MNteractive

Any adolescent boy who grew up in the pre-internet era has memories of sneaking that first peak at someone’s older brother’s stash of Playboy magazines. From that point on, talk of backyard cowboy adventures disappeared and our focus shifted gears to that exciting/hellish interaction with the opposite sex. Mixed in that were even more taboo thrills such as finding that ragged copy of Hustler some kid stole from his Dad.

Then, we grow up, go to college, get married, get a mortgage, and have a handful of young’uns. Suddenly (or not so suddenly) our turn-ons aren’t what they used to be.

For me, I haven’t picked up a playboy in years. While I might glance momentarily at the latest FHM cover when at the big box book store, my ‘fix’ is only to be had in the home remodelling section. Yep, I’m addicted to house porn.

Fortunately, HGTV and TLC aren’t premium channels, so I’m not going broke oggling an hourly innundation of home redocrating and remodelling shows. But TV just doesn’t have the tactile appeal of flipping through a glossy color magazine.

A few years ago, Dwell was released. A magazine dedicated to modern and modernist residential architecture. A rarity on the magazine rack a the time. That combined with the odd copy of This Old House or Fine Home Building kept me going with fantasies of boxy houses clad in galvalume with Eames furniture as far as the eye can see.

But like all fetishes, you’re constantly looking for something just a bit more. I recently found that bit more for me: Houses magazine. Like Dwell, it’s full of birch panelling, concrete flooring, geometric landscapes and minimalist furnishings. Unlike Dwell, it has twice the articles about actual homes and half the ads. In addition, you see plenty of georgeous floor plans…something that has been sorely missing from Dwell. Granted, you pay for this fix at $10 an issue. Part of that, no doubt, is the fact that this publication hails from Australia.

Which leads me to my next tacky comparison…The Netherlands are to drug culture as Australia is to modern architecture. They love the stuff down there it seems. From what I can tell, Australian neighborhoods are to someone like me what an Amsterdam street cafe is to a hemp wearing Grateful Dead fan.

Which is also a bummer in that I live on the other side of the planet. Why DOES Australia embrace modern residential design so readily? In the past, I’ve been frustrated in our quest to find some more modern options for our own house. We found some amazing modern steel fencing systems. Alas, from a company in Australia. We’ve been looking for an alternative to your standard pergola to cover our patio. Yep, also from Australia. We’ve been wanting to convert our old wood fireplace to a gas fireplace. Around here, your two options are brass or black iron. Well, unless you go to Australia for one of these beauties.

Until an Australian version of Home Depot opens here, I guess I’ll have to appease my perversion with my issue of Houses magazine and the latest episode of HGTV’s Design Star.