Fourteen ways a house can look

Few styles carry the same warmth. Gabled rooflines, covered porches, open interiors and an atmosphere that puts people at ease immediately. Long a favourite for lakeside retreats and rural getaways across Canada and the United States.

The charm translates just as well to year-round living, and the open plan layouts are surprisingly efficient for families who want shared space. If you have spent a weekend at a friend's cabin and thought you could live there, this is the one.

Once built to shelter horses with coachmen housed above, now a garage or workspace on the ground floor with a complete living area over it. Known as a garage apartment in the United States, a coach house or garden suite in Canada.

A natural choice for adding a guest suite, a rental unit or space for extended family without losing the garage. Because they use vertical space, they add square footage without expanding the footprint, which matters on a tight lot.

Clean lines, deliberate simplicity and function driving the form. Ornamentation stripped away in favour of shape that does a job, producing spaces that feel open and calm.

Energy performance is usually central, with sustainable materials, solar and smart systems planned from the start rather than added. Large windows are the other hallmark, connecting the interior to the landscape.

A cornerstone of North American residential architecture for decades. A single floor with a long low profile and an easy relationship between inside and outside.

Single level living suits a wide range of people: families with young children, anyone planning to stay put as they age, and those who simply prefer moving through a house without stairs. Ranch style floor plans are the usual answer for aging in place.

Smaller does not mean lesser. Lower maintenance, reduced energy costs and a more modest mortgage are the practical appeal; the quality of a well planned compact house is the rest of it.

Every small house design in the collection comes in under 2,000 square feet, made to feel expansive through smart layouts, high ceilings and open arrangements that waste nothing. Flex rooms that work as an office, guest room or studio are common here. This is also where accessory dwelling units and garden suites sit.

For families needing room to grow, and economical for a reason people miss: the foundation carries twice the square footage of a rancher of the same floor area, and so does the roof.

Common areas below, bedrooms and private space above. That separation gives everyone a sense of their own territory without the house feeling disconnected. Single storey or two storey works through the decision properly.

Rooted in early twentieth century North American architecture and built around handcrafted detail: exposed rafter tails, tapered columns, built-in cabinetry, and a richly textured exterior that feels both historic and enduring.

Particularly popular in the Pacific Northwest and across Canada, where the warm artisan character resonates with buyers who value craftsmanship over speed. Craftsman detailing is regularly combined with other styles rather than built pure.

The most durable style request of the last decade, and it has broadened well beyond rural settings. Suburban neighbourhood or acreage, the character holds.

Defined more by feeling than by detail: a welcoming presence, a practical layout, and generous gathering space centred on the kitchen. It reads as natural in a rural setting and as a deliberate contrast in a suburban one, which is most of why it has lasted. Many of the projects we build today borrow from farmhouse and craftsman together.

Sunshine, cross ventilation and a relaxed connection to outside. Developed for the warm humid climates of Hawaii, the Caribbean, Florida and coastal Mexico, and increasingly chosen elsewhere by people who want a house that feels like a permanent holiday.

Raised foundations, deep covered porches, high ceilings and large louvered or casement windows promote airflow and shade, keeping interiors cool without mechanical help. Layouts are relaxed, favouring broad open space over formal rooms.

Emerged between the 1940s and 1960s and has never really left the conversation. Clean geometry, open interior flow, and a seamless dialogue between the house and its surroundings.

Floor to ceiling windows and open plan living work to integrate the house into its environment rather than set it apart. For anyone drawn to architecture that feels timeless and forward looking at once, it offers something hard to replicate.

Steeply pitched rooflines built to shed heavy snow, deep overhanging eaves, heavy timber and generous stone. Inspired by the alpine lodges of Switzerland and the mountain retreats of the American and Canadian West.

Inside, vaulted great rooms anchored by a central stone fireplace with exposed beams overhead and walls of glass. Outdoor living is central, with wraparound decks and direct access to the landscape. Timber framing is a natural fit here, in hybrid or full frame depending on budget.

Warm terracotta roof tiles, textured stucco, arched doorways and interior courtyards. Rooted in southern Europe and North Africa, it took hold across the southern United States in the early twentieth century and has stayed one of the most searched aesthetics on the continent.

The Spanish Colonial Revival variation leans harder into the historical character, with heavy wooden beams, decorative tile and interiors organised around light filled central areas.

Named after the Massachusetts peninsula where it took root in the seventeenth century, and one of the most recognisable forms in North America. A steeply pitched roof, a symmetrical facade, a central door flanked by shuttered windows.

What suits it to modern building is the practicality. The compact footprint keeps construction costs manageable, and the steep roof creates usable upper floor space for bedrooms or a bonus room without a full second storey. Dormers bring light and headroom while adding exterior character.

Rooted in the natural environment of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, and defined by its relationship with the landscape. These houses are built to complement their surroundings rather than compete with them, which shows in every decision from materials to orientation on the lot.

Generous glazing captures views and brings the outside in, while timber framing details lend warmth to both interior and exterior. Open plans let air and light move freely, and the connection to outdoor living reflects how people actually live here.

As land values rise, building upward and inward makes financial sense. A duplex puts two independent units in one structure, so an owner can live in one and rent the other, or house two generations with real independence.

Multi-family plans take it further, accommodating three or more households on a single lot. Increasingly common where housing supply is tight, and increasingly supported by changing municipal zoning.