For our new bathroom remodel we decided to go with a concrete countertop. Partly because the price is totally right, and partly because we really like the look. We have done a concrete table top in the past, so we figured it wouldn’t be too hard. The slab is an 1 1/2″ thick with a 4″ lip on the front, and is reinforced with wire and rebar. It took three bags of quickcrete 5000 and one sheet of melamine. Well actually two sheet of melamine, because I cut the first one an inch too short, and had to go get a new sheet. Oops. Minus the extra sheet the whole cost came in at about $50. Not bad at all. The fact that we had an above mount sink made the form super easy. Above are the pics of the form before the pour, and after. Next week I’ll put up pics of it installed, plus the walnut vanity that it sits on.

Just a quick post today. Last week I told you about the vessel sink I got for a screaming deal. Well we needed a nice deck mount faucet to go with it. Faucets for some reason are insanely expensive, many of the nice ones are upwards of $300+. There was no way I was going to spend that much, so after a long time of hunting around I found this one at overstock.com. It was clean, modern and fit in the kind of asian inspired look we have going on. The price was only $79 so we figured we would go for it. I was pretty scetched out that the quality would not be that great. Luckily when we got it, everything turned out to be up to par. Turns out it is made by Kingston Brass, which would have been nice of overstock to mention. Anyway it looks good installed. I’ll get some pics up soon.

Available at overstock.com for $79.

Via the New York Times: “Anna Castelli Ferrieri, a pioneering architect associated with the postwar period of Italian modern design, known for its embrace of technological innovation and audacious style, died on Thursday at her home in Milan. She was 87.”

Thanks to Michael for the heads up. She will be missed.

Overstock.com has some great patio furniture on sale right now. There are actually about three different clean modern tables ranging from $199-$349. I am usually shocked at how much a nice clean outdoor table costs, it was refreshing for once to be shocked about how affordable these are. The one pictured above is made of anodized aluminum legs with an slatted balau wood top and is only $199.

Check them out here, here and here.

Design Public just announce that they are taking pre-orders for the new Pablo Tube Top Table Lamps. Pricing starts at $100 for the 14″ high lamp, which is on the edge of affordability for me, but still not a bad deal for a very clean designer lamp. It is available in either a light or a dark finish (shown) both of which are made of an acrylic base with a mesh fabric top. It is also available in a larger 21″ and 27″ tall version for $210 and $270 respectively.

Available from Design Public for $100-$270.

This is a quick shout out for one of the local boys that is doing some awesome work.
I recently had the pleasure to talk with Scott from H Space Design build. I actually stumbled across his website googling for residential concrete, salt lake city, or some random search like that. From my brief phone call, I was very impressed with some of the things that they are doing. Their website shows a very sweet remodel they just did in a swanking, yet charming neighborhood near down town salt lake. While it is not exactly affordable by any stretch of the word, it is a great example of the work they do. The good news for us little guys, is that Scott and H Space are doing a number of nice modern additions in much, much more affordable neighborhoods. Hopefully I can get together with them and get the good news of affordable modern housing out. Definitely more to come on this one.

H Space designs website is still a work in progress (like my house) but check it out anyway. It has a link to an MLS listing with lots of sweet pics. I especially love the Duravit Happy D tub.

As we started into our bathroom remodel, we started looking for some affordable yet chic new fixtures. One of the first big obstacles was to find a above mount square sink. We wanted above mount (vessel) for a couple of reasons. First it makes the concrete countertop a lot easier, since there is no knockout for the sink, and second, we like the look. Let me rephrase that, we like the look of square vessel sinks. It complements the simple modern design we have for our vanity and the japanese influence that the ofuro will bring to the bathroom. We went to a local plumbing supply called Standard Plumbing to look at their showroom. Nada. We mostly were ignored as we wandered around, but finally someone was nice enough to pay attention to us and answer our questions. They recommended Miro Ceramica for square vessel sinks. We ended up with the one shown above, which I believe was called the box 50. They had it in stock, and even gave us contractor pricing, so we got it for $120, which was a total steal. We couldn’t be happier. Now we just need a facet.

Everyone knows that hand made cards are the best, but if you don’t have the time to get creative, and just want to buy some sweet hand made cards, check these out. Each card is hand made by Melissa Morris a Philly based graphic designer. She makes some very nice stuff. In a letterpress world, its kinda nice to see some cards that don’t have a out of the box style. Here are the details:

Fine patterned, linen textured papers are torn and sewn together and adorned with a handmade embelishment. They are all blank (white) inside, which means endless opportunities! All cards are 4”x5.5” and come with a white A2 envelope.

Available from Melissahead for $5.95

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There are a couple things that my wife and I had hoped to get done before we start the actual construction for our addition. One of them was to remodel our bathroom. If you looked close at some of the drawings I have posted you can see that we plan on changing the location of the door, and moving a wall over a couple feet. Since de-construction is cheap and things were going slow with the addition, we thought that we would get a start on it. Above you can see a before and after of the process. We have big plans of course. A walnut vanity capped with a concrete countertop and vessel sink are in the works, as well as a stainless steel Ofuro (Japanese soaking tub), Ipe floor mats, a new toilet, shower, and lot and lots of tile work. Keep checking back for all the juicy details.

More pics after the jump.

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I saw a post over at Husmusen about Murge Designs, and thought that I would check it out. When I saw the picture of this little tike in his baby blue and brown argyle bib, I knew I had to share. Murge Designs actually has a very nice selection of baby textiles and bags. The style reminds me a lot of some of the first Dwell patterns. Simple, bold colors and great patterns. The good news is that the prices seem to be a little bit more affordable than the Dwell stuff. For example a Dwell Baby bib and burp cloth is about $35, while the beauty above is only $20.

Available at Murge Designs for $20.

Via Husmusen.