Carpentry and Building Construction Colonial Barn Plans These barns can double as a workshop, studio, cabana, or a cabin in the woods. Includes a complete set of architectural drawings and a full list of materials. Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 6 Produced by Chief Architect, this is the best consumer home design software we have tried to date. Highly recommended! Building a Multi-Use Barn: For Garage, Animals, Workshop, Studio More about barns, garages, sheds Playhouse Plans & Plan Books Monte Burch's Pole Building Projects: Over 25 Low-Cost Plans More special construction books Creating the Not So Big House: Insights and Ideas for the New American Home by Sarah Susanka More Design Books Cabin Fever: Rustic Style Comes Home More Cabins & Log Homes Sheds: The Do-It-Yourself Guide for Backyard Builders by David Stiles Construction Calculators Store Martha's Vineyard Plan Book: Designs for Houses, Porches, Additions, Guesthouses, Sheds, Garages, Barns, Outdoor Showers, and Garden Structures More plan books... A Little House of My Own: 47 Grand Designs for 47 Tiny Houses

House Plans, Barn Plans, Safe Rooms, Shed, Garage & Outbuilding Plans

• 4homebuilder.com Plan Center - preview more than 11,250 house plans & blueprints, garage plans, barns, garden sheds, playhouses, log cabins, A-frames, duplexes, multi-family homes, small houses, large luxury houseplans and home plan books. Search the database by square footage, number of floors, number of bedrooms or baths, architectural styles and/or plan number. If you are looking for something more specific, you are welcome to use our toll free number in order to speak directly to a "live" plans representative who will help you narrow your search.

• Tornado Safe Rooms - it is difficult and expensive to build a house that will survive the effects of high winds and flying debris. However, it is relatively easy and inexpensive to build one of these small reinforced rooms that have proven to be very effective tornado shelters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing complete plans in DWF, DWG & DGN formats, specifications and comparison cost estimates for building a safe room inside your house.

• National Affordable Housing Network - an independent non-profit organization that works with local low-cost housing production groups, including Habitat for Humanity, in order to develop and implement resource-efficient design and construction. They currently offer 5 different low-cost, high performance, superinsulated house plans, which are designed for cold climates and 1 houseplan designed for hot climates - affordable housing with affordable energy costs.

• Popular Mechanics - this online version of the popular magazine has a lot of very good information including free, step-by-step project plans for building a 6 x 8-foot "Super Shed" that is expandable to 8 x 12-feet. I don't know how long this article will appear in the online archives, but as long as it does, you should be able to find it by typing "super shed" into the search box that appears on the home page.

• Alternative Home Plans - Minnesota architect Tim R. Bjella offers some of his unique house plans, garage plans, and a pretty nifty birdhouse as well.

• Cascade Residential Design - This design firm, located in Tacoma, WA, is currently offering about 50 different house plans for homes under 2,700 square feet. You can view floor plans, front elevations, and purchase their plans on-line.

• Barn Plans - Dano has been building, remodeling, and restoring houses, barns, and out-buildings in California and Hawaii since 1970. His barns use engineered trusses and he offers blueprints for a Napa barn, a horse barn, a garage with a loft, and a two-story barn house.

• Cabin Plans - Tech Art has assembled a plan collection of 14 small cabins ranging in size from 144 square feet to 576 square feet.

• Stiles Designs - Jeanie and David Stiles have written 14 different "how-to" building project books. Their articles have been published in well-known magazines and newspapers, and they have appeared on several popular television programs. Their newest project is a Web site that features their books, as well as, plans for storage projects, children's furniture, garden projects and easy-to-build projects for kids.

  Books by David and Jeanie Stiles:

  • Sheds: The Do-It-Yourself Guide for Backyard Builders
  • Treehouses: You Can Actually Build
  • Garden Retreats: A Build-It-Yourself Guide
  • Rustic Retreats: A Build-It-Yourself Guide
  • Playhouses You Can Build: Indoor & Backyard Designs

• Eli Townsend & Son, Inc. - a mail-order plan dealer offering garage plans, carriage shed plans, small salt box house plans, guest house plans, studio and home office plans in early American style.

• Barns, Sheds & Backbuildings - This site offers blueprints for barns, sheds, coach houses, and other backbuildings. It is being assembled by David Noffsinger, of Cabin Plans, and Don Berg, architect and author of several resource books about barns and outbuildings. Architects, designers & manufacturers of farm building and/or barn plans are welcome to submit their designs for possible inclusion on their site.

  Source Books by Donald J. Berg, AIA: (Most of these books are out of print at the present time, but you might be able to find a used copy here)

  • Barns & Backbuildings: Designs for Barns, Carriage Houses, Stables, Garages & Sheds with Sources for Building Plans, Books, Timber Frames, Kits, Hardware, Cupolas & Weather Vanes
  • American Country Building Design: Rediscovered Plans for 19Th-Century Farmhouses, Cottages, Landscapes, Barns, Carriage Houses & Outbuildings
  • The Backroad Home: Simple Country Designs of Cottages, Cabins, Barns, Stables, Garages and Garden Sheds with Sources for Blueprints, Kits, Building Accessories, Catalogs and Guide Books
  • Carriage Barns: Sources of Building Plans, Kits, Products and Services to Help You Create a New Garage, Workshop, Stable, Backyard Office, Studio or Live-In with Old-Style Charm

• Home Planners - a division of Hanley-Wood, Inc., publishers of 10 different trade and consumer magazines, has been selling house plans, home designs and blueprints for over 50 years.

  Search for Home Planners Plan Books by using the following link:

  • Home Planners Plan Books

• Garlinghouse - Now available on-line, their house, garage, deck, gazebo, playhouse and other project plans have been available for years in lumber yards and building supply stores. They also offer a CD that contains 3600 home plans from 57 leading design firms and FREE plan books to qualified contractors. Unfortunately, their site does not appear to display samples of their plans.

  Search for Garlinghouse Plan Books by using the following link:

  • Garlinghouse Plan Books

• Plan Quest - At last count, there were more than 650 home plans available from this site. You can search for a plan by house type, size, number of bedrooms or baths, size of garage, construction materials, or other specific characteristics. When you choose to view a plan from the results of your search, you are shown a front elevation, plan summary, and floor plans. All the plans can be purchased as preprinted vellums or in several different CAD formats, so you can easily alter them yourself. You will have to decide if you like what is offered, but there are certainly a lot choices from which to choose.

• Sears Craftsman Tools - hand, power, lawn & garden tools guaranteed for life, projects to make with your kids, as well as, deck plans, furniture plans, a garden gazebo, a sun trellis....

• The Stanley Works - besides their tools, tape measures, doors, and other products, The Stanley Job Site has a great selection of woodworking projects, deck plans, furniture plans, remodeling and home improvement tips.

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