Lets face it, nothing says retro quite like those original fabric prints you see in second hand stores. Problem is, how do you introduce that vintage moo moo into your chic flat without making it look like an expensive salvation army? Well fret no more, Melissa Womack of Poppycotton has done all the hard work for you. She searches out all the best vintage prints, and turns them into beautiful pillows and lampshades. The pillows are 100% cotton with bright vintage prints on the front, and more subdued earthy textured prints on the back. They are definitly all classic retro one of a kind pillows, but multiple pillows, and matching lamps are available for some prints. Check her website for availability.

via Inhabitat

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It’s no secret that CB2 is one of the big hitters when it comes to sources for affordable modern furniture. I think its always interesting to find out the story behind the company, and aparently so does the crew over at Apartment Therapy. They recently sat down with Marta Calle, the Product Manager at CB2, and asked her a few questions. Check out the full 1/2 hour audio interview, or text highlights here.

Well, as things start to cool down for us northerners its time to start thinking about the winter months, and all the joys that come with them, including scraping your car windows. Now, I know what your thinking, its not even Halloween yet, I don’t want to think about scraping my windows, but when you see this great new scraper, you’ll be begging for a chance to start scraping.
If you are anything like me, you don’t get around to buying a scraper until you have almost ruined your drivers license scraping windows. Finally you realize you have to buy yet another scraper (what did I do with last years?). You go down to the local supermarket and browse through the hideous collection of 3 foot long scrapers in electric blue, and forest green, and finally settle for a fairly plain black one. Sure it serves you well for the winter, but then what are you supposed to do with it. Its too awkward to fit in your glove box and ends up rolling around under your seat until you finally throw it away in frustration. It’s a vicious cycle.
But there is hope.
Introducing the Rosendahl Ice Scraper designed by Erik Bagger. This functional work of art, is the perfect size to be useful, but not awkward 10cm x 15cm (4″ x 6″) and was designed with the help of physical therapists so as to not cause undue stress on the hand or arm. One side is soft for dew (think squeegee) while the other is hard to bust through the toughest of ice. Sure the price is a little steep at $29, but think of the stress you will save by not having to go through your old routine.

Available from Yanko Design for $29.

Wow, first Better Living Through Design linked to us, and now Treehugger has. Both in just over a week. I have to admit I am a little flattered to have such great blogs linking to us here. For those of you who have not been here before, feel free to look around, check out the forums, and let us know what you think about our site.

Becky and Drew over at Design Public are excited about finally discovering where to get Lights up! lamps, and rightfully so. Lights up has been around since 1987, making quality modern lighting with an emphasis on quality and functionality. They have some great lamps available, like the Cancan Table Lamps available over at Design Public for $98-$120 depending on size. Besides the super clean look of these nickel plated lamps, I think one of the best parts are the shades. There are about 10 different shade options that you can get for them from “…restrained to wild.” They are sure to have just the perfect one for whatever room is lacking that finishing touch.
Design Public has a pretty good selection of Lights up! products, and if you don’t find what you are looking for there, make sure you check out ylighting. They also have a good selection, many of which are on sale now.

It’s hard enough to find a couch with a decent design these days at an affordable price, and when you throw green built into the whole equation, it becomes almost impossible. Well I think that the guys over at EcoFurniture.com have done a pretty decent job with their Savoy Collection of sofa’s, loveseats, and armchairs. The sofa seems to be the best value to me, coming in just under $1000 for a custom built couch. Constructed of a solid wood frame that is kiln dried to prevent warping. Plywood used for shaping is always backed with solid wood. All wood used is from sustainably harvested sources. See their environmental policy here.

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For those of you looking for a little bit of inspiration on how to tackle the whole affordable/modern conundrum, there is some new help from Taunton Press available. Its called Good House, Cheap House: Adventures in Creating an Extraordinary Home at an Ordinary Price, and it is written by Kira Obolensky who is a playwright with a passion for modern houses. The book covers 27 different houses with one thing in common, they are all built by people who crave nice modern design, but can’t afford to shell out the typical modern prices. I haven’t read it yet, but it looks like it has gotten some good reviews, and has some good tips in it. My favorite was using sliding glass doors for large, inexpensive, operable windows. Definitely have to check that idea out.
So if you are writing a book for the budget conscious, it can’t cost a fortune right? Well $16 for a hardback sounds about right to me. Check it out, and let us know what you think.

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Ok, so I know how annoying it is to have a favorite blog that only updates every couple of days, so I am making some long overdue changes around here. I am quiting my job so I can sit around all day and post blogs for you to read … Ok, so that may be a little extreme, but I do promise that there will be at least one new post every morning. As usual I promise to stay commited to only posting about affordable design. I figure if I can’t afford it, it’s not worthing posting about. There are plenty of blogs out there that feature expensive out of this world design that I could never afford. So stay tuned for a bunch of great new affordable content.

Blogs are nothing more than a journal that are on display for the world to see. But long before the Internet existed, you could find the freshest ideas and individual discoveries between the pages of a good old paper journal. So even though blogs are taking off we shouldn’t down play the importance of the old school journal. Over the years I have tried to keep a journal, and actually started quite a few. One thing that I did notice is that a good journal is hard to find. It can’t be too big, or you never want to take it with you when you are going to the park, it can’t have lines, because that makes any doodling hard, and most of all it has to look good. Well for you less technical people who haven’t mastered the Internet, or those who just don’t want your ideas out there for all to see, here is your chance. Sprout has a new Mosiac Journal that looks to fit the bill just right. It is only 4″ x 5″ so it isn’t too bulky. The 100 smooth pages are devoid of lines, so you can let your Jonathan Ive out, and it has a great modern print on the front. Sounds good right, so what does it cost? Just $7. So forgo that Pumpkin Spice Latte this week, and put the money towards a new mod journal.

A special welcome to all you BLTD fans. Feel free to poke around, and see what goodies we have here. Make sure you check out the archives to see the posts from the past couple of months. Also, check out our GRM Forum and Link Database for more great content. And of course, if you like what we are doing here, let us know.