I have featured items from Motif Modern Living before. Their slogan is “Modern Style, Modest Price” and I have to admit that they have a pretty good selection of affordable modern housewares that I haven’t seen elsewhere. Take for example this Single Flower Duvet and Sham. For only $79 you can get a queen sized duvet cover and two pillow shams. That’s a great price! They are made of 210 thread count 100% cotton. My only wish is that they had different colors or patterns at that same price. I’m not quite sure I could cover my entire bed in mustard yellow.

Available from Motif Modern Living for $79.

Our rainscreen siding has been a slow and tedious process. So far we are almost 4 days into it, and we are probably about 3/4 of the way done. Thanks to family and friends, we were able to get a bunch of it done this last Friday and Saturday. We hope it will all be done by today, or Tuesday. I have to admit though, that despite all the hard work, it’s worth it. The look it gives the house is very distinct, and it really sets the tone for the whole addition.
For those who have asked about some of the details, read on for a short explanation of exactly what we are doing and why.

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Here is another great Etsy find. Kim Westad is making some beautiful hand thrown porcelain vases in her Yonkers studio. Shown here is her small pod vase with a Seagrass Slip design and a red interior. I love her eye for detail, and the stark contrast between the bright white porcelain exterior and the deep red interior. It even has a smooth bottom so it won’t scratch your furniture.

Available at kimwestad’s Etsy Shop for $30.

Check out her website here.

After a couple of delays we finally started putting up the siding yesterday. We ended up going with a dark grey called Iron Grey, and I absolutely love it. I was a little worried that it would be too “drama”, but I think it’s going to work out just fine. Benchmark Renovation is doing the rainscreen with the help of Bob who usually does aluminum siding. Despite the slow start, things are pretty much going the way they should. The pressure is on to get the house finished since the six months for our construction loan is up. We made our last draw to cover the cost of the siding yesterday, and now we have 10 days to refinance everything. That means that we need to get our home appraised again so obviously it needs to be finished.

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In spite of the holiday (July 24th is Pioneer Day in Utah), we had 6 trades on site! Today we had Questar Gas, Pella Windows, Inline Plumbing, Benchmark Renovation, Timberline Doors and Michelle and I continued painting. We spent most of the day masking and priming and joined up with family later for festivities.
Questar came to run a new gas line. They tried to run the new line inside the old but with no success. They eventually just replaced the whole thing.
Pella came to replace some of the standard glass in the stairwell with tempered. It was surprising to see how simple they made it all look.
Timberline Doors delivered the rest of the doors today so we will finally get our front door installed soon. We have been nervous about rain getting in and damaging the sheetrock. It will be nice to get the house one step closer to being sealed up. Chris from Benchmark also worked on closing up a few gaps on the exterior as well. Tomorrow all that orange pex will be covered with concrete.
-Jacob

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For any locals looking for a house, make sure you check out this one. Owned by Mike of Struck Design this home is a great example of how you can take a traditional Sugarhouse Bungalow and put a modern twist on it. I have always loved homes with exposed brick wall inside like this one. There is just something about them that connects them to their roots. Mike and his wife have done a beautiful job on this home. It is for sale by owner, and the asking price is $286,900 which considering the location is a pretty good price.

Check out more pictures and all the details here.

Who says that Etsy is just for those that are trying to become well known. Joe Futschik of Jef Designs has an etsy shop where he sells these lovely votive candle pods. They are created from the byproducts of the legna lamp, the pod votive adheres to the principles of jefdesigns: clean, minimal, and organically modern. Just like his Legna Lamps, they are all hand made, and can be ordered in teak, zebrawood, rosewood, or bamboo veneers. Joe encourages using LED tealights instead of the traditional candle, and he is even offering 1 free LED tealight to the first 30 orders.
Available at the Jef Designs Etsy shop for $15.

Sean Finocchio is not only one of the nicest guys I’ve met in a while, he also is a very talented artist. Living in LA and trying to make a living as an artist he has turned to the streets. He photographs streets, markets, alleys, liquor stores and turns the otherwise ordinary photos into creatively wonderful graphics. Everything is vector based so no detail is lost when the cityscapes are enlarged into four foot prints. I love the colors that he chooses and his composition that can turn an everyday street into modern art. I was particulary smitton with the hughes print, and Sean was nice enough to send one my way. I was impressed with the quality print signed and numbered complete with letter of authenticity. Its true that original art is always an investment, but its nice to know you are supporting a good guy like Sean.

Available from 33 Stewart for $250.

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Sheetrock work began a few days ago. This is usually the mid-point in home construction. Since we have very little finish work required, i.e. no window or door trim, we feel like we are well past the mid-point. Sheetrock will wrap up tomorrow and preliminary steel posts for the stairs will be installed later this week. Doors were installed just before sheetrock. Garth found an awesome set of interior doors at a great price, less than $200.00 each! The remainder of the radiant system will be installed and the gypcrete floors will all be done by the end of next.
It took some time and negotiation but we finally have a solid game plan for the stairs (thanks to Kenner for the coordination). We are going with a clear varnish on the steel instead of paint. We chose square tubes and stainless steel cable for the railings. Greg with Premier Metal Works is constructing the stairs and rooftop railings.
For anyone wondering we chose the Kohler Purist series faucets for the upper floor bathrooms. For the first floor powder room we chose a “Vattern” compact cabinet/sink/faucet combo from Ikea.
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We were just sitting around on Saturday, not doing much of anything, when I decided to see if there was anything good on craigslist. I came across a post for free sod, and it was only about two hours old. It was a first come first serve deal so I drove by to see if there was any left. Originally there was about 3,000 square feet, enough to do our back yard several times. When I did my drive by the majority of it was still there, unfortunately I had taken the car, and not the Discovery. I hurried home and got the Disco, and was able to get in one good sized load, and a second small one before it was all gone. It ended up making a pretty good sized patch of grass in our back yard, and best of all, it was free. Thats the best kind of affordable!