The Essential Guide to Contemporary Home Plans: Over 335 Modern & Functional Home Designs Paperback – January 1, 1989

Despite its age, this is a good idea book, especially if you're into 1970s - 1980s era contemporary. Some of the houses are not strictly contemporary.Some of these plans can be found on eplans website, which is basically the descendant of Home Planners, Inc.You'll find that the advertised prices for plans in the book are much, much lower than the average $1000 per plan they're asking for now, even accounting for inflation. The reason for this, I presume, is that since eplans/Home Planners, Inc no longer sells these books (which are just catalogs for their plans) the cost is no longer defrayed and must be made up in other ways.. I've researched online about these and other companies' plans, and from what I can tell, the leave a lot to be determined by the builder. Basically you get some poor, xerox quality prints showing the elevations, a floor plan, and MAYBE an electrical/plumbing layout.. which is why I suggest this book (and the online equivalents) as for ideas only. Make your own modifications and take them to an architect or structural engineer for finalization.

It's an old book full of 1980's designs. Don't buy unless you are looking to build a house with a design from that period. Also, the book arrived with a bit of a musty smell. It's a 30 year old book so I guess that makes sense. The book was about 9 or 10 bucks when new 30 years ago, so paying 22 bucks for it now shows how much I overpaid.

I have been looking for 1970's shed style contemporary home plan books, and they have all but disappeared.This book is more than I expected. Perfect. great idea book for my new home (working with architect). Now she's got a good idea of what I am after in a home. I would have paid more for it. Bellissimo.

This is a really fun book to flip through. It's neat to see what about homes has changed and stayed the same over the years.

I purchased this book just shy of $40 and the quality of the book was poor... Brand new the book is priced $9.95......

If you're a fan of mid-century modern architecture, these home plans will flood your basement.

Just a quick note to say two things. One: People sometimes look for older building designs, and that's what this book is all about. I have a 1970s shed-style home and have been looking for plans and inspiration for some secondary buildings on my property. I'm frankly surprised any people would look at a book like this and call its old age a bug when it's clearly the feature. The reason the book price is higher than before is it's hard to find. That's only fair. My second point is for whoever is doing the listing: No, this book was not published in the 1800s. It's old, but not THAT old! Enjoy.