Wallpaper has been trying to claw it’s way into modern interiors for a while now. I have had to strip too much wallpaper off of old walls to be a fan of the stuff, but I have to admit that lately it’s starting to look a little sweeter. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to go hog wild and start wallpapering all my walls, but I do think that there are some good ones out there that could be appropriate in certain situations. For example the Graham and Brown wallpaper shown here is a vinyl that can be used over old paneling, cinderblocks, cracked walls, and it’s completely paintable. Best of all it comes in around $1.80 a square foot. Maybe I’ve had it wrong all along. Maybe instead of stripping all that wallpaper off I should have just been covering it with more…. If you can’t beat them join them right?

Available from Design Public for $30 a roll.

Modern Materials Design, who I just mentioned in my last post, is teaming up with another local design store and having a huge warehouse sale. There will be all sorts of goodies, and rumor is there is a leather sofa for $295 and a sectional for $275. Modern Materials Design had a lot of EQ3 furniture, so expect to see some of their stuff at discounted prices. The hours are pretty limited, and the good deals usually go quick. See you down there!

Some of you locals may remember Modern Materials Design. They were a local modern shelter store that started out by the Green Ant, and later moved down the road towards The Light Spot. More recently they closed up their doors, and went online only. For a while the online store wasn’t the best, but they just recently relaunched and it’s looking pretty sweet. They have some especially good deals on modern pillows, starting at $20 for 17″ x 17″. When I was at the Las Vegas Furniture Fair, they had some really sweet large fiberglass planters, so keep your eyes out for those too.

Available from Modern Materials Design

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.

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.

The Muji Wall mounted CD Player may not be the most practical CD Player out there, nor is it the most affordable. I considered not even sharing it because of the hefty $178 price tag, but in the end I was just too excited to keep my mouth shut. It has been unavailable stateside until just recently and is now available at the MoMA Store. This simple little CD Player has built in speakers and the players power cord doubles as an on/off switch. You just give it a tug to turn it on or off. Compact, clean, and unfortunately expensive.
Available from the MoMA Store for $178.

I’m a sucker for funky watches and clocks. The idea that after all these years we can still come up with new ways to tell time is amazing to me. This Hourglass Shaped Desk Clock by Kirkkeland is not the cheapest desk clock out there, but it is one of the most unique. It displays minutes on the top half and hours on the bottom. Current time is indicated by the red line. It even has a readout for seconds on the very top. It runs on two AA batteries and measures 6.5 x 4.75 in.
Available from Fitzsu for $39.

While I am a firm believer in finding “affordable” furniture, there has to be some balance in price and quality. The Andre sofa from Room and Board seems to do a pretty good job of balancing the two. It’s classic mid-century modern styling gives it a look that will endure through the years, and the build quality should help it to go the distance. At $1,599 it’s not the most affordable modern sofa, but it’s definitely one of the better looking ones I have seen in a while.
Available from Room and Board - $1,599 to $1,699.
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Outdoor enthusiasts who know about websites like Steep and Cheap know just how addictive the one day limited quantity super discount sites can be. Now design junkies can rejoice and share in their addiction, undrgrnd.com is here to feed our hunger for affordable design. Here is the way it works. Undergrnd collects new and open box furniture and furnishings from stores like Design Public, and then offers them for sale on their website at deeply discounted prices. There are no returns, and shipping anywhere in the US is a flat 15% fee. To keep things interesting only type of product is available a day, and only for 24 hours. For example the Thomas Paul rugs shown here are 50% off, and will only be for sale for another 30 minutes until todays deal shows up. To get the good deals, you’ve got to check the website daily. I’ll do my best to get the word out if I see great deals too.

Check out the crazy deals at undrgrnd.com.

Proof that good design always looks good, this stacking bin has been in production for more than 30 years. Designed by Castelli Farrieri for Kartell the Componibili is made of durable plastic and available in the traditional red, or the recently introduced silver. The units are easily stackable and require no hardware to keep them secured together. The 16.5″ diameter storage unit is available in either a 2 compartment or 3 compartment configuration, both of which are on sale for $48, a huge discount over the normal price. Better move quick, these won’t stick around for long.
Available from DWR fro $48.