This one is fun just from an art standpoint. "Upswing" is located in Coral Gables, Florida and is described as an art collector's dream. This four-bedroom modern home is full of light and angles with plenty of white spaces and glass walls. It's hard to take it on its own merits without considering the vivid contemporary art that dominates the space. In some cases, particularly the very bright office space, the colors may be a bit too much for someone with gentler taste. And the current furnishings don't look too comfortable, even if I am smitten by the bench that looks like a woolly bear caterpillar. I do, however, love the patchwork tile in the kitchen. Outside the home's gardens are home to orchids, a pool, fountain and a waterfall. It is listed at $4 million.

At first this one didn't do it for me, too much white and beige, especially for San Francisco, which often lends itself to the quirky and colorful. Not a bad place but not one that inspired home lust. But then I saw that penthouse room. This is the place to be, a large expanse of open space that would be ideal for parties. The home, on Russian Hill, has decent views from the lower levels but it is the top floor that truly dazzles, with views that include the Golden Gate bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts and the bay. The home is designed with staff quarters/office space on the bottom level, dining room, living room and kitchen on the main level, two bedrooms and a sunroom on the third level. The next level given over to the master suite and a master study. The master level has built-in library shelving and the master bedroom is also media-ready with a pull-down screen. The spa-like master bath, includes marble stonework, a two-person shower, bidet and a Jacuzzi tub with a view. This home is listed at $5.85 million.

California contemporary? Nope, this staged beauty is in Palmetto, Georgia. Like many modern homes, this one has a certain white and bright angularity with hefty doses of stainless steel. Fun details include a wading pool on the main level and a rooftop patio with tremendous views. The home sits on a hill on an acre of land. The design does highlight one issue I have seen in modern homes; a home with glass walls and an open floor plan doesn't always provide a good place to put a TV. Here they have put it high up on a wall in the double-height living area but it seems like this would probably provide a bit of a neck strain to view it way up there. The home has three bedrooms total. This home is listed at $775,000 which would be a fabulous deal in Southern California but seems a bit ambitious for the area.

How much mid-century Modern can you stand? That's the question when looking at this unique home in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. The home belongs to Janet Charlton, a woman I idolized when I was a teenager and thought being a gossip columnist would be just about the best job in the world. Charlton was the gossip queen of Star magazine for many years. She purchased this home in 1997 for a reported $540,000. The home has been used for all sorts of photos and film shoots (including serving as Annette Benning's home in the recent movie "Running With Scissors"). It's easy to see why it would be chosen as a location, it's absolutely perfectly of the period. Which is of course the problem. As the Real Estalker Mama and his commenters have noted it's all just too much, it looks like a vintage furniture store that caters to hipster doofuses. It's all too much of a theme. The individual furniture pieces such as the Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs are all fine but put the whole shebang together and it just seems more like a two-dimensional set than the place where you kick back and cuddle up with a book and a glass of wine after a hard day. Liveable is not a word that applies here. Although I must confess a secret and shameful lust for those giant dice in the stereo room.

The five-bedroom home does have a nice open floor plan (although that tiny kitchen is suited only for those who enjoy drinking their dinner) and there is a lovely pool with a cabana. The home is listed at $2.995 million which might be a bit optimistic but this place could be a stunner in the right hands. If only Ellen DeGeneres would swoop in with her magic team of designers and rescue this place.

This modern home occupies a a thin slice of desirable land on North Ocean Blvd. in Delray Beach, Florida. The home is located directly across from the beach. Built in 2005, the home is close to 7,000 square feet spread out over three stories. The home is ringed by water elements including a lap pool, waterfall and spa. The foyer includes a waterfall and koi pond and a glass staircase leads to the kitchen and dining room above. The second floor is home to the gourmet kitchen, a living room with a patio, a media room and a private library that leads to the third floor master area. There is also a one-bedroom guest house. This home is listed at $4,999,000.

Our modern Monday pick takes us to Washington D.C. and a rather non-traditional Georgetown townhouse. This throughly modern home is a four-story Le Corbusier-inspired work of utterly angular lines. The seven-bedroom home has multiple terraces and a wide open floor plan. The home is utterly spare and bare, all dark wood and white walls and bathrooms that trip the line between stark and institutional. It is listed at $3.45 million. After the jump, not a curve in sight.

This home on Blue Hill in Maine is the perfect vacation home for someone looking for something a little more modern than your traditional shingled cottage. The home has 225feet of deep-water frontage and the side that faces the water is a wall of glass. The home is three bedrooms with plenty of open spaces including a double-height living room with a soapstone fireplace. There are also multiple porches and decks and two outdoor showers. The mater suite has a walk-in closet with an attached laundry room, and expansive master bath that includes a soaking tub and a deck overlooking the bay. The home was designed by a LEED accredited architect and has green features such as bamboo floors, the use of recycled materials, passive solar features and a landscaping design to reduce mowing. It is listed at $1.85 million. After the jump, loft-like in Maine.

There's just something about a modern structure in a rustic setting that I found absolutely mesmerizing. This concrete and glass home in Montana is a step away from the usual Western architecture we usually see in the region. This home is in the Cottonwood Ranch gated community but is located high in the trees and offering expansive views of mountains and forest without another home in sight. The home itself is a bit chillier than the usual log walls and stone fireplaces of many Montana homes but it serves as a dramatic framework for the current owner's expansive art collection. It is listed at $4 million. After the jump, western goes modern.