Home Style, Part I: The Ranch Home

By Faye Newman

Ever read about a Cape Cod home and wonder what that means? Art Deco? Colonial? Contemporary? Exactly what is a craftsman house? Why are half the home styles you see called ranch?

Isn't a ranch home the base of operations of a piece of land that produces cattle, wheat, horses-something agricultural? Well, not if you're a real estate agent. In that case ranch is a single family home style with a low-pitched gable roof, deep eaves, simple floor plans, a built in garage, and huge picture windows. Usually, sliding glass doors lead out to a patio. The ranch is built of natural materials, including wood and brick, and lacks trim, except for shutters.

How do you decorate a ranch-style home?

The answer, of course, is any way you want to. Another attribute of the ranch-style home is that it is pretty much a blank slate in terms of decoration. Lacking distinctive trim components, the ranch may easily be personalized with contemporary, colonial, country, or theme styles, among many others.

Inside, you usually find an emphasis on openness in the living areas. Living room, kitchen, dining room, and perhaps family room, all appear to be one large space divided by furniture arrangement and décor, with satellite hallways that lead to private spaces.

The low-slung Prairie style introduced by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 20^th century set the stage for ranch homes, making them a uniquely American style. During the boom years of the nineteen-fifties, thousands were built in huge housing developments at all price levels for the emerging baby-boomer families, the result of World War II veterans returning home to economic growth and jobs that supported the American dream of home ownership, TV sets, and two cars in every garage. Visit these pages again to read about more housing styles and their origins. Next, we'll look at variations of the ubiquitous ranch home, such as split-level and raised.

.