SPECIALTIES

Modern Farmhouse Designs & Floor Plans

Farmhouses have been a mainstay for decades, but they’ve also enjoyed a recent surge in popularity thanks to certain residential design trends. However, at 42º North, we’ve always known just how timeless they can be. Discover our approach to modern farmhouse design and how we can incorporate it into the home of your dreams.

Characteristics of a Modern Farmhouse Floor Plan

Exposed Wood Beams

This used to be a common part of the design in older houses. However, as people have fallen in love with old homes and the character they have, designers have continued to incorporate exposed beams into newer residential architecture.

In newer houses, these beams are less for structural integrity and more for decoration. However, they still impart a feeling of strength and rustic elegance to the home.

Shiplap

Shiplap is a type of wood paneling that creates a tight, waterproof seal when multiple wooden boards or planks are attached to each other. This was used on wooden ships for hundreds of years—hence the name—and has long since made its way into home design since it’s both durable and beautiful.

While shiplap wood paneling was always a common part of traditional farmhouse exteriors, architectural designs for modern farmhouses often use it as an interior feature. When architects use it as part of the interior walls, it lends a rustic and cozy feel to common areas, dining rooms, and bedrooms without compromising on good design principles.

White or Neutral Exteriors

One of the hallmarks of modern farmhouse exterior design is that they’re consistently white or a light neutral color. This aspect of their design goes back hundreds of years, as farmers and their families would whitewash their homes with slaked lime to keep bugs away from the house.

While they don’t serve the same functional purpose as whitewashing, white walls have become a classic characteristic of farmhouses because the color helps insulate the home.

Materials and Textures Instead of Colors

This is where modern farmhouses tend to depart from their traditional counterparts. Back in the old days, using color on your walls or floors was a sign that you were able to afford to buy paint and carpeting that used expensive dyes. Nowadays, the status symbols have shifted in the complete opposite direction.

Farmhouses in the modern era tend to rely on using the natural materials that make up the home as design elements, rather than incorporating bold colors on the walls, ceilings, or floor. You’re more like to see natural stone fireplaces or reclaimed wood flooring in their original colors than in brighter jewel-toned shades.

Gable Roofs

Much like their traditional counterparts, many modern farmhouses have gable roofs with angular clean lines to help with durability and weather resistance. This is designed to help water roll off during storms and prevent the leaks that are more common in buildings with flat roofs.

Our Award-Winning Modern Farmhouse Architecture

We’re proud to have created dozens of modern farmhouses for homeowners throughout the country. Here are just a few of our favorite farmhouse projects.

Thornapple Modern Prairie

Crooked Lake Prairie

Shades of Gray Modern Farmhouse

Mountain Modern

Meadow Crossing Modern Farmhouse

Cedar Lake Modern

Why Choose Us for Your Modern Farmhouse Designs?

Our Custom Home Floor Plans

Your home should match everything you and your family need—down to having a dedicated place where you put your phone at night. Our custom floor plans for your house reflect everything you might need or want in a home. No idea is too “out there” for us. If you want a spiral slide that leads from your bedroom to the kitchen, we can do that. The only limits are your imagination and local building codes.

What Makes Us Different

If you’ve ever spent more than a few minutes around an architect, you might have a general idea of what they’re like—uptight people who see themselves as visionaries who would rather follow their artistic vision than actually listen to what you want for your home. Throw that idea out the window when you make us your design partners.

Since we’re designing the space where you’ll spend the majority of your life, we want to be sure it has everything you need and looks exactly like the house of your dreams. We consider ourselves design agnostic and value friendliness and listening skills above all else.

What to Expect During Our Design Process

If you choose us as your modern farmhouse architectural design partner, this is what you can expect the process to look like at a glance:

Connect with Us

We want to get to know you before we jump into the commitment of building your home together. Expect to sit for a coffee with us so we can learn about your vision and have a few laughs together before we get started.

Share Your Vision

Our greatest tools as residential design experts aren’t our hands—they’re our ears. We’ll learn about your current space through questionnaires and observations—including what you love and hate about this space, and what you like most about modern farmhouse-style architecture.

Give Us a Tour

We’ll view how you use your current space for ourselves when we take a home tour with you. This gives us a chance to see the ergonomics, spatial relations, and scale of the home in person.

Watch Us Work

We’ll start designing your new home using cutting-edge architectural CAD software to give you an exact visual of what your home will look like, down to the texture of the drapes.

It’s important to us that we learn every single detail of what you’re trying to accomplish. We also want to make sure you see as much of what the final product will look like as possible. That’s why we use 3D modeling to flesh out the design of your new home. We’ll even go down to the fine details including the landscaping, siding, and interior design.

Make Us Your Consultant

We still stay in touch after we get final approval on your new home design! Expect us to keep communicating with you during construction and even after you get the keys.

You can expect frequent site visits and communication with your building team to check in on their progress. We’ll also refer you to some recommended interior designers, landscapers, and other professionals.