If you’re like me, perhaps you grew up in a typical post-WWII cookie-cutter neighborhood. The homes—hastily built to keep up with diapered Baby-Boomers—were generally pretty much alike. The paint color may have been different, and one home might have a brick front to make it look a little different, but inside, each house looked pretty much like every other house on the block. It’s just the way things were done then.
You may have noticed that a lot of new developments still operate that way. It’s cheaper for the developer and the builders to create homes that are essentially identical. At Gerber Homes, however, we don’t take the cookie-cutter approach. That’s why it’s so rewarding for me as a builder in Rochester, NY to drive down a street in a community in which we’ve built the homes. No two homes are the same! You’ll find a Ranch home next to a Colonial home, or a Cape home beside a Patio home. The creativity is incredible—and they all belong to the same community.
Part of that is because we offer so many different varieties of floor plans, to begin with. You don't have to settle for the same look or floor plan as your neighbor. By the way, if you're looking for help in choosing the right floor plan, here’s a post that offers some great insights.
Even if you happen to choose a floor plan that’s similar to those around you, there are still things you can do to make your home uniquely yours and to reflect your personal sense of style. Your entranceway is one place to really make your home stand out. With that in mind, I wanted to share some examples of entrances that really make an impact. You may not want to copy them, but they might be a good source of inspiration for the Rochester area home you plan to build.
Here’s a home entrance that leads visitors straight through the main level of the home. The front and back doors are aligned to provide a central hallway for a dramatic welcome. The columns and pillars add a sense of formality and the covering roof helps keep snow off the front entrance in the winter (and blistering sun off in the summer).
The entrance to this home focuses on carrying the unique arched shape of the exterior door through into the interior of the home. You can see the arched influence repeated in other doorways, in an alcove, and even in a small built-in storage closet that adds a lot of interest to the room.
Here’s an entryway that extends the front porch over to the front door and picks up the Cape style architecture of the dormers for the covering over the front stairs. The home also uses the stonework facing on the rest of the home to tie in the entranceway. In addition, the narrow windows on either side of the doorway let in natural light—making the interior entrance brighter and more welcoming.
An entranceway can also make a big and bold statement. This entryway makes it quite clear that once you step inside, you’re leaving the outside of the house behind. This particular treatment may be too bold and black for many homes, but it gives you an idea of how you can use the entrance to your home to make a statement.
You don’t have to settle for a cookie-cutter approach when building your new Rochester home. A wider variety of floor plans and a unique approach to your entryway are just two of the ways that you can make your new home uniquely yours.
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