southern

Log Cabin Design from Country Plans by Natalie

Natalie Howard has designed hundreds of fine homes for individuals since 1958. Her custom service and her stock plans incorporate functional floor plans and family requirements with an emphasis on practical layouts, good traffic flow and creative storage solutions. She is a Certified Professional Building Designer and a member of the AIBD, the American Institute of Building Design. Natalie lives and works in the mountains of northern Georgia. Her stock plan collection, Country Plans by Natalie, reflects her appreciation of the rural dwellings of yesteryear, found throughout the southeastern states.

The collection of more than one hundred unique house plans varies in style. You’ll find Southern farmhouse, cabin, Low Country, country formal and cottage style homes. Sizes range from over 3,000 square feet of living space, to a tiny getaway cabin of just 320 square feet. There’s a great selection of log homes and log cabins. Clever alternative touches add that comfortable “at home” feeling to all of the designs.

A plan book is available by mail, but Country Plans by Natalie’s website is easy to use and also provides plans, renderings and photos of the home designs. Online photo galleries and “tours” show off Natalie’s talent. Make sure to take a look the Interiors section to see some of the very nice details that are incorporated into the plans.

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Global warming and $4 gas are good reasons for us all to start thinking about living greener and using less of the world’s resources. Real estate developers are thinking that way too. Eco villages and sustainable developments are being planned in all parts of the country. They’ll be a welcome change to the standard residential developments that have sprung up recently.

One of the many waterfalls at Sewanee Creek

I just learned about one development, in the beautiful mountains of Tennessee, that’s a little different than most in two ways. First, the Village on Swanee Creek is way ahead of the trend. Developer Grant Miller actually started building his dream of a sustainable community over two years ago. Second, the village’s concept and covenants rely on incentives and encouragements, instead of deeded restrictions, to help inspire green buildings and sustainable lifestyles.

According to Miller, “There are no compulsive covenants for alternative energy or green construction techniques. We have opted instead to actively encourage green development by example, community social norms and cash incentives through our green rebate program. As the first resident, my home has many green features. Our professional affiliates are here to assist all Villagers in achieving sustainability. I believe that the people who will be attracted to the Village will be naturally inclined to implement a higher standard than what is imposed by the covenants”.

Miller set aside more than 500 acres as a wilderness preserve. That’s 500 acres out of just over 750 total. How’s that for setting a good example? Then, he built his own home, cleared a plot for a community vegetable garden, and reclaimed an area that was devestated by clear-cut lumbering. Those 85 acres were groomed into an open meadow to allow an area for wind power generators. The remaining land was carefully subdivided as home parcels of from one to twenty acres that are for sale now. Next up is a community ampitheater nestled into a natural rock formation.

It helps that Sewanee Creek’s land spans an absolutely gorgeous mix of forests, fields and streams. However, other developers, no matter where, might want to take a look at Miller’s development plans and Village Covenants as models. There are some experimental ideas that might just work.

Visit SewaneeCreek.com to see for yourself.

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Charlotte Corbin's Cottage, Isle of Hope, GA

Charlotte Corbin’s Cottage, at left, and the William Leigh House, below, are part of a remarkable group of designs that was created to provide new homes for the landmark historical community of Isle of Hope, near Savannah, Georgia. Builder Magazine noted that the “houses are virtually indistinguishable from the existing island homes.” When I visited Isle of Hope, I had a hard time telling these new cottages from the old ones that preceded them by a hundred years and more.

The houses are a showcase of the rural designs that once dotted our Southern coasts and traveled from there across the country with Western settlement. Styles include vernacular versions of Victorian, Greek Revival, French Colonial, Craftsman and Low Country folk cottages, like the ones shown here, that are so simple that they have no style name.

The homes vary in size and layout, from 1260 sf to 3760 sf, and from one to three floors high. Bedrooms might all be upstairs, all downstairs or on both floors. All houses have plenty of storage, modern kitchens and baths. Most have fireplaces and walk-in closets.

William Leigh House from the Parkersville Collection of plans

When the designs, by architect Gerry Cowart of the Cowart Coleman Group, in Savanah, were first built, they got so much attention from the media and prospective homeowners that a presentation portfolio was created to sell copies of the blueprints to the public. That was back in the 1990s, before the Internet became the primary marketplace for building plans.

The consequence of the timing is that you’ll have to order a copy of the portfolio, by mail, to see and appreciate all of the plans. So, if you’re on the Internet now, looking for building plans because your concrete contractor is starting tomorrow morning, the Parkersville Collection is not for you. However, if you’re interested in finding examples of the careful detailing that produces the best traditional homes, by all means order the portfolio. It will be well worth your time.

Visit the Parkersville Collection website to order their portfolio or to read more about it. While you’re there, click on the button that reads “More on Homes.” You’ll be taken to a page that offers you a photo gallery of the different homes and a little more information on each. You still won’t see floor plans, but you will be entertained while you’re waiting for your mail carrier.

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