Fred & Nanoo of Qora & Shaï Boutique sent me an email this morning to let me know about a new line of canvas's that they have launched. This dynamic team of illustrator and industrial designer brings a nice mix to the world of canvas art. All of their smaller pieces come as two part sets, and start at around $65 dollars. They also have some great retro french posters for around $45. If you are looking for more similar work, check out some more of Nanoo Shaï's stuff over at the German site Poster Lounge. Available from Qora & Shaï Boutique starting at $45. Comments? Post them here in our forums.

It's been a while since I have featured something from Velocity Art and Design. It's not that I don't love their stuff, it's just that I usually can't afford anything on their site, kind of like DWR. Well this week I found something that I love, and can afford. The Fractil Kitchen Towel from Tikoli is a real beauty. Great graphic design, and great colors at at price I can afford.

Available from Velocity for $8.50.

Comments? Post them here in our forums.

Whether you fancy yourself a DIY pro, or you got some new tools for Christmas that you have been dying to try out, Plan Canvas is a good place to go for some simple woodworking plans. They have several different chair designs, as well as some table designs. While the content isn't exclusively modern, there are some pieces that are at least tasteful. Most only require a very basic set of tools. Plans are around $12. If you are feeling brave and are confident of your skills you could always just look a the picture and wing it without any plans.

Available from Plan Canvas for $12. Comments? Post them here in our forums.

Here is a cute little stainless steel accent for your wall. Designed by Tord Boontje, this simple bird on a branch entitled puddlebird has a self adhesive back and can be put anywhere you are needing a little extra action on your wall. It measures 10" wide and 7" tall.

Available from Well Dressed Home for $24. Comments? Post them here in our forums.

My wife and I were dreaming about our addition last night, and looking through all the catalogues that have been piling up around our house lately. We got to The Company Store catalogue, and we were both impressed with the Hexagon Sheets. 250 thread count and 100% combed cotton means that they are decent quality, at least way better than the $8 sheets we bought at Ikea when we first got married. The company store sells the fitted and flat sheets individual which can be a nice option. As for colors, I love them all, but I am particularly drawn to the orange and blue.

Available from The Company Store from $11-$36. Comments? Post them here in our forum.

Here is a great little house that was built some time ago in Seattle by architect David Sarti. Much like we hope our home will be, it's not about quantity, but quality. This particular house comes in just under 800 square feet, and was built in Seattle for under $200 a square foot including price of land. A little simple math tells you that is around $160,000 for a modern crib in Seattle. Not to shabby at all. Like our project, David did a lot of the work himself to keep the cost down, everything from some framing to the cabinetry inside. It also has a hardipanel rain screen, and aluminum windows like our addition will. According to our bids, our addition will cost around $100 a square foot, and our whole house when its done will be about $130 a square foot including land. It's always refreshing to hear stories of other people making modernism affordable. Via Future House Now. Comments? Post them here in our forums.

Here are some pictures from our recent trip down to Taliesin West. We got there too late for a tour, but it was probably a good thing, because at almost $20 per person I would have been to cheap to go anyway. Despite the signs that said no visitors beyond this point, we crossed the line and gave ourselves a mini tour. We weren't able to go into any buildings but the visitor center unfortunately, but it was still a grand experience. I was as impressed by the spaces formed between buildings as I was by the actual buildings themselves. Lots more pictures after the jump.

Comments? Post them here in our forums.

I received one of these gift envelopes over the new year from Design Night. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the red pard of the card is actually a lasercut piece of paper which is wrapped around a yellow envelope. It features a pig to celebrate the chinese year of the pig. The detail on it is really quite outstanding, and the price is nice at $6.50 each. Available from Design Night for $6.50. Comments? Post them here on our forum.

Mary needs some good advice. Here is the problem:

Can i get tips on laser tools ? i am interested in using a laser to construct a wall to divide a room. i borrowed a friends laser (black and decker bdl310s, $80 at hd) and got very frustrated trying to make the outline of the wall on the two walls and ceiling and floor. i ended up, to determine how to get the new wall square to the room, measuring off an existing wall onto 2points on the ceiling, dropping a point onto the floor w/ a plumb line from those two ceiling points, and only using the laser from this point on to extend those 4points into a square outline. i was really expecting the laser to help eliminate the plumb line and the 'measuring off the wall' step.

could it have been easier ? what laser product can anyone recommend ? very frustrating.

Head over to the forums to see what I think, and give her some advice.

I thought I should give an update on our house. I have spent the last couple weeks trying to get everything in order to apply for our loan. It amazes me what you have to do before the bank will give you any money. We had to have all our plans done, and approved by the city. We had to do all of our zoning variances and get our building permit. The worst part of it has been getting all the bids. It's hard if you don't know anyone to know who you should call to get a good bid from. Luckily I ran across a great General Contractor who was nice enough to kind of hold my hand through the whole process. He will be doing all the framing and siding for our house. We finally got it all together, along with every financial document we could find and met with the loan officer today. She said it all looked good, and that it should be a week or so until we can get the money. So far the numbers run like this; We bought the house for $106 thousand, put another $8 thousand into it, are taking out a loan for $60 thousand, and will end up with a house that appraises for $195 thousand. All in all not too bad of a deal, just a lot of work getting there. Comments? Post them here in our forums.

Maybe once I have a kid, the idea of a white pillow will not seem like such a good idea anymore, but until then I wouldn't mind getting this pillow from Ser-vice. Their description is less than helpful, but somehow totally appropriate:

Nature. Respect. Check a landscape. Give a little back to an old, old soul. Show 'em you got no pity for the city. Leafy, leafy, nice motify.

Available from Ser-vice for $68.

Comments? Post them here in our forum.

Max in the Box is a modular furniture system that can be used in a myriad of ways, limited only by your child's imagination. It can be a table and chairs, or flipped on its side it can be a treasure chest, the sky is the limit. Lightweight, and strong, all the components are made of birch plywood with a clear varnish finish. Cubes are 14" square, price for the two stackable blocks shown above is $245 which is a little high, but still reasonable considering you are getting two chairs and a table.

Available from Modern Tots for $245.

Comments? Post them here in our forums.

A couple days ago I posted about the accent wall you can see in the background of the picture above. Eric from Modern Self definitely has the affordable modern vision. This week he is back with more goodies. In his quest for the perfect Mid-Century Modern Pendant lamps, he stumbled across the ALANG table lamps from IKEA. At $29 a piece, they were way cheaper than any other option he had come across. With a few simple modifications, the two table lamps became two pendant lamps, and the rest is history. For all the details, head over to Modern Self

Comments? Post them here in our forums.

We love plants at our house. Sometimes its hard to find a good modern pot to go with that special plant you have. I love the look of Aluminum, but it's usually way to expensive to justify. Chiasso has the small 6" size of these aluminum planters on sale, and they are a super good deal at only $14. It makes me wish that they had some of the bigger ones for that same price.

Available from Chiasso for $14.

Comments? Post them here in our forums.

Well, we made it back from Mexico unscathed. Our travels brought us close to the Ikea in Tempe Arizona, but we didn't manage to stop by. With an Ikea being built so close to our house, we felt slightly less driven to stop by the Swedish superstore. If we had gone in however, this Knappa Klover floor lamp was on my list of things to check out. The picture really doesn't do it justice, as it is 30" tall and has a 28" diameter. This thing must look pretty big, but in classic Ikea style, the price is quite small.

Available from Ikea for $69.

Comments? Post them here in our forums.

My wife and I will be in Phoenix this weekend. We should be rolling into town Friday sometime, and not leaving until Monday. We plan on trying to cross the border down into rocky point to get some good mexican food and walk on the beach. Besides that what are some other must do/see things in Phoenix for a modern lover. Let us know in the forums.

I know that the holiday season is wrapping up, but I couldn't help but share this great wreath with you. It's stylish enough that you don't even need the holidays as an excuse to hang it up. Available from San Francisco based Kenneth Wingard, this powder coated steel wreath would look good on any dark colored accent wall. I especially like it with the dark chocolate wall pictured. Overall diameter is 16", price is $60. Available from Kenneth Wingard for $60. Comments? Post them here in our forums.

What do you do when you fall in love with a wallpaper for your accent wall, and then find out it will cost over $800? DIY of course. That's exactly what happened over at Modern Self, and the results are better than you can imagine. Instead of $800 worth of wallpaper, the couple spent around $80 worth of paint and supplies, and a couple of long nights taping everything off and painting. The results look great though. Good job guys.

For more details, head over to Modernself.com Comments? Post them here in our forums.

While it may be too late to buy any great wrapping papers online for this Christmas, it still isn't too late to start buying thank you cards. Either way Luxe Paperie is the place to go. They have a large assortment of very nice cards, stationary and wrapping paper. I particularly liked this card box set from Snow & Graham. It includes twelve cherry red and brown offset printed 3.5” x 5” folded cards packaged with coordinating soft white envelopes in a beautiful, coordinating signature snow & graham box. Available from Luxe Paperie for $17.

Comments? Post them here on our forums.

Hopefully no one is getting sick of all the little stuffed animal things I have been blogging about lately. You can imagine that is the general frame of mind around our house these days. This brave little lion comes from Anthropologie (know by my friend as Anthrax for their normally insane prices) and sits 13" high and 15" wide. The simple design is a classic and sure to become a favorite for your little guy. The price surprisingly is great, only $9 (way down from the normal $38).

Available from Anthrax Anthroplogie for $9. Comments? Post them here in our forums.