Shingle Style Homes

A shingle style home is reminiscent of a seaside home with a wide porch, wood shingles, calming sea breezes (we can dream, right?), an informal appearance, and most certainly, a charming home. While homes like these tend to be found on the East Coast, their popularity here in the Midwest continues to be seen. We, your RDS designers, have created this style of home for many clients. 

What Are Shingle Style Homes?

Shingle style homes are truly an American style of home. These homes flourished from 1880 – 1910, primarily in New England due to the abundance of wood for the shingles and its ability to hold up to the salt air and winter weather. Often built on stone foundations, they appear to grow out of and be part of the landscape. These rambling homes have an irregular floor plan, abundant porch space to enjoy the summer breeze, and are often quite large as many were built during the Gilded Age. The cost of these homes made them inaccessible to most people in the 1800’s, so they were mostly summer homes for the wealthy. Today, these houses are being built in all areas for people looking to recreate homes with an informal, rustic, relaxed design, evoking casual elegance of a time past. 

The Characteristics of a Shingle Style Home:

• Homes are usually covered with a layer of wood shingles that tie all of the sloped and vertical surfaces together. The shingles are allowed to weather naturally, are stained, or painted. They can be sided in brick or clapboard. Most homes are built on a rock or stone foundation.

• The houses are built with an informal style. They can have big wide porches, for enjoying the views and relaxing. Porch supports are usually plain with simple railings but can be as ornate as the homeowner desires.

• Rooflines are more complex, with steeply pitched, but free-formed rooflines. There are usually two pitches, with the lower one being steeper and some of the homes have gabled roofs. Rooflines have their surfaces broken up by towers, chimneys, dormers, or turrets, which adds visual interest to the roofline.

• Windows are prominent, allowing views from any room. Windows range is size from very large to small. Windows are arranged in rows of two, three, or more. Decoratively shaped windows in round, square, or rectangular shapes are also used to add an aesthetically pleasing design element.

• Interiors of the home are technically to be filled with wood. Wood paneling is popular, as is batten or beadboard. Built in window seats allow for places to read and view the outside. Furnishings are casual and fireplaces are a must. The goal is to create a cottage feeling, informal and relaxed, even though the home itself is very large.

Whether you want to have a more traditional Shingle Style home or a more modern take on it, our design team would love to work with you to design your own home and make your vision a reality.

Give us a call to start the conversation. Have another style you’d love to build? We can design anything you desire!