Almost two years ago I posted about Design e2, a PBS show that focuses on sustainable design practices, particularly in our large cities. Truth be told, we don’t have a TV at our house, so I never actually got around to seeing any full length shows. If you’re like me and missed it the first time around, head on over to Hulu where they have the first six episodes of season one. I sat down and watched one last night, and it was pretty good, especially for free TV.

Design e2 on Hulu.

Last week was the start of West Coast Green, a yearly conference on green building design and construction. There were lots of big names there like David Suzuki, Sarah Susanka, and Al Gore. Perhaps one of the most significant things to happen this year was the showing of the SG Blocks container house. Constructed of used Shipping containers, the house was erected on sight in just four hours and 47 minutes. In following with the theme of the conference, the home was thoroughly green throughout with FSC certified woods, solar panels etc. Besides the amazing rate at which the home was built, I was amazed at the stated per square foot price of $150, which includes “all the bells and whistles”. If that number is true, then this shipping container home is truly an amazing combination of aesthetics and affordability. I would love to see if the interior is as well designed as the exterior.

Via Inhabitat

SG Blocks website

Designed by the Lawrence Group

I have been vowing for over a year now to get up a decent links section to all the other wonderful blogs that are out there. I’m finally determined to get it done, so if you have a blog that our readers would be interested in, contact me and let me know and I’ll add it to my links. I’m especially interested in starting a SLC blog list, so even if you have sent me a link in the past, do me a favor and resend it.

Thanks!

A couple months ago I posted some beautiful salvaged cardboard lights from Graypants. These City Honeycomb Hanging lights share many of the same design cues, even if the core material is plastic instead of cardboard. By by layering the corrugated plastic in alternating patterns, these pendants form a beautiful honeycomb detail that help give these lights their unique look. The lights are available in three different sizes, and start out at a fairly reasonable $85.

Available from Tonichome from $85 - $135.

It’s been just over two years since I updated the look of the website here at Grasrootsmodern, and in those two years we have seen an incredible amount of growth thanks to you. So much grown in fact that we were starting to look like a fat man in a little jacket here. Our sidebars suffered the most with a lot of navigation and other content being pushed down way to far by advertisements. So we loosened our belt and added an extra column just for our sponsors, after all they make it possible to pay some of the hosting bills. Being the cheapskate that I am, I did all the coding myself, instead of paying someone so if you see something funny please let me know. Also if there are any improvements/features that you would like to see, speak up! Hopefully you all like the new look.

Not only am I just finding out that there are plans underway for a huge Frank Gehry designed mixed residential/commercial project here in Utah, but Frank Gehry himself was here a couple of days ago to show the plans for the project and answer any questions that the public had. It’s obvious that the Gehry designed project is going to shake up Utah architecture quite a bit, which has some people concerned. Personally I have to agree with Gehry when he said

There’s been a lot of stuff around here that I wouldn’t call great architecture at this point, but I think if we do something special, other people might step up to the plate and it might up the ante,

Check out more details at the G Code Properties.

I love the old retro freestanding fireplaces. My grandparents have one in their A frame cabin up in the mountains of Colorado, and I have fond memory’s of sitting around it listening to the fire crackle. I figured that they were either gone with the 70’s or too expensive or hard to source, but the fine folks over at shelterrific have proven me wrong. Malm fireplaces continues to make a variety of funky freestanding wood burning and gas fireplaces. Prices are surprisingly affordable starting at around $1,000 and going up from there. They have a few different models, with only a few shown here, and are available in a variety of colors. They even do custom designs if you have something special in mind.

Available from Malm Fireplaces starting at $1000.

I lived in Brasil for a couple of years, and everywhere I went I would see these stainless steel drinking glasses. No one could ever remember where they got them, because it had been so long since they had bought them. It took me a year and a half of searching before I finally stumbled across some at a hardware store for $0.25 each. I bought a dozen of them. I have been using them ever since and still love them, although the quality of them isn’t the best and some of them are starting to show some rust stains. The other day at Ikea in the bath section I again stumbled across the SEMVIK tumbler which is almost identical to the ones I bought in Brasil. The price is a little higher at $2 each, but for a cup that will last a lifetime, it’s worth it. I bought 4 and plan on buying a couple more next visit.

Available at Ikea for $2.

I have had a couple of people as me about how I was able to wire up our industrial outdoor lighting so that it comes on automatically at night and goes off in the morning. At first we thought about making it motion activated like our old one, but the reality is that we would probably prefer to have a porch light on all night regardless of any motion in the area. We were able to find a cheap photocell that activates the light fixture in low light conditions. The trick was finding one that would fit nicely in the waterproof junction box that came with our light. The one we settled on is pictured above, and was available at our local hardware store for around $8. They are commonly used for outdoor pole lights. I was able to find it online at farm-home.com, but I am sure there are other places that have it as well. To attach it to the fixture you simply unscrew one of the access holes in the junction box (we used the top one) and insert the photocell. It has a rubber foam gasket to keep it water tight. The only two downsides to the $8 trick is that photocell usually only last around 5 years, and they can only control incandescent lights.

If you remember a while ago we got a new Avalisa 5 x 8 rug for our living room. We had originally wanted the bigger 8 x 10 size, but had settled for the smaller one. After much deliberation we finally realized that the scale of the smaller rug didn’t quite fit the room. We were able to work things out with Avalisa and our new rug arrived just a few days ago. We were relieved to see that the scale really does work much better for the room. While the $1360 price tag can be hard to swallow I just keep reminding myself it’s only $16 a square foot Our bare floors do look much better now that they have a large rug, and the quality is such that I’m sure it will be around for quite some time.
Rugs available from Avalisa from $310 - $1360.