Interior Design

  • Townhouse - a tall, narrow row of houses, typically with three or more floors

  • Duplex - A type of residential building that consists of two separate living units, typically sharing a common wall.

  • Studio apartment - an apartment with one main room that serves as the kitchen, bedroom, and living room

  • Garden apartment - an apartment building with ground-level units that often have direct access to a garden or patio area, providing residents with outdoor living space.

  • Triplex - three separate apartments/buildings that are connected by the walls

  • Fourplex - four separate living buildings that are connected at adjoining walls

Housing Options

Native American Homes

  • Tepee - cone shaped tent covered in buffalo hides

  • Pueblos - houses built with clay dried into adobe

  • Longhouse - trees bent to form a frame covered in bark

  • Underground Houses - structures built partially or completely below the ground, giving insulation and protection from extreme weather

Early American Period (1640-1720)

  • Half-Timbered Houses - houses formed of wooden beams with brick or plaster for insulation, a roof made of thatch or shingles

  • Cape Cod House - rectangular houses with pitched/gabled roofs, one large interior room

  • Saltbox Houses - started off as two-stories with pitched roofs, and then they added another room and sloped the roof longer on that side

  • Garrison House - characterized by a second story that slightly overhangs the first story to prevent attackers from scaling the walls

18th Century

  • Georgian Houses - two-three stories tall, with a gabled or hip roof and large symmetrical windows. Highly decorated exteriors with pilasters and pediments over the doorway.

  • Row House/Townhouse - a continuous line of two or three story houses that share walls on either side

  • Adams Style House - rectangular design with one or more stories, gabled roofs, symmetrical windows, and very decorated interiors

  • Early Classical Revival Style Home - rectangular shape, symmetrical windows, large open porch supported by columns, and a huge portico on the roof

19th Century

  • Tenements - very crowded apartment buildings during the Industrial Revolution, families were crowded into one-room apartments

  • Greek Revival Style Home - rectangular, two stories, symmetrical windows, gabled roof, lots of pilasters and elaborate entryways with decorative brick or masonry work

  • Mansard Style Home - the main feature is the mansard roof with two slopes on all sides, the lower one is steeper. Very decorated cornices and long French windows

  • Queen Anne Style Home - irregular steep roofs with gables, overlapping wood siding, huge wrap-around porches with railings and columns. A whole lot of decorative woodwork on the houses

20th Century

  • Colonial Revival Style Home - rectangular, decorative pediments supported by pilasters, lots of symmetrical windows with double-hung sashes

  • Prairie Style House - low pitched roofs, wide porches, rows of windows, open layout, porches

  • Ranch Style House - one story house with a low gable or hip rood, decorative shutters, good for accessible rooms

  • International Style Home - simple geometric shapes with an asymmetrical design, smooth blank walls, and a flat roof

Steps of Decision Making