Our modern condition.

Tomorrow is the Austin Modern Home Tour, and I so wish I was going.

While I've always had an affection for quirky Victorians, like the brightly colored bungalows of my Hyde Park, I drool a little bit whenever I flip through Dwell.  I think many of us equate "modern" with a cold, metallic feel, angular lines and white everything, but while working at my first magazine job in California I came to a different understanding.  Especially since many modern architects there (and here) are so eco-conscious. Now, whenever I see a "modern" home, it is more likely than not wooden and cozy-looking, and very much in dialogue with its natural environment. (I hope that sounded smrt).

Anyway, the Austin Modern Home Tour is a 16-home stretch, and advance tickets are just $10 ($20 day of).  It also includes a cocktail reception at Trulucks. If you're slightly masochistic like me, you may also be interested in knowing the home prices of some of these digs.  The most expensive?  $3.5 mil. But the least? Just under $280,000.

(Note: all images above have been adjusted by me! To see the original pictures and even more homes on the tour, click here).