Bring the beach to your blueprints with Woodhouse timber frame plans for luxury coastal living.

 

If the idea of a slower pace of life and salty air resonates with you, coastal living could be your calling. Just imagine: idyllic vistas of sandy dunes set against the ever-present soundtrack of crashing waves… it’s easy to see why coastal living holds such allure. From laid-back elegance to beachy bohemian, seaside timber frame homes merge style and function. Just look to Woodhouse’s coastal home series for proof. Even if you’re not building along the oceanfront, you may want to borrow a few ideas…

 

 

Coastal Design 101

Coastal timber frame homes are the product of harmonious collaboration between Mother Nature and man-made design. This architectural style connects inhabitants to nature and often, a naturally healthy lifestyle. While these homes can take on a variety of customizations, they often share a few hallmark characteristics:

• Large windows and glazing elements coupled with open layouts maximize views, natural light, and a blurred boundary between indoors and out.
• Continuous transitions to outdoor living spaces like patios, decks, and verandas serve both one’s lifestyle and a home’s aesthetics. In modern seaside homes, glass railing panels keep the view unobscured and temper onshore breezes. Rooftop decks offer front-row seating for spectacular sunsets and sunrises.
• Natural materials including timber, stone, weather-resistant metals, and cedar shake siding are durable against the ocean’s onslaught of bright sun, wind, and salt.
• Muted, light, and neutral color palettes in shades of white, cream, sand, pale green and watery blue mimic the serenity and natural features of the surrounding beach or cliffs.

 

While not exclusive to coastal design, a few other distinguishing features work exceptionally well in these environments and become standout elements. Take for example waterfront infinity pools, which bring the ocean’s expansive horizon line to your yard. Or outdoor kitchens, which mean al fresco dining is an everyday luxury. Even simple fire pits offer the perfect perch for catching an evening breeze.

 

 

Why Timber Frames Are an Ideal Match

 

Many of the defining traits of a coastal home are also familiar features of timber frame design. However, with a superior construction system, timber frame design is able to not just integrate but elevate these features. Here are a few reasons a timber frame is the optimal system for coastal home design.

 

• Abundant Windows: Unlike conventional homes, a timber frame’s robust posts, beams, and trusses carry the weight of the home, allowing for wide stretches of glazing elements that don’t compromise the home’s sturdiness.
• Temperature Control: Structural insulated panels, or SIPs, create a high-performance thermal envelope that keeps the home’s internal temperature regulated during hot summers and wet, cold winters.
• Open Layouts: Gorgeous great rooms and open layouts are a natural outcome of timber frame construction, and offer the perfect canvas for expressing coastal style.
• Durability: Living on the coast isn’t always filled with sunshine and sandals. Some regions, like the Eastern Seaboard, must endure intense weather, like vicious Nor’easters, winter storms known for their biting temperatures, high winds, and blowing snow — not to mention hurricanes. Storm-resistant construction is necessary to withstand these tempests. Woodhouse timber frames are tough and resilient in the face of high winds and snow loads thanks to Woodhouse’s design process and engineering expertise.
• Customizability + Efficiency: Woodhouse will also study the property and orient a home to maximize passive solar energy and take advantage of prevailing winds, while using architectural and design elements to shelter the home from storms and salt spray. Woodhouse’s design process empowers a homeowner to modify timber frame plans to get the perfect home and style for their unique waterfront location.

 

In fact, Woodhouse timber frame plans and designs are so well-matched to waterfront living, that the most desired hot spots for a luxury, forever timber frame home tend to be near water.

 

Woodhouse Coastal Timber Frame Plans

Looking for inspiration? Woodhouse has three distinct timber frame plans for coastal living. Of course, a homeowner can start with any one of Woodhouse’s timber frame plans and personalize it to suit their exact wants and needs. Use these as a starting point for your dream home or take some of their best features and incorporate them into your from-scratch plan.

 

SandPiper

With its cedar shake siding and welcoming timbers, SandPiper is postcard perfection for a breezy getaway home. This Woodhouse design boasts open spaces and easy access to outdoor entertaining. The spacious great room, anchored by a floor-to-ceiling chimney, offers front-row seats to the surrounding landscape. The wrap-around back deck cements the coastal ambiance. Plus, the master suite opens out to a secluded portion of the deck.

 

SeaCrest

In the elegant SeaCrest, guests step into an entry hall flanked with a sophisticated, curved stairway and private study. A magnificent great room plus in-kitchen dining space lead out to a generous L-shaped deck. The master suite (call it the captain’s quarters) has its own deck. Two more decks, a private balcony, and an open loft grace the upstairs.

 

OceanView

The OceanView is at home on any shoreline thanks to its luxury design. There is room for everyone in this 6,163-square-foot home with five en-suite bedrooms. Outfit the watchtower with either a stairway or an elevator. A sumptuous, curved wall graces the great room, and three double-glass doors connect it to the deck. Luxurious amenities, like the upper-level mini-kitchen and library, are part of the well-appointed design.

 

Custom Creation Case Study

In addition to modifying any of our timber frame plans, Woodhouse designs and builds fully one-off custom homes. This Woodhouse Low Country home is custom, but if you look closely, you’ll see a throughline of similarities to our Coastal series: SidePiper’s lower profile, SeaCrest’s covered decks, and OceanView’s grand covered entryway.

 

Set Sail

Ready to adopt coastal timber frame plans and features for your waterfront lifestyle? Cruise through our online gallery and see what other Woodhouse homeowners have done with their lake, river, and oceanfront homes. Reach out to your local Woodhouse rep about your timber frame journey.