Custom Build Home Tips | Guide to Building a New Mid-Century Modern Home

Mid-century modern is making a huge comeback.  Whether it's an entire mid-century modern home or just furniture, people love this style.  Clean simplicity inspired by nature - what’s not to love? We recently completed a brand new mid-century modern home in Denver for one of my clients and we could not be happier with this custom build home!  Countless real estate agents, neighbors and even builders have asked me about the project so I wanted to create a custom build home guide for mid-century modern home design.  Custom build homes can be an overwhelming thing to take on, but by making informed decisions upfront, you will end up with an amazing home like this in the end!

Mid-Century Modern Home Design - Floor Plans & More
Mid-century modern homes emphasize open spaces and bringing the outdoors in.  As a result, large windows, tall ceilings and open floor plans are a must.  Many designs are centered around a 1 story Ranch design with low winged roof.  The renowned real estate developer Joseph Eichler was famous for this design style.  Function is equally as important as form with this design style.  When creating your mid-century modern home design, I suggest starting by listing what’s important to you and then working with the experts to make this dream a reality. With this in mind, I sat down with my client for this project in the initial phases to understand what was important to her.  In this case, a ranch (one-story) home was most important, followed by wall-to-wall windows, open floor plans, plenty of natural light and interior finishes true to the period.  In addition, one of my favorite features of the home is the mid-century modern winged roof, creating a dramatic exterior and a vaulted ceiling on the interior.      

Determine the Best Location for your Custom Build Home
Mid-century modern homes are often ranches, requiring a larger lot than many other custom home builds.  This can be a huge deciding factor in selecting a location.  Depending on whether you are hoping to build in the city where lots are typically smaller or the suburbs, your floor plans may need to be modified to meet the specific zoning and lot coverage requirements.  For this custom home build project, my client chose Northwest Denver (specifically the Berkeley neighborhood), an area where lots are small, typically between 4600 to 6350 sq.ft.  As such, we had to be very conscious when designing the floor plan of the home. Lot size is only one of the nuances of choosing an ideal location for your mid-century modern home.  Equally or more important is choosing the neighborhood that best meets your lifestyle and how long you are willing to wait for the ideal lot.

Advantages of a Custom Build Mid-Century Modern Home
Original mid-century modern homes from the mid-1950’s can be magical, but the fact is that they are often hard to come by.  For instance, mid-century modern homes in Denver often sell before even hitting the market because some buyers are sending out letters to the original homeowners offering to buy their homes when and if they decide to sell.  Often times these homes are being sold as-is and need a good deal of updating to bring them back to their original glory.  When finding a home in this stage, I advise my clients to think about whether it’s the style or the actual history of the original structure that enchants them.  If they like the history then we usually will have one of our preferred contractors meet them on site to go over what they want to do and get them a quote on how much it will take to restore the home.  Sometimes, we find that the answer is often the style not the actual structure, thus opening them up to the custom build home option, which has many advantages.  If an original mid-century modern home is on the top of your list, make sure to work with a knowledgeable broker, potentially someone that niches in the neighborhoods that have more mid-century modern real estate options.  For instance, Arapahoe Hills, Cherry Creek and Boulder are popular areas to find mid-century modern homes near Denver.

How to Choose a Custom Home Builder for your Mid-Century Modern Home
I think it’s important to choose someone who has a true passion for the style.  We found a perfect match of competitive pricing and enthusiasm for mid-century modern homes with local custom builders Denver Design Build. They helped us make smart design and engineering decisions to give us the “wow factor” my client was looking for within her budget. I think it’s also important to find a builder that will give you a fixed price contract.  Many of the features of a Mid Century Modern home can require special engineering and design to pull off, so simply applying an average price per square foot to the construction quote just won’t cut it. Specific era custom build homes can require more help from a builder so it’s important to choose the right one.

The Final Word
Building a custom home is an exciting process, but it can be a bit stressful.  My best advice would be to find a real estate agent in your area that specializes in new construction homes, as I do in Denver.  From there, he or she can help you find a builder, loan officer and more that best suits your custom home build vision.  Just remember, when you end up with a home like this in the end, it's always worth it!

If you're thinking about building a mid-century modern or other type of custom home in Denver, contact us as we'd love to help you through this exciting process!

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