As part of a longer trip we were planning to visit Zurich for 1 to 1 1/2 days (per our earlier posting "Suggestions for our trip to SW Germany and the Alsace ???") . We might have the opportunity to add a couple of days to our trip and are considering possibilities.
Question: is there a small interesting village we could use as a base that's near enough both to Zurich to commute to on 1 or 2 days, and to other possible locations such as Lucerne on 1 or 2 days?

Public transportation in Switzerland is excellent, so you can basically pick any village/small town between Zürich and Lucerne for a base to commute to both cities. Just make sure your accommodation is not too far from the train station (a farm e.g.) But why must it be a village?

I'd stay in either Zürich or Lucerne and do a day trip to the other. Accommodation in villages is not *that* significantly cheaper than in the cities and it would save you the cost for commuting too much.

I.

luzern.org prettiest

for me on the lake very scenic.

Choose some place near there.

I agree with Ingo. The public transportation is excellent and you may be better off staying within the city and travelling out to small villages. However if you insist to stay away from the city, choose small towns like Sarnen or Weggis near Lucerne which imo are nice places to stay.

Look into Rapperswil a town on the southern tip of Lake Zuerich, reached in 40 minutes by train.
Castle (now a Polish Museum) and deer park above the lakeside promenade with views of snow-capped mountains, quaint cobbled town square, cappuchin monastery. Know as the town of roses for its beautiful rose gardens.

You are looking for a small, interesting village? - Then stay in Luzern!

There are excellent train connections from Luzern to Zürich - about 1 hour riding time.