Everyone remembers dixie cups, those cheap thin plastic cups that we would whip out for picnics and parties. My grandpa used to have a little dixie cup dispenser in his bathroom for getting a drink. These Beaker Juice Glasses from CB2 have all the retro style of dixie cups, but they are made of heat-tempered, chem lab beaker glass, so they will hold up to the continuous use and abuse that would make a plastic dixie cup shudder in fear.
Available from CB2 for $1.95
I mentioned yesterday that I have been working on the electrical for the past couple of weeks. I worked until almost midnight last night to be ready for our rough electrical inspection today. Hopefully it passes, I can't wait to get some insulation and drywall going on this project. Along with the electrical, I have been wiring the addition for all the modern luxuries. I ran two coaxial cables, and two cat 5 wires to each bedroom, and to the hall where the computer will be. It is a small cost up front (about $100) and will be a lifesaver in the future. We will probably never fully utilize them since we don't have a phone land line, and don't even own a TV. We will use the Cat 5 for internet though. Also, it feels good to know any future owners won't be cursing me for not doing it right.
I have been slowly chipping away at the electrical for the past several weeks. It has been slow progress and has included many phone calls to my friend Ryan who is way more savy about electricity than I am. Last week we had the guys from Dibble Electric stop by to work on our main service change. As a home owner, that is one of the few things I can't do myself. This weekend I finished up most of the loose ends to be ready for our rough electrical inspection. Just for fun I threw a bulb in on of our can lights and hardwired it to the breaker so we could have some light. It was fun to see a more concrete reinforcement of all the wire pulling I have been doing. Our rough inspection will be tomorrow, and hopefully we will get the go ahead so we can start insulating this week.Click on continue reading for another pic.
There is nothing better than a pillow to add a simple accent color to a sofa or chair. If you are a lover of red like my wife, you will love this simple throw pillow from Chiasso. The Blossom Pillow is white felted wool with a cherry red felted accent. The best part about it is the price. It is currently on sale for $24 which is a great deal for any pillow, and even better of a deal when you consider it is felted wool.
Available from Chiasso for $24.
While we don't really have any need for pendant lighting, If we did I would seriously consider the Cog Light designed by Blue Marmalade. Made entirely of polypropylene helps keep costs down on the Cog, but it doesn't effect the quality of the light at all. It is small and sleek at 11" H x 23" W, but it can take up to a 100w bulb, so it's sure to light up a space as much as you need. Best of all is the price, at only $35.Available from Design My World for $35
As the summer months approach it's time to pack up some of our favorite treats, and go on a picnic. Here are a couple of things to get you started off on the right foot.
When it comes to efficiently carrying food in style, no one has it down quite like the Japanese. I remember the first time I saw someone at work whip out a bento box. My tupperware has never felt so inadequate. There are about a million styles to choose from, and all very affordable. This two tiered yellow flower bento will run you $10 from the Bento Obento Shop.
If you are more of a sandwich, chips, and juice box kinda guy, don't worry, you can still picnic in style. The Mylarkey Lunch bag has got you covered. It's big enough to fit your standard sandwich or leftovers, and it's insulated so you don't have to worry about your cold food getting hot. It's vinyl and soft plastic free, so you don't have to worry about any nasty offgassing while you enjoy nature. It's available from Cascadelemonade's Etsy shop for $15.
If you are going a little more upscale than a tuna fish sandwich on white bread, make sure you check out the Oenophilia Picnic Stake Set. It make it easy to balance a bottle of your drink of choice and some nice glasses with out needing a table. Made of steel with a zinc finish, these should hold up to many romantic outdoor adventures. Available from Target for $19.
Of course no picnic is complete without a blanket to lay on. Any old one will do, but if you are looking for something full featured to dedicate to picnics, Target has got your back. The Tiny Traveler Picnic Blanket is made of a soft fabric with a protective waterproof layer to keep the dew away. It also fold into it's own little carrying case complete with handle to make your life a little easier. Available from Target for $19.
OK, I think I found a winner for some outdoor LED lighting. It's called the NSL LED MiniDisc Light and is available from Brandlighting. They are small, simple, and best of all affordable. They even come in an aluminum finish so they will match all of our windows. Pricing is $40 per light, and $100 for the driver. One driver can power up to 100 lights.
MIDNATT from Ikea shown to the right. It's not anything to special, but it's only $25. When you need to buy 6 of something, the price difference between $25 and $100 is a big deal. These will mount near the tops of all the birch cabinetry, and will basically run the whole length of the hall. Does anyone else have any good suggestions?
LED Available from Brandlighting from $40 - $100. Sconce Available from Ikea for $25.
LG has always been one of my favorite appliance companies. They are able to think outside the box, and incorporate good clean design. Lately my wife and I have been thinking about getting a toaster. We have a toaster oven, which we like, but it is such a pain to drag it out just to make some toast. We would leave it out on the counter, but in a small kitchen, counter space is precious. Someone must have been thinking about the same problem when they designed this microwave/toaster combo at LG. They also have a model that combines a coffee pot and a microwave in the same way.
Up until this point, the kitchen has been the only room that we have not started tearing down walls in. Thats about to change. Our original design for our house showed a sliding door from the kitchen to the courtyard as well as one from the master bedroom to the courtyard. Knowing that putting a 8' wide door in our kitchen right where our sink was would cost some money, we initially decided to wait until later to tackle that project. Luckily, on a last minute whim, I decided to order the kitchen slider when I ordered the rest of the windows. This essentially forces us to do a complete kitchen remodel. Saturday I ripped out the sink and about 8' of cabinetry that was where the slider would be. I even managed to get our sink and dishwasher plumbed in its new location. The wall you see in the picture above will basically become one huge window, and all our cabinetry will flip to the opposite walls. Now all we have to do is put in new flooring, all new cabinets and appliances, move light switches and outlets, patch drywall and paint. Sounds easy enough.
The old cabinetry plumbed temporarily until we can get new flooring, cabinetry etc.
I am looking for some good outdoor wall mounted LED lighting, something similar to what is shown in this picture. They will be placed every 8 feet or so along the outside of the house to light the courtyard. The one shown here is from a UK store, and I would really prefer something stateside. I know that there must be some good ones out there. Do you guys have any good ideas? As usual, affordable would be nice!
While I had my Dad's help over the weekend, we went ahead and installed the sliding glass door in our bedroom as well. It took us a couple of tries to get it in the right way, but once we figured it out, it was really pretty easy to put in. It looks absolutely amazing. It's great to see all those windows in our room and all the great natural light that it lets in. Next on the list of things to do is install a slider opposite of this one in our kitchen of our existing house. That should really help to tie everything together well. In lieu of time, I will be having Benchmark Renovation do that install, since it will involve demoing a wall and installing a new header for the slider. That should all be done this week, as well as most of the rough electrical, which I have been slowly doing over the last week or two.
Our back door came in last Friday. We picked it up from Quality Door 15 minutes before they closed. Just before they started to load it onto our car, I noticed that the sticking (the part right next to the window) was not square like I ordered, it was an ogee edge. Not quite what I had in mind, but they said the only thing they could do is build a new door, and I don't have another 5 weeks. All in all I am very happy with it though, it has a nice look, and was barely over $600 pre hung. The hard maple is beautiful and will match the baltic birch in the hallway perfect. My dad came up on Saturday, and we had it hung in about an hour.
I had been looking everywhere for affordable modern door handles. I was starting to think I wouldn't be able to find a simple stainless steel locking lever. Saturday morning I was picking up a few things from Home Depot, and I found a Schlage medium duty commercial entry door lever. It was simple, and only $60. Installation was a breeze, and I think it looks great. Nothing fancy, but nice.
Pics after the jump.
This is old news to most of us locals, but still good news. The much awaited Ikea Draper (15 minutes from our house) finally has an opening date, and it is just four days before our baby is due. We plan on getting all of our kitchen cabinetry from Ikea. I would love to make it all, but time doesn't allow. Looks like it might not get done until after the baby is born. Here is the official news release:
Air out your camping gear! Customers can begin lining up at IKEA Draper at 8:00 am on Monday morning, May 21, 2007 - in advance of our May 23rd opening. We are going to be doing something special for everyone on opening morning so you do not have to be the first, second, or third customer in line* in order to share in the fun. Keep checking the IKEA Draper page for updates!
It's been a while since I have posted anything about Curbly, but rest assured the community is still thriving over there. Good ideas keep rolling in like this Ikea hack from lilybee. After drooling over Iannone Sanderson's Signature 2.0 Console and realizing that she would have to rob a bank to be able to afford it, she decided to get a little creative. Starting with an Ikea Lack table and adding some artistic wood effect contact paper, she was able to get the same effect for a lot less.
Here is another great simple table from La-Z-Boy. The fact that it is made of veneered MDF helps to keep the price down, but doesn't sacrifice the looks at all. It is simple looking, with it's straight lines and triangular legs. To help out with storage, it also has a hidden drawer. It measures 16 in. H x 17 in. W x 17 in. D and is available from Overstock.com for $90, which is 40% less than the normal list price. Shipping is only $2.95 which is a great value when you are buying furniture online.
Available from Overstock.com for $90
I recently stumbled upon the Lotta Jansdotter website, and instantly fell in love with just about everything on their website. Her contemporary organic designs speak of her childhood in Finland and Sweden. Luckily for us, she is based out of San Francisco, which means all her great design is readily available to us. I am particularly fond of the cafe apron shown to the left, especially for only $19. Make sure you check out her ceramics and kids toys as well, they are equally delightful.
Available from Lotta Jansdotter for $19.
The huge amount of baby equipment that people want you to buy is almost overwhelming. There are things that are nice to have and there are things that you really need. In an attempt to cover some of the basics we figure that we at least need a car seat to get the kid home, and a place for them to sleep when they get home. I am torn between making my own crib, or just getting one from Ikea, but in the interim we got a playard so our bases would be covered. We chose the Combi Sport Desert Sun. It offers all the basic playard goodies including changing table, bassinet, light/vibration, and awful music. The colors on it are quite nice, neutral with a touch of modern. The lines are relatively clean without too much frilly stuff, and the construction is solid. It came in the mail yesterday, and we practiced setting it all up and taking it all down. It looked simple enough, but I admit after 5 minutes of flailing I did have to break out the instructions.
I may have mentioned it before, but my wife and I have been looking for a duvet for a while now. We have been using a off white one that we got from Ikea before we were married, and it's starting to look a little blah. There are of course plenty of duvets out there that we love, just not a whole lot of affordable modern duvets. If you are faced with the same dilemma, check out the Circle in Square Duvet that is on clearance over at Room and Board. Not only is it pretty sweet, but it is only $49! Thats the best deal I think I have ever seen. They also have some sweet sheets on sale for $18 per sheet too.
Available from Room and Board for $49.
Exclusively from CB2, these hand-blocked screen printed pillows have bright prints of poppy's and stripes. Printed on 100% easy-care cotton, and stuffed with a feather insert, these pillows not only look good, but are probably nice and squishy too. The covers are even removable and machine washable for when that inevitable accident happens. The best thing about them though, is the price. The 18" square pillow is only $25, which is a total steal compared to other modern accent pillows. It's good to see CB2 making a nice affordable modern pillow for the people.
Available at CB2 for $25.
Furni has been a long time favorite of ours here at Grassrootsmodern. Not only do they make some sweet looking stuff, but they also happen to be some of the nicest guys around. They have a couple of products new for 2007, my favorite of which is the Alba clock shown here. In classic Furni style, this functional alarm clock combines a clean acrylic white face, nice detail woodworking, and a retro red LED clock.