Of glitter, tractors and architecture.

Sunday turned out to be a milestone on the path to civilsation, being spent driving around the Mornington Peninsula indulging in architecture and wine. Compared to spending the day making rounds of vegemite on vita-wheat and peeling apples this was a cultural experience of dizzying heights.

Friend Sahra, myself and two bright-young-things headed off to spend the day poking our noses into other people’s very-expensive-bathrooms on the Robin Boyd Foundation’s 2009 tour of Recent Award Winning Houses. My long held suspicion that I am actually psychic was borne out when we discovered on arrival at the first house that we would have to take our shoes off to enter the homes. Only that morning I had succumbed to an overwhelming urge to don my one and only pair of socks-with-glitter and I am here to vouch for the role of glamorous socks in the public appreciation of fabulous design!

While my psychic powers are obviously undeniable when it comes to socks they didn’t do as well with the weather and despite numerous weather forecasts predicting torrential rain not one of us had thought to bring an umbrella. It didn’t matter. The brief skirmishes with rain between car and house and the occasional queues were well worth the effort and an inspiring day was topped off with a short visit to Ten Minutes by Tractor and the purchase of some 2008 10X Pinot Noir. Is this really how the child-free live? How could I have forgotten?

And as for the houses? My favourite is the Cape Schanck house closely followed by Zac’s House. Red House at Red Hill seemed to capture the popular vote and both the exterior and the views were stunning but the interior was a bit too boardroom for me. The Letterbox and Klein Bottle houses were also magnificent and I loved the concept in both but as a space to stay in and enjoy the Cape Schanck house did it for me.