If you love to cook like I do, it seems like you never have enough cutting boards. While it’s hard to beat the price of Ikea (there cutting board is only $19) if you are looking for something a little bit different, make sure you check out this Scooter cutting board designed by Olze and Wilkens. Olze and WIlkens are two German Industrial Designers that have a background in carpentry and psychology. How that translates into cutting boards, I have no idea, but I do like their style. These beauties are made of Acacia wood which is know to be very durable. If you’re not into scooters, they also have a diver and skier.

Available from Elsewares for $38.

Now that unique stuffed animals are all the rage, it’s hard to find one that stands out above the crowd. Sure, your ugly doll comes with a little story about what that doll is like, but really you know that there are a million “unique” dolls just like it. Odkins surpass mere dolls and are complete stuffed individuals. Each is hand crafted with hand stitched facial features to give them that human touch. What’s more, each comes with an elaborate story that really gives you an idea of their true character. For example read the description of Tomika Munkin:

Tomika Munkin is a monkey with a rich inner life, by which I mean she is always imagining strange worlds and scenarios in her little monkey head. You can often find her playing by herself somewhere, maybe crouched looking at some ants, or making little structures out of twings. In such instances, she is often quietly humming to herself, and if you stare you can almost imagine the story she’s concocting about what she sees (ants becomes herds of buffalo, twigs are giant, ancient trees). She will be startled if you speak, as if you’ve pulled her right out of a different world.

She is truly special, and individual, just like the creator of these wonderful plush friends.

Available from the Odkins Etsy Shop for $30.

Avalisa, one of my favorite makers of wall art has taken her great design sense to a whole new level. Her wonderful graphic prints are now available on wool rugs. There are no prices yet, but they will be available for ordering on Oct 1. They come in 3×5, 5×8 and 8×10 sizes, and a variety of colors and patterns. Check out this PDF in the news section to see all the patterns (Be patient it’s a big download).
More pictures available after the jump.

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The new CB2 catalogue is out and available online. Generally speaking my favorite things from CB2 are their lighting and their dishes. They seem to walk the fine line between affordable and stylish. I was glancing through the catalogue this morning and noticed this go-cart side table. It’s simple, a little industrial, quite sturdy looking and affordable. While it may look most at home in a dorm room, it’s simple enough to be able to slip into just about any home and still look good.

Available from CB2 for $69.

What’s your favorite thing from the new catalogue?

Before I got married I was one of those people that would wake up the first time my alarm went off. My wife is the exact opposite and used to even have two alarm clocks (one across the room). Now a days I can hit snooze for 1/2 hour, no problem. For those of you looking to break your snooze habit, Clocky is here. You can set how many snoozes you get before clocky takes off rolling forcing you to get up to turn him off. Clocky circulated around the internet as a concept idea for a while, and I’m please to see that he made it to production. He is available in blue, white, orange, and mint.

Available from elsewares for $49.

I stumbled across this pendant looking for some good “green” modern furniture over at Green Culture. It is actually in Green Culture’s sister site Eco-Lights. I was excited to find the site, thinking it would be full of unique recycled glass lamps etc. The simple shape and minimal materials of the Fiona Pendant caught my eye right away, but the only thing that I can find that makes this light “green” is the fact that it uses a halogen bulb. It is however, a very nice looking lamp, you can never go wrong with glass and chrome, especially for $162. It is currently 30% off, along with everything else on Eco-Lights.

Available from Eco-Lights for $162.

I was checking out this Boxhouse designed by Rob Pyatt and noticed it looks like they used a similar rainscreen detail on the exterior of their house. It’s interesting to see it with white underneath instead of black. It makes it look very light and clean. I can’t say I envy the person that will have to maintain all that wood though. Boxhouse is an award winning University of Colorado College of Architecture & Planning ( research + design + build ) project.

Check out more pictures here.

By now, you should all know that I am somewhat of a Craigslist junkie. I have to admit it is mostly out of necessity, as that is the only way we can afford to landscape and furnish our house affordably. I was lucky enough to come across this Japanese Maple a while ago for only $60. That’s a great deal, and we had been wanting a japanese maple for a while now so I couldn’t resist. The only catch was, I had to go and dig it up. Luckily for me, it had only been planted the year before, and most of the roots hadn’t strayed far from the original root ball. We have had it in the ground for about a month now, and I am happy to say it likes it’s new home. So do we.

I am a big fan of cards, and while my wife and I usually make our own, we appreciate a good card. Good cards is what Modern Printed Matter is all about. Everything from modern furniture to tasty graphic design. There is something about the simplicity of this Barcelona chair card that I really like. It’s printed on 80 lb cover stock in black ink and measures 4″ x 5.5″ (folds from the top). It comes with an A2 shimmery white metallic envelope (square flap) and is blank inside for your personal note. Sold as a set of six cards for $10.

Available from the Modern Printed Matter Etsy shop.

When we ordered our siding we had to order a whole pallet because we were having it painted at the factory. We knew it was going to be more than we needed, and figured we could find something useful for the excess. This weekend we put it to good use. We put up around 24′ of fencing on our side yard using the same detail as we did on our siding. It looks really nice compared to what used to be there, and best of all, it only cost us around $200 in cedar and concrete to do. Once we get the back done, I think it will really change our yard. I’m just trying to figure out the best gate to use so we can still park in our back yard if we need to. Any suggestions?

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