How to Design Your Own Plantation House
Invest plenty of time in designing a plantation house and its layout. The monetary investment for property and building materials is usually significant, so plan every detail to reflect careful attention. All of the accoutrements, such as special lighting and stair railings, will add to the market value of the home. Creating all elements should be an enjoyable experience, since the end result will look more special than the average house. Doing historical research might also help the project, since there are many features of real plantation homes, such as dumb waiters, that aren't typically used in construction today. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Plantation home design books
- Building magazines
- Historical reference books
- Sketch pad
- Graph paper
Instructions
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Obtain home design books and magazines featuring plantation-style homes. Go online to review all details of real plantation homes still in existence. Visit websites of tourism sites featuring plantations from the Old South. Review historical reference books on special home layouts or furnishings used. Get a clear picture of special features to include in your design that will fit your established budget.
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Sketch an exterior design to fit a specific square footage. Draw a plantation design for a house that is 3,000 square feet, for example. Include two-story porch columns or a two-story front porch with a balcony space leading from the second floor. Create the front facade and building materials to match the look of brick or tongue-and-groove boards used in the Old South.
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Incorporate large windows and sizable doors. Create grandeur in the home design by placing windows that will hold large plantation blinds or lush drapes. Use a front door design to fit the overall decor by using a recycled carved wooden door, perhaps found at an antiques store. Find all-wood exterior side doors and back doors, or use French doors, that will harmonize with the home's exterior.
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Include a staircase in the foyer. Invest in real wood stairs with formal railings leading to the second floor. Build generous-size rooms on the first floor that adjoin a common hallway. Build 9-foot ceilings to add a spacious feel to the first floor. Plan to add elegant furnishings, but keep the walls relatively simple to resemble the lifestyle of the 1800s. Design drywall that will be covered in bead-board paneling or wallpaper, for example.
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Install one or two fireplaces in the home. Create a sitting space around the downstairs fireplace, for example, in the main living room. Design a formal dining room accessible from the kitchen space. Make sure the formal living room and formal dining room are clearly visible from the front foyer. Give visitors a real flavor of the Old South by making the entrance quite spectacular. Add an oversize chandelier to the foyer, living room and dining room.
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Tips & Warnings
Use basement space or a room at the back of the house for a family room. Use these spaces for media equipment, computers and modern-day furnishings that won't fit the plantation design.
References
Resources
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