First, Norse houses would vary depending on period and location. Different materials were available in Norway or Denmark, compared to Iceland or Greenland or the Norse settlements in the British Isles. But the base layout would be similar.

And I will be talking about the base layout, because unfortunately there are no contemporary written or pictorial records of Norse (or 'Viking') houses. Except mentions of "a large house", "a small house", "a grand hall", etc., and with the sagas being written a couple of centuries after the events, that means even the scribe probably did now know what exactly that meant at the time. So all we know about how they looked, is from archaeological evidence.

That again means all we know is basically the ground-level layout and the main materials used and what sections were used for what. We don't know how they were painted, decorated, thatched, if there were windows (not with glass though, more probably screens made from dried animal intestines), dormers or any type of extravagancy.

Most commonly, they would be from 8 to 20 meters long, 4 to 6 meters wide, with a living room and a fireplace in the center and rooms for storage, sleep and animals in each end. Materials would range from wood to rock to turf, but often a combination.

Most theories about their looks are a simple style with steep thatched roofs and a single smoke vent. The extravagant style in these pictures look more like a mix of medieval/Tudor/18th century houses adorned with Norse woodworking known from tools and (later) stave churches, with some exaggerated stone walls added to them.

Sources:

• Myre, Gjørder & Stoklund: Vestnordisk byggeskikk gjennom to tusen år. Arkeologisk Museum i Stavanger. 1982.
• Pensumtjeneste: Nordisk arkeologi grunnfag 4. Oslo, 1994.