Modern Home Ideas
Modern home ideas and designs are a difficult style to describe. But you’d know a modern home when you saw it.
Modern designs have such a distinct style compared to other homes that makes them impossible to miss. Flat roofs, walls of glass, lots of metal, wood or stone siding, clean lines and sharp angles with a muted color palette. You won’t see any vinyl cedar shake siding here. Modern designs use a wide range of materials and styles that no other home even considers using. Because many people want their home to be more than just a shelter, they want them to be works of art with personality and a one of a kind quality traditional home styles can’t match. House designs have evolved in terms of innovation and building technologies that make modern designs a lot more affordable than they used to be, and as a result, more popular. If you like modern home design, but thought it was too expensive to build, then think again.
The following article is filled with some of our all time favorite exterior modern home ideas and designs along with lots of pictures, tips, pros vs. cons and modern siding info.
Beautiful modern lakeside home with metal siding, wood and stone veneer. Walls of glass and a flat roof home design.
Exterior Modern House Designs
Modern homes feature unique designs with tons of curb appeal. Architects, designers and home builders are pushing the envelope by incorporating modern design elements in more homes each and every year. Even homes that are more traditional often borrow from modern home designs by using black frame windows, glass or wire railings, or other modern finishes. Modern architecture changes how we live by using sharp angles with curved surfaces, floor to ceiling windows, and cutting edge design.
Modern homes vary a great deal from house to house but they still adhere to a few basic principles. Simple aesthetics, open floor plans, clean lines, minimal clutter, and a neutral color palette along with lots of natural materials like stone or wood.
You’ll also find lots of flat roof designs with modern homes. And with a flat roof often comes roof top decks, grass roofs and glass or metal railings. Some designs even include high end amenities like a roof spa or built in pool. With modern home design you gain access to all sorts of really cool options that more traditional home styles don’t even consider.
Below we’ll be looking at all sorts of modern home ideas including exterior designs and finishes.
Beautiful modern home design with real stone siding, white stucco and black metal. A real wood front door, black garage door and flat roof complete the exterior design.
Modern Home Exterior With Real Stone
This beautiful modern home features a flat roof, real stone siding with metal and white stucco. The front door is french style with a rich, real wood brown stain and silver finishes. The siding stone was used to build driveway gate pillars supporting a black metal gate and fence.
This modern exterior design also includes huge black frame floor to ceiling windows with a black garage door.
The home has a muted, neutral color palette so adding greenery is a good idea. The landscaping here is impeccable. The soffit lighting is also a nice touch and really make the home shine at night.
Stunning modern oceanfront mansion with flat roofs, white stucco and huge floor to ceiling windows.
Modern White Stucco Siding
This stunning modern oceanfront mansion features flat roofs with a solar array. Flat roof designs are perfect for adding solar panels because they work no matter what exposure you have. Huge floor to ceiling windows with black frames provide a spectacular view and a nice contrast to all the white.
The center rooftop deck has glass railings and a gray flooring that matches the color scheme nicely.
Wonderful modern home with white stucco and cream stone exterior, black metal roof, huge windows and wrap around porch.
Modern Home Exterior With White Stucco & Stone
White stucco siding looks great with other light color stones like this cream and tan veneer. If you want a light and bright modern exterior design then this color scheme may be for you. It’s especially popular on the waterfront where bright homes tend to be more popular.
The wraparound porch is a great architectural feature that give full access to the ocean view from the entire home.
Rectangular modern home design featuring black siding with gray siding, huge floor to ceiling windows and a flat roof.
Rectangular Black & Gray Modern Exterior Design
This rectangular modern home design features black siding, gray stucco and wood accents. The perimeter wall is built with cinder block and stucco with a custom built modern black fence made from horizontal iron and a large gate.
The siding has a mix of black horizontal and vertical accents with huge floor to ceiling black frame windows.
Rustic modern home exterior design with brown metal, wood, stone siding and tons of glass.
Rustic Modern Home Design
I love when modern design meets a rustic style. The combinations creates a wonderful contrast that’s hard to resist.
This custom home features an earthy brown and orange color scheme. Brown metal siding, stone veneer, wood siding and tons of glass. Notice how the home’s coloring is accented by landscaping and the surrounding hillside.
Modern white stucco and wood siding home on a tropical island right by the waters edge.
Modern Tropical Home
There’s something about a modern home that just feels right for a tropical setting. Check out this beautiful modern home on a tropical island right at waters edge. It features white stucco with wood siding accents and a flat roof. The views from this tropical modern house will be hard to beat.
Rustic modern country home by the lake surrounded by lush green hillsides and small trees.
Modern Country Lake House
Rustic modern homes may just be my favorite. I love how the color scheme blends them right into the hillside. This modern home exterior features wood siding with stone and black metal. Having a flat roof is an advantage modern homes have over more traditional designs. Add in some railing for a roof top deck with stunning views of the countryside and lake.
Metal and glass modern home design built into the side of a rocky hill with wood decks.
Modern Hillside Home With Metal Siding
Modern architecture is both beautiful and functional, which is one of the reasons it’s gaining in popularity so much faster than any other style. One of the more unique materials used in modern design is metal siding. We don’t see it any of the other residential home styles. Almost any home can use wood, stucco, brick or stone, but metal belongs almost exclusively to modern exterior designs.
This modern hillside home is basically all windows anyway but the small amount of siding that’s used is a combination of metal and wood with a lower level made from concrete.
Beautiful square modern home with exterior white stucco and black frame windows.
Modern Flat Roof White Stucco Home
I love the look of a modern home with white stucco siding and huge black frame windows. Walls of glass look fantastic from both inside the home and out. And the black frames add a wonderful contrast against the white stucco siding. It’s a striking exterior home design made even more impressive when paired with a flat roof.
Modern hillside home with wraparound porch and wire railings. Large overhangs cover the porch with ample amounts of recessed lighting.
Modern Hillside Home With Wire Railings
This beautiful modern home sits neatly into the surrounding hillside. The second level wraparound porch is covered by a large overhang, a staple of modern exterior home design. Ample amounts of light come from recessed LED soffit lighting and through the huge floor to ceiling windows.Safety comes from these custom black metal and wire railings, another common element found in modern home design.
This modern home design features dark gray and black brick siding, floor to ceiling windows and a flat roof.
Modern Home With Brick Siding
Modern home ideas also include lots of brick. This modern house design features a black and gray brick siding with floor to ceiling windows and a flat roof. The flat roof used on some modern home’s is an advantage compared with traditional sloped roofs because you can have a rooftop deck. This one has custom metal railings with a wood hand rail. Huge floor to ceiling windows provide tons of natural light and a great view of the lush surroundings.
I love the look of a dark home set against a green background. The modern exterior color scheme provides a great contrast in terms of color and value.
Modern homes can be built narrow to fit into a small lot.
Narrow Modern Home Idea
Modern home ideas and designs can be made to fit any size lot, even one as narrow as this one.
This small modern home features lots of concrete, block and fiber cement siding mixed with wood and black frame windows. It’s a beautiful modern home design that can fit on just about any size property.
This modern mountainside home design includes gray stone, gray fiber cement and black metal siding.
Modern Mountainside Home Idea
because modern home designs look just as good in the mountains as they do by the beach. Although typically the exterior color schemes get darker and more earthy. This modern home features gray stone, gray fiber cement and black metal siding. Wood accents are used tastefully inside the door jambs and soffits.
As with most modern home design, the flat roof include very large overhangs. It’s a benefit you don’t typically get with traditional house framing.
Modern home with a tiered back yard, white back patio and multiple in ground pools.
Modern White Stucco Home With Tiered Stone Retaining Walls
Here’s another beautiful white stucco modern home design built into the hillsides of California. The hill has been tiered with stone retaining walls, landscaping and stone steps that are out of view. The white patio surrounds multiple modern in ground pools. One is meant for swimming and one for lounging with a built in dry seating area. Huge walls of glass and a flat roof with deck and glass rails provide a spectacular view of L.A.
Notice how the gliding doors recess almost the entire width of the wall with a tract buried beneath the patio. It’s a great design if you want a true indoor / outdoor modern feel.
Modern forest home with wood and metal siding with black frame windows and a flat roof.
Modern Home Design With Black Metal & Wood Siding
This beautiful mid sized modern home design includes black metal and wood siding with black framed windows and a flat roof. This is a classic modern home design including all the typical modern finishes. Black siding is definitely modern and is actually one of the only home styles that use the color. Vertical real wood siding is another staple of modern exterior design along with black frame windows and a flat roof.
If your looking for a cute medium sized modern home then this is a good idea to follow.
This unique modern home design features no front facing windows on this entire side of the house.
Unique Modern Home Design Idea
Some people consider modern home to be like works of art you can live in which inspires home designs like this one. I’d bet your average neighborhood doesn’t include anything that looks quite like this one. My favorite part of the design is how the outer walls are a stark gray large vertical wall tile while the inner level uses smaller horizontal wall tiles with a warm orange coloring. The use of contrasting colors and tones is a very nice effect.
We rarely see exterior house colors used in this way other than on modern home designs.
Modern white and black exterior siding design featuring stucco and black tile. Wraparound porches, huge overhangs and a flat roof.
Black & White Modern Flat Roof Home Design
If your looking for a modern flat roof home design with a black and white color scheme then consider this really cool exterior design. It features white stucco with black tile and huge black frame windows and doors. The architectural design is classic modern with wrap around porches beneath huge overhangs. One of my favorite parts of modern houses are the indoor / outdoor living spaces.
You generally don’t see covered porches this size with traditionally styled homes. If you like spending time in the outdoors then building a modern home like this can almost double your usable space.
Wide modern home design with flat roofs and walls of floor to ceiling glass. Gray concrete walls with matching gray roof and patio.
Wide Modern Flat Roof House Design
This beautiful modern flat roof house design is extremely wide which requires a very large lot to build. But if you’ve got the space then go for it.
The color scheme is a whole lot of gray. Raw gray concrete walls with matching gray flat roofing and concrete patio. Huge floor to ceiling walls of glass with metal frames. With a country side view like this it’s nice to have lots of windows and a flat roof top deck.
The modern metal and concrete finishes are pretty much the exact opposite of all that lush greenery and create a nice contrast.
Modern bi-level design with flat roof and concrete walls with huge floor to ceiling windows.
Modern Bi-level House Design
If you’ve got a lot with an odd elevation and you need a bi-level then this modern design idea may be right for you. It features solid concrete walls with wood siding and metal accents, huge floor to ceiling black frame windows and large overhangs. That walkout patio over the garage with recessed gliding glass doors and glass railings isn’t something you’ll find with your standard home.
The color scheme is an interesting mix of raw concrete, browns, black and natural wood. It’s a perfect fit for the natural surroundings of the house.
Modern indoor outdoor living with glass walls, wraparound porches with glass railings and a huge overhang.
Modern Indoor Outdoor House Design
If what you want is a modern home designed for indoor outdoor living then this one may be for you. It features huge wraparound porches with glass railings and huge overhangs that create great covered spaces. The glass doors slide to create a huge 20′ opening with hidden bottom track for a seamless transition from inside to out.
Modern lakeside home with grass and concrete patio design. Flat roofs with an indoor outdoor floor plan.
Lakeside Modern Home With Indoor Outdoor Floor Plan
This beautiful modern lakeside home has an indoor outdoor layout and a fantastic view. I love these gas and concrete patio designs that are really only used on modern homes. And walls of glass that retract to open the outdoors to your living room is another great feature pretty much exclusive to modern house designs. With the right outdoor patio set you can have just as much comfort relaxing on your patio as you do inside.
Modern Bohemian style 2 story home with large in ground swimming pool.
Modern Bohemian Style Home Design
I love modern homes with a bohemian style, also known as “Boho”. It’s a fresh look that few people are doing in this country but it’s gaining in popularity, especially in tropical areas like Miami and Southern California. White stucco siding with brown window and door trim mixed with some bohemian island styles gives you this beautiful custom modern home. Also take a look at the roof line. Bohemian style modern houses tend to have a slightly different roof design than other modern homes. Some areas are flat but others have just a slight pitch with metal roofing.
We’ll have some example later on so you can see the roofs pitch a bit better.
Modern home with vertical real wood siding and no trim.
Modern Home With Vertical Wood Siding
This modern flat roof house features a minimalist siding design using vertical wood strips with no window or door trim. It’s a simple, clean looking siding pattern that’s really only used on modern homes. Real wood can be maintained if you want a more natural or brown finish. But if what you want is maintenance free siding then do nothing and the wood will turn a shade of gray.
Closeup view of a modern home with real wood vertical siding. These homeowners maintain their siding as needed to preserve it’s color.
Modern Home With Vertical Wood Siding
This modern home features vertical real wood siding that’s been maintained to preserve it’s natural beauty. If you’d prefer this look to letting your wood siding turn gray then you’ll have to maintain it with sealers and stain as needed.
Huge ultra modern waterfront home with floor to ceiling windows and lots of outdoor living spaces.
Ultra Modern Gray Waterfront Home
This huge waterfront home has an ultra modern style featuring tons of floor to ceiling glass, flat roof with rooftop deck and lots of outdoor living spaces. The cool gray color scheme is very modern too using a combination of gray tile and real wood soffits and side walls. I really like the use of warm wood with gray because you get a strong value contrast.
The modern patio furniture continue the color palette using plush gray cushions with warm woods frames and tables.
Modern white homes look fantastic in a tropical setting. Outdoor living spaces around an in ground pool.
Modern White Custom Home Design
There’s something about an all white modern home that just looks fantastic in a tropical setting like Miami or Southern California. The light and bright design is perfect for sunshine and lounging by the pool. This modern patio furniture works with the color scheme using lots of white, cream and brown. Even the stone tile wall accents flow beautifully with the bark pattern and coloring of the palm trees.
As with most modern home designs we see lots of covered outdoor spaces and huge overhangs. It’s a great design if you want to do indoor outdoor entertaining year round. day or night and in any weather.
Custom modern home with a mix of wood and stone siding. Huge floor to ceiling windows. Wood soffits.
Beautiful Modern Home Ideas With Wood & Stone Siding
This beautiful custom modern home has a combination of real wood and stone siding with tons of floor to ceiling windows and wood soffits. Modern homes use a mix of curves and angles to create unique home designs you won’t find in traditional architecture.
Modern home with white stucco siding mixed with light wood frames and soffits. Custom wood deck with stone fire pit.
Modern Home Ideas Using White Stucco & Wood
This beautiful modern home features a light color scheme using a mix of white stucco with real wood frames and soffits. The custom wood deck has an interesting decking pattern that all lead to the center stone fire pit. Many of the best modern home ideas use a lot of outdoor entertaining spaces built into the homes design.
Modern home with wood, metal and stone siding, floor to ceiling windows and an infinity edge pool.
Modern Home Ideas With An Infinity Edge Pool Design
This spectacular modern home design uses a mix of three different siding types, stone, wood and metal. All with a natural warm brown color tone. The home features an indoor outdoor design with huge glass doors that open up to a stone patio with infinity edge pool and hot tub.
The modern patio furniture has a tan coloring with wood frames and tables that flow nicely with the home’s color palette.
White modern home exterior design with flat roof and wraparound decks with an ocean view.
Modern White Stucco Exterior Home Design
Here’s another example of a beautiful modern home with white stucco. White is a fantastic color for a beach house and the smooth stucco finish with flat roofgive the home a modern finish. It’s a simple, clean exterior design but it really works.
Narrow and tall modern home with balcony and glass railings overlooking the countryside and in ground pool.
Thin & Tall Modern Home Ideas
This modern home has a thin and tall layout which makes it ideal if you have a narrow lot. The siding is a mix of metal and fiber cement panels with lots of glass. Overhangs are huge because of the steel frame which is a staple of modern architecture. If you want a balcony without posts or visible supports then steel construction and a modern design are the way to go.
Huge modern home with wraparound porch and large louvered overhang. Ipe decks & an in ground pool.
Large Modern Home Design With Wraparound Porch
Wraparound 2nd floor porches are a common design with modern homes. This one features a cool louvered roof. Some roof louver systems are mechanical so you can open and close them as needed.
Cool modern home design with exposed steel beams and huge thin floor to ceiling windows. All glass walls and glass railings.
Modern Home Design With Exposed Steel Beams
Check out this stunning modern home with some of the largest floor to ceiling windows I have ever seen. They’re thin and extremely tall spanning 3 full stories. The walls are all glass which is only possible if you have an all steel frame. That’s something generally only done with modern home designs.
Modern home featuring a flat real grass roof patio and wraparound pool with infinity edge.
Modern Home With Flat Grass Roof
This modern home features a flat grass roof, wraparound infinity edge pool and spectacular views. Modern styled homes have design options that aren’t generally available with more traditional building designs. Grass roofs are gaining in popularity as people become more conscious of green building techniques.
Modern pool house with flat roof and covered seating area with glass walls.
More Modern Home Ideas & Designs
Below are a few more of my favorite modern home designs and ideas including lots of detail closeup pictures and interesting designs.
Modern homes have some of the best looking outdoor spaces and patio furniture.
Modern California home with cliff side infinity edge pool. Huge 2nd story patios with entertaining space.
Fantastic modern home with infinity edge pool overlooking L.A.
Modern California cliff side home featuring white stucco and wood look tile siding with an infinity edge pool and roof top decks.
Spectacular view from this modern homes infinity edge pool.
White smooth stucco modern home siding design with black frame windows. Wraparound porch with glass railings.
Great outdoor living spaces are an important part of modern home design. This beautiful modern swimming pool with tile surround sits in the middle of the homes backyard patio.
More spectacular views from a California modern home with infinity edge pool. Beautiful modern patio furniture.
Modern home with horizontal wood siding with vertical wood accents
Modern home using a combination of smooth stucco and vertical wood siding with glass railings.
Ariel view of this modern home’s wraparound pool and flat grass roof.
Beautiful Modern cliff side home in California featuring an elevated infinity edge pool and flat roof with roof top deck.
Summary: Modern Home Ideas & Designs
Modern home ideas and designs are a difficult style to describe. But you’d know a modern home when you saw it.
Modern home designs have a distinct style that makes them impossible to miss. Flat roofs, walls of glass, lots of metal, wood or stone siding, clean lines and sharp angles with muted color palettes. You won’t see any vinyl cedar shake siding here. Modern designs use a wide range of materials and styles that no other home even considers using. Because many people want their home to be more than just a shelter, they want them to be works of art with personality that traditional home styles can’t match. House designs have evolved in terms of innovation and building technologies that make modern designs a lot more affordable than they used to be, and as a result, more popular. If you like modern home design but thought it was too expensive to build then think again.
I hope some of the information and inspirational pictures we’ve shown throughout the article will help you design and build your next modern home.
If you have any questions or comments e-mail us any time. We’d love to hear from you.
