What a wonderful wealth of ideas you have reeled in, just by casting out the right bait: Frank Lloyd Wright. My offer is have you to talk to a local landscape architect/site planner to look at your engineer's plat that accurately shows your entire property and the current development. Have him redesign all of your vehicular circulation. You are driving a car - there is no use to crowd the house with that awkward (I mean stupid, but that would be rude to the former owner) abrupt entry to the garage. Have him give you a space to park your car off the drive, by the garage, which will act as a turnaround to back into your garage at night, ready to eject you out into the morning commute. Have him show you how to get your guests to the front door in a welcome manner, on foot, from a direction that they can be impressed by what you have done to the front facade. Have him pick up a copy for you of The Gardens of FLW by Derek Fell, and you will see many of FLW's homes, but NO CARS & NO GARAGE DOORS. FLW was probably the first architect to place as much value on the design of the outdoor rooms as the indoor rooms. Incorporate your entire property as part of your everyday living. Have your site planner study your fore-mentioned plat, walk the entire site, study the sun patterns, the drainage patterns, the favorable views and the bad. Do you need protection from the cold northwest winds. Do you want to encourage the cool summer breezes from the southwest. Do you need more shade on the dining terrace, more sun in the play area. Have your family develop lists of what they would like to see developed at their home - no wish is to be undesirable, all wishes are to be considered by the site planner to see if they are appropriate to your property now or in the future. A sandbox today outside the kitchen window can become a gazebo in the future. The site planner will develop a conceptual plan to demonstrate the development of all your wishes, in concert with all the natural influences that the physical site and environment accepts or restricts. After thorough discussion with the family, over how many weeks it takes, a satisfactory preliminary plan for the first phase of your site development will be prepared for your final approval. The site planner will prepare a cost estimate and detailed drawings and specifications for competitive bidding, review them carefully with you for your final approval, perhaps dividing the work into smaller phases to be sequenced over time. For example, first remove the vehicular pavement and construct the new design, stockpiling the topsoil removed and placing it where the old pavement was removed. That sort of process - step by step until you have what you family has wished for as they have lived on the land, and experienced the outdoor spaces, for entertaining friends or active play. Sorry to go on so long; just do a thorough site analysis before you do a site development plan. You won't regret taking an extra week to look at the total environment first. Good luck - make FLW proud. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

She might just be trying to say that she would like a house with real architectural features or quality. When you are developing your ideas, sometimes just thinking outloud can be mis-interpreted, but you develop your concepts. I think I wish that I had known when I was younger that I really wanted architectural unique elements when I was home shopping . . now she might search houzz photos and decide which sorts of these really draw her eye. Pros know you can actually put them into a house too . . .

I think it is the plasticity, flatness of the facade that is the problem. As you know modern is all about horizontals and the juxtaposition of planes , as such, I would recommend you erect a wood trellis or open cell grille ( horizontal element across the bottom of the facade ( above the covered garage roof) to add depth and thereby emphasize the horizontal , run from far left to far right ( stop even with stucco vertical element ) mt aprox 18" from wall with top aligning with top if bottom row of windows sill this would add a visual texture, warmth, and detail and this will also filter the light and add energy efficiency ( depending on solar orientation) To go one step beyond might consider some base relief panels for the stucco panel on far right available at Pinneapple Grove.com additionally the white lined drapery is not doing you any favors. Good Luck if you get a chance send me a copy of what you end up doing ( curious)

That large plant in front of your house on the left of your feature photo looks wonderful. What I would do is add more of the same all along the flower bed where you are standing- and continue them around the curve of the bed to play up the shape. Use this as the base for your landscape. I would remove the border bricks and let the shrubs loosely determine the boundary. Soft, edges will work great with your house because house is linear in style. Shrubs will add a feeling of more privacy to the entrance, plays up the the curve of the windows arches, and will add charm. Then I would change out the globe light fixture over your entry door to something that makes more of a design statement and is larger. Use a nice grey stone for foot path with low to ground lighting instead of tall one I see there to play up the curve in the pathway. A tree would be great. Some trees grow fast and before you know it you are there for 6 years and tree looks mature. I would play up the entrance more. House numbers, a color where the curve inset trim around door is, or maybe an oversized urn or planter to the potted with something that you love. I would also walk around and see what works with similar houses on your block. The grey fence on side is nice. Maybe a low profile wood fence in front in same color would be also be charming.