well melle of course I gonna say I just have inherent talent, it sounds so much better:)

but frankly. i don't know. i can start thinking though. analyzing

how do you know that one poem is good, very good, while other is just an attempt of a poem?

how do you know somebody's beautiful? regardless personal taste and cultural preferences

how do you know one city is better planned than the other?

how do you know one park is amazing, and other is not just there yet?

there are some rules of course, some on the surface, some sit deeper and we need to dig a bit to get to them

there are books explaining some of them even

one book that i loved was by an architect actually..https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Your-Perfect-House-Architect/dp/0979882001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506391404&sr=8-1&keywords=william+hirsch

(I wasn't surprized when the authour mentioned his other degree is in psychology..I think..)

there are things like proportions. spatial relationships. light. use of light. specific ideas that talk to you. neighbourhood, landscaping, lot, view maybe, privacy, walkability, sense of togetherness or sense of being alone

besides that, we're drawn to houses especially when they remind us..of us:)

we think, unconsciously half of the time-somebody can look out of that window, step on that balcony, sit on that bench. in every house, we look for people..even imaginary ones. We look for signs of life..for good ones at that..

when you draw a house for example..what house you draw? Is it a house only? How does it look? Something next to it? Somebody?

Draw a house, I'm serious. And look at it. It will give you a lot of clues on what you're looking for.

And we usually look for what can be calculated plus what can not be

Calculated-gives us that proximity to perfection we strive for, that most people can recognize

Intangible-that's that imperfection that makes life what it is..a little something that's little off. Sometimes it's something that it seems to you that you can't grasp-and that's off to you, and you continue to fall for it in hope to grasp it at once. And you're falling deeper and deeper.

The most praised art will have it.

The most beautiful people will have it.

The most lovable houses will have it too.

From a personal perspective, potential is my being able to picture myself LIVING in a space.

I usually try to focus on what can and cannot be changed and, as someone already pointed out, the cost to change things. I'm assuming this is in the context of looking at house to buy.

Light, flow, views. Those are usually hard or impossible to change. Wall colors, flooring materials, appliances. Those are usually pretty easy to change. Trim work and architectural details are in between. Sometimes you can successfully improve those, but it can be kind of expensive (for example, restoring trim pieces that have been striped out of an old house) and the house itself generally should be a constraint on what's appropriate (if you love Victorian don't buy a MCM and try to transform it).

Yep, still looking for a house. Nothing amazes me, although two were close and we made offers. But most homes seem uninspired, and I'm wondering if it's less the home and more ME who is uninspired. Part of it is just that most of what's available in the area is 1950-1980 tract ranch in various sizes. I wanted a house with character, but I'm not sure I have the talent to give a blah house any character.

I have always thought the advise to live in a space for a bit before changing it was best advise but I think that is because for me I have to be very familiar with a room before I can see/feel where I want it to go.

Aprilneverends thanks for the book recommendation! I will look into reading a copy. And I appreciate the reminder about decorating books -- I have two that I like but haven't looked at in years. It's time to dust them off and see what they might say about seeing the potential in spaces.

arcy_gw: I'm the same way, need to experience what it's like to live there first. But since we're hoping to move I don't have that luxury so it's been hard to like a place enough to make an offer...I really need to focus more on the things that can't be changed or are expensive to change. Maybe I should view the homes without wearing my glasses ha!

I think trying to mentally lay out furniture gives you some clues. I have seen many rooms on these boards over the years that are just badly laid out for living in--too many doors, fireplaces situated to defy furniture placement, traffic pathways interfering with living spaces, etc. If you can't figure out where to put a sofa in the living room, or where to put the bed in the bedroom, the room may not have been designed with actual living in mind.

Mentally remove the dirt, clutter and furniture, open the curtains/blinds, disregard paint color. Evaluate light, view, fixtures that are expensive to change, visualize use of rooms and possible furniture arrangement.

Just went through this with a rental apartment for DD in great location and great price. The current tenants had the rooms crammed full of furniture, clutter, peeling paint, and weird use of rooms. Every potential roommate politely declined, and she started to doubt her signing the lease.

Once the tenants moved out, the place was repainted in lighter colors, old carpet removed, and we cleaned like crazy. We switched living room and bedroom, closed a half wall all the way to the ceiling, added some inexpensive furniture --- and she had her pick of roommates.

I would have loved to see the before and after photo's of that transformation....what fun!