Lately I have been thinking about going back to school to get a degree in graphic design. I have been looking for some good blogs that relate to graphic design, but so far I haven’t been able to find any. I know there has to be a bunch of them out there and I figure that if anyone would know about them it would be my readers. So if you know of any good ones, please leave a link in the comments to this post. Thanks!

Illustration by ODL Designs.

When it comes to affordable modern furniture, there is no better price than free. I’ve been lucky enough to come across some good free stuff lately. These Danish modern chairs I found sitting next to a dumpster and quickly snatched up. It’s funny because just a couple of weeks before I saw almost the exact same chair on apartment therapy listed for $200.
The LAKT tables were another craigslist freebie. Some of you might remember that we got half of our back yard sod free from craigslist a month or so ago. We love craigslist and frequently watch the free section. Unfortunately “free” is the only kind of furniture we can afford right now.

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WIth the completion of our addition we have completely exhausted any available funds, and have found ourselves without any furniture. Luckily the one room we did manage to get furnished was our nursery. I previously featured our Ariel crib which we absolutely love, and the other favorite is our Storytime Rocker. We ended up getting an ecru microsuede with light ash legs. Just like the crib, the build quality of the rocker is top notch. It has been getting plenty of use, and it still looks good as new. While it may be hard to fork out that much money (retail is $800) it is worth it in the end. If you are not too picky on color, Sparkability has several colors on sale for $560, which is a heafty discount.
Other choices for more affordable modern rockers; the classic Eames shell rocker for $349, or the LILLBERG rocking chair from Ikea for $139.

I thought it might be nice to show some of the details we have been working on lately. We are starting to install light fixtures, switches and outlets. We have selected all of our light fixtures and a few are shown here. It has been hard to make final decisions even on simple things like can-light trim. We are quite happy with our light fixtures in general and feel like we spent the minimum price for lights that we really like. The only fixture we spent more than $100.00 on was the front exterior light and it is our favorite. Shown to the left are some other finish details (click to enlarge). I promised somebody a long time ago that I would show a photo of our window trim detail. There is actually no trim whatsoever but just the metal sheetrock edging that fits in to a small slit in the window jamb. A small bead of caulk will be placed where the window and metal meet. Then the metal edging will be painted the wall color. Also shown is one of the steel brackets that hold our beams together. These were custom fabricated out of a metal similar to the stairs. This will later be varnished to prevent rust.

Jacob

Boon is one of my favorite kids accessory companies. Not only do they make stylish and well thought out products, their price points tend to be quite competitive. That’s why I was excited to see that they have lots of new products coming out soon. Everything from jewelry and clothes to feeding accessories. Shown above is “Fluid” their no spill Toddler cup. I love it’s two handed design and simple organic lines. No idea on pricing yet, but it’s due to come out in October, so we should know soon. Stop by their website and check out their clothes line too. They have some really great stuff.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the outdoor retailer show looking for cool new product designs. One of the products that I came across while I was there was a Stanley 16 oz vacuum drink bottle. They were kind enough to let me take one home for product testing, and I have to say I have been loving the design. It has a very convenient twist open top that you drink from. My favorite feature though is that all the pieces of the top actually come apart for cleaning. With my other pop top thermos I felt like I could never get that stuff as clean as I wanted to. Personally I that think it looks pretty good in matt green and orange.

Available from Stanley for $30.

We haven’t had a doorbell in a house since we have been married, and honestly with our dog I’m not sure we need one. He assumes it is his duty to bark at anyone who even thinks of approaching our house. If I were in the market for a new doorbell however, I would definitely have my eye on this wireless doorbell designed by Jacob Jensen. It’s a classic example of hi tech meets Danish design, and it makes for one of the nicest looking doorbells around. It features 5 different polyphonic bell noises and can be wall mounted or freestanding. The range is 150 meters which should be plenty for just about everyone. The price is a little steep at $150, but good luck finding anything else that looks this good.

Available from Improvee for $150.

I read some time ago that Muji, one of my favorite stores, officially launched a US website. I was thrilled at the idea, because it meant that all of us design lovers stateside could now order products without having to pay shipping from the UK. At least that’s what I thought it meant. I checked out the site recently and it doesn’t look like anything is for sale. In fact it doesn’t look like much at all. I know that they are opening a store in NYC this fall, but what about an online store? Anybody have any insight into this one?