well.. i did do this before... not quite a cottage, and not quite a plantation.. but hey, it's in tokuno... so I'm not sure these ideas would be so much a challenge unfortunately... since some of these would just need some tweaking after all

(this is how it is now.. and based off of this one I did on TC)

(this was for someone who wanted a particular style and had an 11x11 to work with)

(this one I gave to Muldran for Rhovanion... and I changed mine very quickly, don't think I made the pic of it last year, but I got rid of most of the small buildings and just turned it into a christmas tree forest, and put up crystal balls and holiday bells all along the roofline as well as putting those angels up a little higher. Just was too lazy to do it again this year!)
and yes, 18x18