighting green qualities or eco-friendly characteristics. The criteria consisted of solar panels, eco-windows, skylights and anything proving to be energy efficient and environmentally conducive. Here are the reports of our findings:

Imagine closets the depth and width of an average-sized bedroom. Watch television from a media room, which closely resembles a movie theatre. In the sunken great room, far-reaching cathedral ceilings are punctuated by fireplace layered in stonemasonry. This is what we found with mansion house floor plan #592-001D.

At HousePlansandMore.com, we were captivated by the magnitude of this Green Home Floor Plan. With 4958 square feet of living space, the upscale arts and crafts home plan is divided between two floors, five bedrooms, and a three-car garage. The green interior boasts an A-list of amazing features. Outside of the entryway, maintained between an angular roof, affixed with skylights, stately pillars are constructed of river stone. A recycled glass countertop serves as a sustainable alternative to granite, marble and other types of kitchen work surfaces.

At this luxury mansion home floor plans, the see-through fireplace and solarium evoked covetous feelings. During the winter months, a solarium offset, by a u-shaped staircase depicts a warmth and picturesque view. On the main floor, a see through fireplace offers heat and warmth throughout the hearth and dining rooms.

But with so many mansion home floor plans to dream about, one must see the homes at HouseFloorPlansandMore.com.

Meanwhile, be sure to check back in several weeks, when we deconstruct hearth rooms.

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Entryways don’t require all the decorative details that other rooms of the home demand. It doesn’t take much effort to transform dismal into a stunning entranceway.

Step 1
Starting with the basics, remove everything in your entryway, including pictures, plants and wall ornaments. Clean the ceiling, walls and floor.

Step 2
Next, now that the room is empty, allow the imagination to run wild. Consider the type of mood you hope to evoke when visitors enter.

Step 3
Consider your wall alternatives. To make your entryway appear expansive, select light colors, offering iridescence. Light greens, pale blues, beiges, and canary yellows are a few hues, which inspire a sense of cheeriness.

Floors can make or break any entryway.  Between tile, wood finishes, and bamboo, there are several floorings to consider.

Step 4
Select the best accents. A mirror, pedestal, magnificent vase, distressed cabinet coat rack, pendant lighting, cabinet, bench and or plants are the usual entryway objects of attraction. While it’s acceptable to intermingle eclectic accessories, country and modern furnishings, be sure to pool decorative accents that maintain the entryway’s design continuity.

Step 5
Keep the transition from the entryway to the rest of the home as seamless as possible. In other words, an ultra modern entryway does not bode well with the elegantly designed great room.

Optional Entryway Home Design Tip:

For the walls or floor of your entranceway, consider mosaic tiles of various colored hues. The visual appeal presents an element of texture and depth. Using a favorite theme (nature, abstract or whatever), make this the focal point on either the wall or the floor background. This design tip alleviates the need to use other decorative embellishments.

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Real estate / mortgage shopping tips for the first time home buyers

With the White House extending the first time home buyer tax credit stimulus plan, consumers shopping for a new home have several tasks to simplify the quest for a new domicile. Use these seven-basic home buying tips:

1.    Set aside the down payment. Fifteen to 25 percent is an ideal down payment for two reasons: 1) the more you have down the better your loan options. 2) Nominal down payments mean a higher monthly mortgage and that you own less of the equity.

2.   Be pre-approved. Before you go house shopping, first consider how much you “think” you can afford. Regardless of how much you “think,” be pre-approved for a home loan. Lending institutions will set your budget with a pre-authorized mortgage. If you’re a serious shopper, you need to be prepared to make an offer.

3.    Shop around. After you’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage, your total loan value, search for homes within that price range, your new home budget.

4.    Conduct research. If you’re interested in buying a home in a specific neighborhood, analyze the costs of comparable properties. If you’re working with a real estate agent, most will provide this information at no cost.

Optional tip: Real estate agents can minimize the time and preferable choices of finding a new home. Expect to pay 5 to 10 percent in commission.

5.    Opt for basic financing. There’s no such thing as “growing into” a mortgage. Steer clear of “alternative loans,” as the rates tend to provide a false sense of affordability. For instance, although an adjustable rate mortgage (ARMs) appears feasible on paper, overtime these mortgages move with the market.  Instead, seek a fixed mortgage rate where payments remain the same (in example a 30-year fixed mortgage), alleviating any financial surprises.

6.    Hire a lawyer. Consider an attorney, who not only specializes in closings, but also charges a flat rate as opposed to by the hour. Have a list of prepared questions.

7.    Negotiate the asking price. Motivated sellers are more apt to bargain with buyers, who already are pre-approved for a mortgage. Armed with a pre-approved mortgage, and real estate marketplace research, place an offer 7 to 10 percent below the asking price.

Other article Home Buying Tips: Construction Loan Vs. All-in-one Construction Loans

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Get A Good Home Price By Negotiating

Cottage home plans evoke a sense of comfort, coziness and simplicity. Nonetheless, the cottage home is not synonymous with drab or bland. It does not denote country décor either. Rather, high-end design ideas tend to juxtapose the cottage home plan, breathing contrasting aesthetic qualities. Starting in the kitchen, where people tend to linger, here are a few design ideas:

Spruce up the cabinetry.
In the cottage home as well as other domiciles, cabinetry accounts for expansive focal points of the room.  Kitchen cabinets can take the space from mundane to high-end. For instance, KraftMaid produces well organized, pullout and roll out cabinets that epitomize the wow factor.

Cottage Home Kitchen Cabinet Design Tip: To give the cottage home kitchen depth, intersperse various sized cabinets.  Also, the same concept works anywhere in the cottage home where built-in cabinets are part of the room.

Adorn windows, in eco-friendly fashion.
Using window dressings as an example, bamboo blinds provide texture with eco-design qualities. Since, bamboo is not grown with pesticides and promotes oxygen, it makes for an organic window furnishing.

Consider your material options.
Instead of opting for the typical kitchen wall backdrops (granite, marble, stainless steel), consider a jeweled collection of mini tiles randomly displayed over the kitchen sink and stove. As seen on HGTV, this idea illustrates an artistic element to the working area’s background. Not to mention, it’s a timeless décor. Add extra dimension with contrasting hues of tile.

Additionally, research and shop around for other sustainable materials. Be sure to punctuate the kitchen with accessories, (canisters, spice racks and toasters) with a solid colored contrast to your walls.

The aforementioned ideas are just of few design ideas on dramatizing the cottage home.

Check out the Internet’s best cottage home plans

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