How to design a custom home in Colorado

A guide by Phil Jung, architectural designer and co-founder of Elk Ridge Custom Homes
Material samples for custom home design, including marble, stone, wood, and textured surfaces arranged in a neutral, modern layout.

Designing a custom home happens in a set order: the land first, then the layout, then the style, then the hundreds of finish decisions that make it feel like yours. This guide walks through each step the way we do it with clients, plus a few things I've learned over 30 years that most people never think to ask about.

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Start with the land

Every design starts with the lot. Before we draw anything, we figure out where the views are, where the sun comes from, how the land slopes, and what's worth working around, like a stand of pines or a rock outcrop. In Colorado, getting the house oriented right does more for how it feels than almost any finish you'll pick later.

That's why we like to settle the lot before design starts. If you're still choosing between lots, we'll walk them with you for free and tell you what each one means for the design and the budget. Already have plans from another architect? We can rework them to fit your land, and your budget.

Building on your land

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Choose the layout

Next comes the shape of the house:

  • Two-story: main level and upper level
  • Two-story with basement: main, upper and lower levels
  • Rancher: everything on one level
  • Rancher with basement: main level plus a lower level

Then we place the rooms. Do you want the primary suite near the kids or on its own side of the house? Should guests get a suite on the lower level for privacy? Where does the office go, and how quiet does it need to be? Maison de la Paix, which won Best Floor Plan at the 2026 Parade, puts the primary suite and office on one side of the main level and the secondary bedrooms on the other, so everyone gets their own quiet corner.

Once the big moves are set, we size every room around how you'll use it.

blueprint section view

"Section" view on floor plans.

Plan every room

We model your actual furniture in the plans, down to the sofa and the dining table, so we know every room works before anything is built. It's much cheaper to move a wall on paper than on site.

bedroom floor plan
Pick the style

Here's a trick of the trade: the layout doesn't decide the style. The rooflines and exterior finishes do. You can put a farmhouse roof, a modern roof or a craftsman roof on the same footprint and get three very different houses.

That lets us get the layout right first, which matters most, and add the style after. You can lean into one style or blend two, like modern farmhouse or mountain modern.

See the styles in our portfolio

What carries the style

Some choices set the style. Others stay neutral and work with almost anything.

Style-specific, outside:

  • Cladding: stone, stucco, siding and trim
  • Window colors and grids
  • The exterior color palette
  • Railings and posts
  • Garage doors
  • The entry door
  • Light fixtures

Style-specific, inside:

  • Wall finish
  • Interior doors and trim
  • Hardware
  • Light fixtures
  • Plumbing fixtures
  • Cabinets
  • Hard-surface flooring
  • Paint colors
  • Wall tile
  • The fireplace: cladding, mantel and hearth
  • Built-ins
  • Countertops can go either way, though some styles suit certain stones better

Usually neutral, outside:

  • Decking
  • Landscaping
  • Concrete and walkways

Usually neutral, inside:

  • Carpet
  • Toilets
  • Ceiling heights
  • Fireplace type (gas, electric or wood)
  • Laundry features
  • Room sizes and shapes

Getting all of these to agree with each other is what separates a house that looks put together from one that looks like a collection of selections. That's the part our in-house design team spends the most time on.

Phil's philosophy: design for how you'll feel

This is the part people rarely ask about, and the part I care about most.

Lots of natural light

You can almost never have too much. We put big windows in every kind of room: bedrooms, bathrooms, the kitchen, the living spaces. An 8 by 5 foot window in a child's bedroom isn't unusual for us. You do have to plan sill heights around the furniture, but the light is worth it. At the Colorado Scandinavian, we placed the windows for daylight first, and they frame Pikes Peak to the west.

Happy colors

I'm a color nerd. I obsess over tiny differences in tone and light reflectance, because a small shift can turn a drab color into a happy one. People talk about color psychology, but they rarely talk about how a slight change in hue can move a room from gloomy to uplifting. Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore both have color collections organized by mood, which are a good place to start.

At Maison de la Paix we used color drenching, one color on the walls, trim and ceiling in each space, and Parade visitors kept telling us the house felt like a hug.

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Sherwin Williams color swatches.

Light bulb color

With LED lighting, you get to choose the color of your light, and it changes how your home feels at night more than people expect. 2700K can make a house look yellow and dull. 6000K feels harsh and clinical. If your walls are white or gray, stay at 3500K or above, or your colors will look off after dark. If your walls are warm, stay under 5000K so the light and paint don't fight each other.

In our experience, 3000K to 4000K is the sweet spot: bright and cheerful without feeling like a hospital. Use the same color everywhere, inside and out, so the whole house feels consistent.

Rooms that feel bigger than they are

Bigger isn't always better, but feeling bigger always is. A well-planned home can live larger than its square footage and cost less to build.

We keep walkways at least 4 feet wide around furniture and in hallways. We typically use 10-foot ceilings on the main and lower levels, 9-foot ceilings upstairs, and vaulted or tray ceilings where a room needs more air.

What a custom home costs

A word about trends

Trends come and go, some faster than others. It's fine to use them. Just ask yourself two questions: Do I love this? And will I still love it when everyone else says it's dated?

Also ask how it will live. We once installed black hardwood floors for a client who really wanted the look, despite our warnings. They quickly found that every bit of dust and pet hair showed. It looked great in photos and was a chore every day.

We'll help you sort through what you've saved on Houzz, Pinterest and Instagram, figure out what you actually like about each image, and turn that into a plan for your house.

How we judge a design

Every decision gets checked against six principles:

  • Balance: no side of a room or elevation feels heavier than the other.
  • Unity: every room looks like it belongs to the same house.
  • Proportion and scale: things are sized to the space and to each other.
  • Flow: you move through the house, and your eye moves through a room, without getting stuck.
  • Focal point: each room has one thing that draws you in, and only one.
  • Contrast: enough difference in color, texture and material to keep a room from going flat.

Ready to start designing?

Every home we design starts with a 30-minute conversation about your land, how you live, and what you have in mind. Fill out the form below, or read through our design and build process and build standards first.

Download our Custom Home Questionnaire to start dreaming on paper!

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About The Author - Phil Jung

Phil Jung is one of the founders of Elk Ridge Custom Homes. He is the architectural designer for the firm, with more than 30 years in construction and design, and has designed most Elk Ridge homes since 2003.

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