The single thing that stood out to me the most about this house was the understated modern fireplace ideas that they used to anchor the living room. The panelling vaulted ceiling leant a slightly rustic decor, but the fireplace brought it crashing right back into the modern style that I love.

Would you believe that I actually got our modern house plans from a free app that I downloaded online? I inherited this piece of property from my grandmother, and my husband and I decided to do a little (or big) experiment with it by building a home to flip as an investment. We knew that we needed to balance price and value in order to achieve the best ROI, so I wanted to look into alternatives like a house design app that you can design everything yourself in order to avoid costly design fees. At first I was a little bit leery that we could actually achieve our goal, but the more I got into it, the more feasible it became. After about 9 months of designing we were able to bring to life the modern home design that I created in the app. Now that it is listed though, I want to keep it for myself!

So many fellow designers that I have spoken with have expressed that they are intimidated to take on modern house plans because of the complexity of the design. I have to admit that this baffles me a little bit because I have always felt that modern interior design is actually one of the easiest motifs to work within because of the (general) simplicity of the looks. In my eyes, a major characteristic of modern decor is the concept of being understated and elegant at the same time. This home is a perfect example of that. We kept the color palette very simple -- neutral tones with a few touches of a slightly brighter blue to give the look some interest. This color palette was carried throughout the rest of the house design in order to make everything look and feel very cohesive and understated. The same concept was brought to the furniture -- clean lines, simple fabrics, and just a touch of slightly brighter neutral shades in accent textiles.

I am dying to take this slightly outdated house and absolutely transform it with some new modern house plans that would make everything look sleek and white in the best way. Believe it or not, you could absolutely achieve any of the high end modern living room ideas that you see in magazines in this space because of the awesome square footage, perfect open concept layout, and even this giant fireplace in the center. I envision painting everything in here white -- the stacked stone fireplace, walls, ceiling and trim. Modern fireplace designs would become the focal point of the room (in a much better way than it currently is). Then I would replace the tile with gorgeous wide plank lyme washed floors for a bit of color. Finally I would decorate with all white textiles and wrought iron furniture.

Looking through all of these modern house plans in preparation for starting our own build is, quite frankly, very intimidating. I am certainly no designer or architect so trying to look at a blue print or even virtual rendering and see the finished modern house design is definitely out of my comfort zone. I am not sure that what a picture in my head is a realistic version of what something will look like, you know. Once I started finding websites that offered house plans with photos of completed homes that used those prints as a base, I started to be able to visualize our finished home more. The photos here are what I would love the finished design to look like (ultra modern but with a slightly retro twist), so I am going to pass them along to our contractor as well for reference.

Most of the reason that I have gravitated away from modern house plans in the past because I feel that those designs lack the warm and inviting nature that more traditional space have. My husband absolutely adores contemporary design though so I am trying to figure out a way to achieve a balance between both of our preferences. I found this modern kitchen in a gallery on here and, I've got to say, I actually really like it. Something about the warm tones of the cabinetry feels much more inviting than your typical stark white or black units that I have often seen in modern kitchens. If I could come up with cool house plans inspired by these photos, I think that we may actually be on to something here.