The motto could be applied to Clark County’s competitive housing market, where home builders are rolling out a host of new floor plans designed for cautious buyers with discriminating taste. Outdoor living space, main-floor master suites and multifunctional great rooms top the list of must-haves among home shoppers. On the flip side, some home buyers want smaller homes that cater to their “less is more” lifestyles.

Here is a rundown of the hottest trends in home construction:

Living outdoors

Buyers are looking for homes with outdoor living spaces that go beyond decks and patios. Renaissance Homes of Lake Oswego, Ore., designed a covered outdoor kitchen in its Windsor Euro model available in the Hunter Ridge subdivision in Camas.

With a stainless steel grill, mini fridge and seating space, the outside kitchen provides a whole new venue for home entertaining, said Julie Dunn, Renaissance director of sales and marketing.

“We’re finding out that many people want to keep grilling year-round,” she said.

Other new homes available in Clark County feature designs that connect the outdoors to interior space, such as the Heritage model being built by Vancouver-based Pacific Lifestyle Homes. The home’s dining area includes double French doors that open onto an outdoor patio topped with an open Italian-style pergola, or canopy of trelliswork supported by columns.

“The effect just enlarges your entertaining space,” said Matt Goldfain, the company’s director of marketing.

Main-floor retreats

The latest floor plans incorporate master bedroom retreats on the main floor, a feature that was previously only offered by custom-home builders, said David Commeree, product development manager of New Tradition Homes, a Vancouver production-home builder.

“It’s the favorite room of many buyers we’ve polled,” Commeree said. “They want a sanctuary space right on the main floor,” he said, adding that many baby boomers prefer not to have to climb stairs.

Builders say the master suites in highest demand include seating areas, plenty of closet space and perhaps a spa bathtub.

“It has to be a place where they can retreat and get away from it all,” Commeree said.

Rooms within rooms

New design twists on the great room concept create separate areas within the larger room, employing architectural details that define each space.

“Instead of hallways, you might employ archways or lowered ceilings as a strategic delineation between spaces,” Commeree said.

Space can also be outlined with wall trim, lighting and recessed ceilings as well as diverse flooring and paint treatments.

Commeree said the concept provides the appearance of contiguous open space with separate rooms, such as the kitchen, dining, sitting and study areas within a great room.

“It becomes a multifunctional place with rooms that flow into each other,” Commeree said.

Less is more

Some of the newest floor plans omit formal living and dining rooms altogether, shrinking the footprint of an average new home from 3,500 square feet down to about 2,800 square feet, said Goldfain of Pacific Lifestyle Homes.

He attributed the trend to Sarah Susanka, architect and author of “The Not So Big House.” Published in 1998, the book’s message is beginning to catch on, emphasizing home designs that value quality over quantity and highlight comfort, Goldfain said.

“We’ve been designing for the shift in the last year or so,” he said.

He called Pacific Lifestyle’s Overture model an example. The home’s floor plan features an extra-large great room with no formal living room, a design that appeals to buyers, Goldfain said.

“They say, ‘Look at all this room we have to be together.’ It’s really a working-family concept.”

Cami Joner covers real estate for The Columbian. She can be reached at 360-735-4532
or via e-mail at
cami.joner@columbian.com.