I agree! I love your home! Very well done.

Hmmm... I think most people have very emotional reactions to houses and buy on that basis. A small number, architects/historians, etc, might buy based on an intellectual assessment of the aesthetics--what you call "getting it." Meaning, IMHO, if people aren't reacting positively it's not because they don't "get it", but because they don't LIKE IT. No offense intended. Most people here do like it, but this is probably a rather select group--not your typical homebuyer off the street.

In terms of marketing it, I think there are 2 approaches, and I'd try the first one first:

1) Help them to "get it." A lot of upscale buyers can be educated into changing their reactions to something if it is explained to them. Mind over emotion perhaps. Before they walk into that foyer and form their first impression, it would help enormously if they had written or verbal explanation of what you were going for and have achieved. You may have to SELL your "concept" by preparing/educating them as to what they're about to see.

2) Change it, esp. the foyer, to something closer to what most people are comfortable with; it wouldn't take much. I think there are a number of disparate elements there which make the eye move around a lot with nowhere to settle. There's a lot of pattern and a lot of different wood tones and paint colors. The medium oak wood stairway; golden/beige (on my screen) faux painted walls, white trim, white cultured stone walls, another pattern in the floor. The eye jumps around a lot and doesn't quite know what to focus on. Perhaps painting the stone a color closer to the glazed walls would settle things down a bit. And removing some of the very dark furniture, which adds another visual element, distracting from what the foyer will be like with your furnishings absent.

It's lovely, but as you're finding, it's not designed for the typical buyer. I think there's just a different mindset for someone who builds their own home vs. someone who buys what someone else has designed. Good luck with it. If you do nothing at all, it will eventually sell to the one person who truly appreciates it as much as you do; it'll just take more time and perhaps it's worth waiting.

Okay, now I need to see this house! Where is a picture??

Wait, I missed something. Worthy is selling his house? I'd buy that one in a heartbeat. What's the scoop? Is there another post you are referring to?

Canada, right? That's not too far of a commute to Portland is it? LOL! I'll get my checkbook out!

Lindy

That is a stunning foyer, Worthy.
Your home looks beautiful!

Dawn
(hope you don't mind that I added a link to your pics?)

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics at end of this thread

Thanks for the kind comments!

Pinktoes is correct. I got sick of the blander spec homes I was building, e.g.,

We used a colour consultant, rather than settle for builder beige. Zodiaq instead of granite counters; quartzite and slate floors intead of limestone; stone and brick exterior instead of EIFS; oak planks and "character" maple instead of the ubiquitous Brazilian cherry. Five bedrooms and two ensuites instead of a giant master, plus three small baths all with ensuites.

Perhaps painting the stone a color closer to the glazed walls would settle things down a bit. I've been looking for a way to "age" the cultured material and have come up with nothing so far.

The furniture and furnishings I can't touch! (Mrs. worthy has an obsession with Bombay and Thomasville--not to mention accumulating every item in the Victoria Secrets catalogue.)

WOW THATS A FOYER!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't evan think its to dark. I would just remove the furniture. Leave the mirror, maybe just a thin wall table somewhere. That would just make it a little more mainstream. Im a stone junky and LOVE natural surfaces. Worst case maybe repaint the stairway area a little lighter. The foyer is very powerfull and has real presence, and that is what a foyer should do!

Well, worthy, I have always admired that house whenever I've seen a picture of it. As far as her furniture shopping and victoria secrets shopping, that's something for her.....something for you:-)

I didn't have a whole lot of time this morning to comment. Love the foyer! Seeing the outside of your home and hearing the materials you used I would buy your house in a HEART BEAT!! I love it. Can you come to Texas and finish mine?!?!? *wink*

Great job worthy!!

Worthy, I'll say it again-it's beautifully done! I. too, would jump on something that well done and unique. It's not run-of-the-mill, but it's very liveable. Any idea of what's next?

Your foyer is absolutely beautiful! I'm assuming the rest of the interior is as much or more so. And I understand your wife feeling like this "The furniture and furnishings I can't touch!" So she'll need to decide if she'd rather have your home on the market longer or sell faster and "stage" it. For staging, I'd take all the furnishings out of the foyer except for the mirror and something on the mantel that would compliment your railing color and something that would compliment your wall color and that's it. And I'd put them together arranged in the middle of your mantel. You want the buyer to focus on the beauty of your house, not the beauty of your furnishings. You want them to be able to imagine their furnishings and pictures in your house. I'd do the same (stage) with the other rooms. Minimal furniture, minimal art. Nothing that is personal (such as family pictures, religious, etc.) It is a hard thing to do to stage your home for others. But it also helps with the separation of it not being your home soon. Think of someplace impersonal (like a model home). They have the furniture, pictures that compliment the color scheme, and a few well placed items that go with the overall effect of the room. That's it. That's so you can concentrate on the architecture of the house instead of how nice it was decorated. That's what you want. I'm sure you have the items in your home to bring about that effect. It might be worth talking to your wife about it or print out this thread and see what she thinks. Otherwise, like others have written, hopefully you will have a potential buyer come in that can visualize the house as their own regardless of what furnishings are in the rooms.

Good luck!!

There's a bitter irony here re your cultured stone in the foyer: Congratulations! You've installed a superior product that is virtually impervious to stains--and now you can't stain it! Isn't that always the way? In some brief research I thought I'd see the warnings by the manufacturers about how to avoid stains. That's your clue as to how to stain it. The only 2 I found were smoke. Not sure a smokey wall is what you want. And muriatic acid. Don't know what effect that has, but I'm sure it's not a consistent look, nor would I want to breathe it. So, I see no way to stain your wall either.

Would you do better in a different housing market? Is that a factor where you are?

Worthy

That's a "worthy" foyer to be sure. I love the look. It's so classy. BTW I'm assuming that's a red Cobra. I have a 96. My oldest daughter races it when her and her dad go racing. His is a 65.

The 'Stang is only for looks! (An antidote to the van we bought at the same time--since sold.)

There's a surfeit of upper mid range-priced homes $1.5-$2.m in Toronto. In the MLS district where we are alone, there are 29 homes priced between $1.5M-$2.5 million. And upwards of two-dozen new ones under construction. Across the Greater Toronto Area there are 428 detached homes listed between $1.5M-$2.5milion.The Canadian market hasn't been crunched by the US debacle in sub-prime mortgages. Except for a few high-profile instances, such as convicted felon Conrad Black's over-value mortgage, jumbo mortgages are virtually unheard of. If you have less than 20% equity, your mortgage must be insured.

Brand New. 6,400 sf. 90'x180'ft. List price $4.575m.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't take much to spook the market here. I was caught in the last crash in 1990; I agreed to be featured in a story on luxury homebuilders taking a hit. ((You must be crazy for agreeing to such a story," colleagues told me. Fancy that!

Brand New 5 BR, 60'x208' List: $2.78m

"Never again!" I swear.

Future plans?

I really like this Victorian-influenced custom:

Combine it with an original shingled Victorian

(p.s. The inappropriate flat-roofs on the new homes are courtesy of foolish height limitations.)

Wow
Those homes are gorgeous but the last one is leaving me in awe. It's absolutely breathtaking. Whoever had a hand in that surely is proud everytime they drive by it.

The last pic I posted was of a home probably built in the 1880's, so it's unlikely the builder drives past much!

I've contacted the designer of the home pictured just before. A couple more of his "retro" designs have recently been completed a mile away, apparently custom builds too, that would otherwise be in the C$3.5-C$4 Million range.

Here's another detail on the home above. Note the new "reclaimed" brick, probably Belden and the stone inset at the top of the gable and copper eaves and downspouts. Unfortunately, the plastic muntin bars look cheesy, cheap and distinctly unhistorical.