Beach for breakfast: The open kitchen and dining area at Bilgola. Supplied by Foxtel.
Beach for breakfast: The open kitchen and dining area at Bilgola. Supplied by Foxtel.
There's the beach pad with the basement nightclub; the concrete concoction of pure luxury, the bungalow which upsized on glamour and the Queenslander painstakingly restored to its period glory.
Feast your eyes on four of Australia's best dream homes.
They're worth anywhere up to $5 million and one will be named Australia's best tomorrow night: after a viewer vote after a nationwide search as part of Foxtel's Lifestyle Channel's I Own Australia's Best Home.
They're four of nine finalists viewers have peeked into and voted for into during the series which feeds the Aussie obsession with housing, and their appetite for property porn.
It's an appetite which remains undimmed, despite the state of the housing market where budgets are more likely to buy a shoebox for the price of a stately mansion, rather than the mansion.
So why on earth are Aussies so obsessed with houses they will likely never own?
It's part escapism, part fantasy, voyeurism, part seeking inspiration for your own digs, says guest judges and Selling Houses Australia presenter Andrew Winter.
"It's like people who go to car shows. You mightn't be able to afford it, but it's great to look at, inspire and dream about it - and there's no harm in looking."
And at this end of the market, property porn is the equivalent of fine dining.
Winter says these houses have an added appeal: they are homes rather than fancy staging areas.
"Every single building has a real connection with the people actually living in it," Winter says.
"It wasn't a case "I own Australia's best home, I bought it off the plan six months ago.
"The owners of these have invested in them - not just with money, but emotionally, and shaped them to suit their lifestyles."
Here are four of Australia's best.
Masterful: The main bedroom in the Torquay house of concrete, which wraps three sides of a private garden. Supplied by Foxtel
Bathroom bliss in the Torquay house. Supplied by Foxtel
COOL CONCRETE
Four bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and about 2000 tonnes of concrete, this place in Torquay in Victoria screams cool and contemporary - but it's liveable too as home to builder Damian, his artist wife Prudence (yes, there's a studio for her), their toddler and three dogs.
Things of stone and wood: Open plan living in Torquay. Supplied by Foxtel
Concrete can be thought cold, but this place isn't - it looks like stone and is full of light and air, built around three sides of a private garden.
Upstairs is a master with ensuite that's easy to sink into, while downstairs the grand open-plan kitchen, complete with concrete island bench, sprawls its way into family, dining and lounge areas where concrete walls and floors are offset with brass and timber above.
Beach for breakfast: The open kitchen and dining area at Bilgola. Supplied by Foxtel.
The second storey pool Bilgola. Supplied by Foxtel
ULTIMATE BEACH PAD
BANG on the beach at Bilgola, on Sydney's northern beaches, this is the stone house that grew, and grew, and grew ... from a single storey into a three-level, six bedroom dream.
Can't make the short walk to the beach? Try the plunge pool on the second level.
Feel like a night out but can't drag yourself out of the house? Head to the basement, where the 'nightclub' has a stage, DJ booth, and a spare bedroom if you can't make it home ... or just upstairs.
The lounge area and imposing stone fireplace in the sprawling beach pad. Supplied by Foxtel
Sleeping on the sand. One of the bedrooms overlooking the beach. Supplied by Foxtel
Owners Lorica and Andrew raised three kids in this reinvention of stone and timber 70s beach pad. They kept a lot of hard floors so the sand won't be a hassle, but with dining, living and sleeping views this place offers, the beach is already inside.
The dining area on the second floor looks straight over the ocean, an imposing stone fireplace reaches up into the two-storey void in the heart of the house.
Bringing the outdoors in: The Perth Bungalow. Supplied by Foxtel
The plunge pool at the Perth Bungalow. Supplied by Foxtel
THE BUNGALOW WITH ADDED BITE
The high-gloss Bungalow in North Perth gives no hint of the four-bedroom, two bathroom marvel behind the front door.
Designers Jason and Nicole reimagined their 1937 art deco bungalow via a two-storey extension.
Old houses can be dark, so they sorted that with dark glossy floorboards to reflect the light, and added the glass "box" - a walkway which connects the old with the new, as well as drawing light, and gorgeous greenery into the place.
High end ensuite in the Perth bungalow. Supplied by Foxtel
The finished look is industrial glam - and the pair's passion for art saw some rooms designed around sculptures and paintings.
Livability? Kids and dogs add living colour to the riotous colour.
Want a hint of total high-end luxury - head straight to the master bedroom's ensuite.
The Wilston Queenslander is a true classic, painstakingly renovated. Supplied by Foxtel
ROMANTIC QUEENSLANDER
The gorgeous classic Queenslander in the old Brisbane suburb of Wilston is form another world - but boasts the luxuries of the modern one.
Painstakingly restored as a family home, the five-bedroom classic was built in 1904, and from 1948 played host to thousands of weddings.
