I would live there in a heartbeat. But of course you all knew that(!) I have toured, I think, three of the Usonian homes. For those who have never toured one, you'd be surprised at how livable one can be (albeit the kitchens and baths are quite small and utilitarian). They are quintessential examples of the "not so big house". Small kitchens and baths, small but workable bedrooms, and a large common living area, often with a built-in dining area. Often there is a study/music room/sunroom to provide a little bit of separation from the common area. I read where a preservation group has been trying to get the money together to buy the place and turn it into a house museum. It is the only home Wright ever designed to be wheelchair-accessible from the onset. It is still in the hands of the original owners and looks as though it has been immaculately kept (not so the case with many other FLW homes). It appears it is to be auctioned on 12/15, and I hope it goes to someone who appreciates it.

What are the dimensions of all of the spaces, the windows, the doors, the ceiling height? I see that you're willing to replace that set of french doors with a window in your first design. You're also taking down the wall between the family room and kitchen? Is your goal to have it one large "family style" open space, or would you prefer to retain the formality of a separate dining room even if you had room for the family for everyday eating in a new design? My initial (without the dimensions) idea is to flip the usage of the space and put the family room where the DR currently is and the dining room where the family room currently is located. It would make for a more intimate space, but there would still be plenty of room, and you'd get to enjoy the fireplace a lot more. I think that would redirect the family room/bathroom traffic out of your kitchen to going through the foyer and into the bathroom. You already use your dining room every day, so embrace that way of living by putting the dining room to the back of the house with the views and traffic to the exterior. Maybe carve out a little space from the current family room for a "mud room" between the garage and the dining room. That would allow for coats, sports gear and other family effluvium to stay out of the main house but also stay organized. You're also showing a 48" range in your drawing. Are you sure you want to dedicate that much space to a range? What are your other "must haves" for your kitchen? What size and type fridge are you thinking about? Sink size and type? Those are the 3 main "space hogs" that have to be designed around.

Here's why I personally feel buzz words don't work. It's a little like custom features. Everyone's idea of what "luxurious", to use one example, can vary wildly. Even words like "large" can often be disputed as what may be a large backyard in your own neighborhood, may be a postage stamp in someone else's. We've sold FSBO three times and each time when we let the buyer do most of the talking, we discovered interesting information about their home search. And with every home we've had buyers who were downsizing. Had we wasted time in our ads or trying to convince them that our "fabulous deck area" will sell our home, we would have found out that maybe they don't want the maintenance of a deck. Or that the deck they currently home is massive compared to ours. For the majority of people, a home will be the single most expensive thing they ever purchase. So it stands to reason that most of us don't want to over pay. Superfluous adjectives create high expectations. And whenever those expectations aren't met, the buyer sees that as an opportunity to create objections in their own mind in order to offer less. The idea of the ad is just to get buyers in your home. Period. When the buyers show up, you want them to leave thinking that the property has SO much more going on than even the ad promised. That creates value in the mind of the buyer and it pushes them to make a decision because they know their competition (other buyers) will probably be feeling the same way.

The low ceilings in many of the rooms really bother me, as does the wall to ceiling wood paneling, and it is in large part because I really dislike that yellow color wood, which is very pervasive. The wooden lounge chairs look like they belong in Pee Wee's Playhouse. The pool is not a practical shape. The house looks okay from the outside (except for the pool), but the interior is terrible, and that's were people live. He's done much better houses, although in generally I never like his color choices. I much prefer Michael Graves for color schemes.