Ask anyone on the Custom Homes of Virginia team to name the floor plan that buyers fall in love with again and again, and the answer comes back the same: the Daniella II. Year after year, across city after city in Hampton Roads, this modern farmhouse keeps winning. It is the plan we have built more than any other, the one our clients keep tweaking and making their own, and the one we point new buyers toward when they are not quite sure where to start.
So what makes the Daniella II special? It comes down to three things — a floor plan that simply works the way real families live, a modern farmhouse exterior that looks at home anywhere from a wooded acre in Suffolk to a water-view lot in Isle of Wight, and a level of flexibility that lets every buyer make it feel like a true custom home. Let's walk through each one.
A Modern Farmhouse, Through and Through
The Daniella II is, first and foremost, a modern farmhouse. That is not a label we tack on after the fact — it is baked into every elevation. The front of the home is anchored by a deep covered porch that runs across most of the façade, supported by chunky timber-wrapped columns set on stone or brick veneer pedestals. Above it, a pair of front-facing gables breaks the roofline and gives the home that classic farmhouse silhouette that reads "welcome home" from the curb.
A Floor Plan Built for the Way Families Actually Live
The Daniella II's first floor is 2,880 square feet of heated living space, with a 700-square-foot two-car garage, a 706-square-foot covered porch system, and an optional 480-square-foot finished room over the garage that pushes the home to 3,360 total heated square feet. That is a lot of square footage — but the reason this plan wins is not size. It is layout.
Walk through the double front entry and you land in a wide central hall with 10-foot ceilings. To one side is a private home office with a 9-foot ceiling — the kind of dedicated work-from-home space that has become a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. The hall opens into the heart of the home: a vaulted living room with an 11-foot ceiling, a tray-ceiling detail, a gas fireplace flanked by built-in seating, and that wall of folding glass doors that disappears into the back porch.
The kitchen, dining, and living spaces flow together in one open-concept great room with 10-foot ceilings throughout. The kitchen anchors the center of the plan with a generous island, a walk-in pantry, and a hard-working mud room and laundry off the side door. Hosting Thanksgiving for 14 or wrangling backpacks on a Tuesday morning — both feel easy in this layout.
The owner's suite is privately tucked on one side of the home. The master bedroom features a 10-foot ceiling and a tray ceiling detail, a sitting area, and access to its own slice of covered porch. The master bath includes a separate shower with a built-in seat, a soaking tub, dual vanities, a linen tower, and a walk-in closet sized for two. On the opposite side of the home, two additional bedrooms, each with 10-foot ceilings, share their own hall and full bathrooms — perfect separation for kids, guests, or in-laws.
Then there is the secret weapon: the optional second-floor FROG (Finished Room Over Garage). At 480 square feet with its own full bath, walk-in closet, and stair access, this space transforms into whatever the family needs — a fourth bedroom, a teen suite, a media room, a home gym, or a long-term flex space that grows with the family. The fact that buyers can choose to build with or without it is a big reason the Daniella II fits so many different lots and budgets.
Built Across Hampton Roads, in City After City
Custom Homes of Virginia has spent more than 20 years building across all seven cities of Hampton Roads, and the Daniella II has been a star in nearly every one of them. We have completed Daniella II homes in Suffolk, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Hampton, and Newport News — on rural acreage, in established neighborhoods, and on infill lots where a new build replaces an older home.
That city-to-city versatility is rare. A lot of plans look great in a brochure but only work on a specific lot orientation or in a specific kind of subdivision. The Daniella II adapts. Drop it on a wide rural lot in Suffolk and the deep porch and metal-accent roof feel right at home next to pasture and pine. Build it on a Virginia Beach lot near the water and the coastal-leaning materials, big glass, and bright open layout fit right in with the neighbors. Place it on a Newport News or Hampton infill lot and the gabled roofline and porch presence give the streetscape a meaningful upgrade.
We have completed multiple Daniella II builds in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 alone, with virtual tours of recent homes available so prospective buyers can walk through real, finished examples instead of guessing from a 2D floor plan. That track record matters. When you build a plan dozens of times across different soils, flood zones, codes, and inspectors, you get faster, sharper, and more predictable on price and schedule. Clients benefit directly.
Truly Custom, Starting from a Plan That Works
The other reason the Daniella II keeps winning is that we treat it as a starting point, not a finish line. Almost every Daniella II we have built is a little different from the last. Some clients add the FROG; some skip it. Some flip the master to the other side of the home, push out the kitchen for a chef's layout, swap the office for a fifth bedroom, expand the master closet, add a screened porch, or convert the storage room into a butler's pantry. Because the bones of this plan are so well-resolved, those changes are straightforward — not stressful.
That is the magic combination buyers are looking for in Hampton Roads right now: the warmth and curb appeal of a true modern farmhouse, a floor plan that genuinely works for daily life, real flexibility to customize, and a builder with a 20-year track record across all seven cities. The Daniella II delivers all four — and that is exactly why it is the home Custom Homes of Virginia has built more than any other.
If you have been daydreaming about a modern farmhouse on your lot in Hampton Roads, the Daniella II is the easiest place to start the conversation!
