Ah, now here is a famous hotel room in Paris….but without the flowers, it would not have the feeling of refuge, without the balcony itself, it would not have the feeling of Prospect… These 2 things can change this $1000 room to $2000 easily…

A small balcony is such a minor cost, a minor design element….but it is EVERYTHING!

This type of design thinking can explode the desirability of a house….

Here is one that neglects it… a renovation, … all first class, modern, magazine ready…but it misses the element of Prospect and Refuge entirely…

See how the entire front window EXPOSES the people in the house, from front to back…. no sense of security at all…. creepy actually for the home owner AND the passer by.

OK….now rethink the entire house, only overlay Prospect & Refuge, and a few good ideas….

#1… Change the 3 car garage to a home office, and laundry /utility room.

#2…Add a deck right on top of the 3 car garage, …. a massive 30 x 100 (3000sf) deck, with a 4 foot semi cement/ protective rail like this….

That lets you BE outside, and think, but out of eyesight … you can SEE your neighborhood the street, the sky..but you cannot be seen…  A deck large enough for huge planters, hedges, bushes, trees….flexible space.

OK, continue this thought.  See the massive ceiling in the dining room..the space where all the heat goes in the winter? …OK… flatten it out, and put a deck facing the pool and woods in the back yard… Now you have doubled your magical spaces…. at negligible cost….(remember…this house was bought for $1M, and sold for $5M…so money is not a constriction here….

But instead of a bidding war for this NEW house… it sat on the market for 3 months, and sold for 10% LESS than asking…. a half a Mill!!!   Plus… it would have appraised for $300K more, by having the garage around back…under the house, and letting this prime space add 1000sf to the appraisal cost.