Let me preface this post by reminding everyone that some of these finds at the Outdoor Retailers Expo do not fit in the affordable genre. This is one of those. Snow Peak has apparently been making camping accessories since 1958, why I have never heard of them before is a mystery. They make some of the most beautiful stuff I have ever seen. Take for example the Single Action Table shown. Made of .6″ thick plywood and aluminum legs it is a truly beautiful table. What the picture (and their website) fails to show is the way it opens and closes in one smooth action. It’s one of those things you just have to see to get how cool it is. The price is $224, which is a little rich for my blood. Make sure you check out the stacking cups on their website too. Expensive, but very nice. All their stuff had a pretty Asian style to it. Simple and sweet.

Sigg has been making water bottles since 1908, so I figure they have had some time to perfect things. The fact that they use epoxy coated aluminum bottles has recently caught a lot of attention since some studies have show that plastic Nalgene bottles can leach harmful chemicals. That means the Sigg bottles are safer to drink out of. Personally I can tell a difference in the taste too, especially after having orange juice in the Sigg for the day, when you wash it out the water tastes like water, not orange water. Perhaps what I like the best about Sigg is their good eye for design. The two bottles shown above are my wife’s and mine. The blue (mine) is a soft touch baby blue, which has a nice powder coated type of paint job. Matte and sexy. My wife has the nice orange graphic print on hers. Both have a nice active bottle top, which means the water only comes out when you need it. No hands needed.

Sigg also has some really nice small insulated mugs, which I haven’t been able to get my hands on yet, but if I do, I’ll be sure to do a write up on them. They are really beautiful.

Check the Sigg home page on sources where to buy.

This past week was the Outdoor Retailer Expo here in Salt Lake City. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, it’s one of the biggest outdoor retailer shows in the world. While the focus is not really on anything modern, I figured I would check it out and see what goodies I could find. I would like to give a special thanks to Sara Nazzaro, who was kind enough to help me get in at the last minute.
It’s pretty funny, as I wandered around one of the things that I noticed the most were some of the elaborate booth designs, and the nice simple furniture that a lot of the booths had. I think I was more excited about that than a lot of the products. However, for the rest of this week, I will highlight some of the products that I thought were the coolest.

Sure you love the look of the bonsai tree, but you can’t even keep your lucky bamboo alive. For those of us who are less gifted in the art of the green, comes the Atomic Bonsai Tree. The kit includes the basic parts you need for your atomic bonsai, you don’t even need scissors or glue to put it together. If you get bored, just rearrange a couple leaves, and revel in your master bonsai skills.

Available from Chocosho for $22

So you are the lucky one who gets breakfast in bed on a regular basis, or maybe you just like eating all your meals in bed. The CB2 Bed Tray makes such indulgences even easier. Stark white finish and Mahogany veneer, this small tray is just the thing to hold your daily meal, or even your lap top. Clean design, sturdy, and best of all, very affordable.

Available from CB2 for only $29.

On my anniversary earlier this year, I posted about a card that I had gotten from a local store called Artichokes and Company. Unfortunately at the time I didn’t have a website for the designer of the card. Luckily today Leslie of Mingo Design, stumbled across my website, and gave me a link to her blog. It turns out that Leslie is a Salt Lake City based designer that is making beautiful cards, as well as some very cute little modern onesies. All her wholesale prices and minimum orders are listed on her page, and the prices are great. For all you local SLC folks, lets do our best to support a local artist.

Mingo Design

This very simple FM radio from Orange Skin doesn’t come with a whole lot of descriptions, but I love it for its simplicity. The only info they do give is:

A rechargeable FM radio that can be plugged into any outlet.
Material Plastic, Available in Aluminium, Blue

I love how simple it looks, and what the quality is like. The price $60.

Available from Orange Skin.

I know that a lot of you that visit this website fully embrace the whole DIY idea. Quite a while ago, we had a question in the forums where someone was looking for an affordable modern bookshelf. I wish I would have know about this one, because I think it would have fit the bill just perfect. The author first saw the shelves in Budapest, and has such recreated them elsewhere. The design is very simple, and flexible, and best of all, you could pull it off pretty cheap. I may have to do a small scale version just for fun. For full instructions check it out over at Instructables.

This comes via Instructables, a wonderful DIY website with instructions on everything from making ramen noodles to a loft bed.

Well, I finally wrapped up another small project. I have had our Caroma Walvit toilet hooked up and functional for about a week now, but I was waiting until I had the walnut section done to post about it. So far we are liking the toilet, although I am still not sure if it was worth the money. The whole dual flush thing does make me feel good about myself though. Who knows, another 50 years and it will pay itself of in the water we are saving.
Today I finally had time to build the walnut column that the toilet hangs from. It is made out of the exact same material as our vanity I did a while ago, so it is a nice match. We are planning on doing white tiles on all the walls, so I think that the walnut will break things up nicely. Plus it lines up with the doorway exactly, so it makes for a pretty dramatic first view into the bathroom. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I can start working on getting our ofuro tub installed.

As always, more pics after the jump.

Read more

Sure you’ve heard of Real Simple the magazine, but how about Real Simple Furniture? Turns out the two have nothing to do with each other. Real Simple furniture is a company that specializes in knock down furniture. That means that you can assemble it with no tools, and when the time come, you can just as easily un-assmeble it and transport it flat pack style. It’s a great idea for college student and other who have to move a lot. The media stand shown above goes for $199 unpainted. Not a bad price.

Available at Real Simple Furniture

Click here for a animation of how it goes together.