We are visiting family for the fourth of July, and I don't have access to a computer (just an iPhone ;) ). Normal posting will resume tomorrow. I hope everyone he a fun, and safe holiday.

In this day and age, it seems like everyone is just out to make a buck. People design a product with the question in mind "What's the most I can charge for this?" Thats why its refreshing to meet a group of people like the guys over at tenbills.com who are asking "What's the least we can charge for a fresh looking original t-shirt?" The answer of course is $10! They were nice enough to send me a couple of shirts, and I have to say I am very impressed. The designs are great, and the shirts are a quality cotton/poly blend that fit just the way I like.

Check out all the other great shirts at tenbills.com all for just $10.

This blanket was the first handmade blanket that we received. We absolutely love the asian inspired print of this blanket and the minky back is super snuggly. I was just thinking this morning, if I was Arri, and I had to choose a favorite blanket, this just might be the one. It was made by one of our good friends Lyndsey, who is now a mother of two beautiful twin girls. She did a great job, and even included washing instructions. Thanks Lynds!

Once you have a baby, burp cloths are one of those things that you absolutely can't live without. It seems like half the time I am at home, I am walking around with one of them on my shoulder. Lucky for me we have some great looking burp cloths. Before we had Arrrington, we sent my mother in law home with a big package of cloth diapers, and instructions to find some nice fabric to sew onto them. She came back with some beautiful, functional, and inexpensive designer burp cloths. These really only require very basic sewing skills, so they make a very good DIY project.

Furni, one of my favorite grassroots design firms, has launched a contest called "show us your skills". It's your chance to show off your design skills and show the world you have what it takes. The point of the contest is to design the best case for their LED clock kit. The winning entry has a chance at becoming part of next years line up. You can purchase the guts for $24 here.

More info about the contest, as well as pictures of the entries here.

With the birth of our child, we had so many generous people give us gifts. This week, I wanted to feature some of the wonderful things that were hand made especially for Arri. Its funny how even though we didn't know the sex of Arri until he was born, most of our gifts were blue. This chenille blanket was made by my mother. It is actually made by placing 6 layers of fabric together and sewing parallel lines every 1/2" or so. After it is all sewn together, you go back and cut through 5 of the 6 layers of fabric. When you throw it in the washing machine, the 5 layers curl back on themselves creating a heavy chenille look.

He loves it as much as we do.

I have always loved EQ3. Besides Ikea, they are one of the few "modern" companies that consistently make good looking stuff at a good price. This Hexagon Duvet set is a great example. While the 210 thread count is not the greatest, the design is nice, and you can get a queen sized duvet and two shams for $90. The only thing that I never understood is why it seems that there is no one selling EQ3 online. Anyone have any good leads? In Utah, make sure you check out Modern Material and Design. They carry almost exclusively EQ3 products.

It seems that recently there has been a new trend of more organic design replacing the rigid graphic design of last year. This plate from CB2 features a subtle metallic organic botanical set on a bright white twice dipped porcelain plate. It's just one of a series of appetizer plates, all featuring similar organic prints on delicate white 5" plates. They are conveniently priced at $2.50 each. Available from CB2 for $2.50

3 Form is a bit of an enigma for Utah. Their factory is just down the road a couple of miles from where I live. While most people around here have never even heard of them, they are known world wide for making some of the most beautiful paneling available. They are also an eco friendly company making it into the AIA top ten green building products. While I adore their stuff, it seems like it has always been too expensive for a tightwad like me. I was looking over their site last night drooling over some of their designs, and playing with the design your own panels when I noticed the Reclaim section. Basically the reclaim panels are 4' x 4' panels that are cut out of a bigger panel that had flaws. Instead of throwing it all away, they sell the smaller panels for a discount. Most go for around $200, and considering I paid $95 for a 5' x 5' panel of 3/8" baltic birch, is really not too bad at all.

Last week I posted about our fantastic Aerial crib from Nurseryworks, and someone asked about our wall hangings. I thought they deserved a quick post of their own, so here we go. These wall hangings are really sliding curtains from Ikea that we hung on our wall. I tried to find the same print on Ikea's web site, but they didn't have it. In fact, it seems like they have lots of curtains in the store that I didn't see on their website. The fabric and the hardware cost us about $25, and looks great in our nursery. We are thinking we might even do something similar in our bedroom.

The design is simple and yet quite elegant. The Ply-Bak Line is little more than two sheets of plywood mounted to a steel frame with a small cushion to make things a little more comfortable. The lines that they were able to accomplish are pure mid century. It is available in either Walnut or Birch, and depending on your budget you can choose between the vinyl and brushed steel shown above or premium leather and stainless steel.

Available from Lunar Lounge from $349 - $999

Etsy has become a wonderful resource for people with incredible talent to get their stuff into the hands of the public without going through a middleman. Skinny Laminx is definitely taking advantage of that to make some of her beautiful goods from South Africa available to us. Shown to the right is her Eep Tea Towel which is a beautifully designed and handprinted towel for only $10. That is just one of the great things I found over at her Etsy shop, the more I looked around, the more great things I found. Available at the Skinny Laminx Etsy shop. Skinny Laminx Blog is worth checking out too.

At Grassrootsmodern, we have always believed that it's possible for modernism to be affordable. Although there are some big corporations like Ikea that make affordable modern furnishings, for the most part it is the little guy making the difference. Such is the case with Modmom Furniture. Started by Kiersten, a mother of two, Modmom makes great modern children's furniture at a price that is quite reasonable. Plus you can feel good buying her stuff knowing that the money you are paying is going directly to the artist/builder and not some middleman. Kiersten personally designs and builds the entire Modmom line. The furniture is made of Baltic Birch and assembled with biscuit joinery, so it's sure to last for a long time. The Mod Box toy box and library bench shown here is $375. Available from the Modmom Etsy shop.

When my wife and I started looking for a crib several months ago we weren't too optimistic. It seemed like the words "affordable modern" and "crib" just weren't compatible. We knew we had the choice of settling for something that was less than what we really wanted, or splurging and getting something beautiful that would hopefully hold up for a long time. The truth be told, due to budget constraints we probably would have ended up getting a crib from Ikea, and painting it white. Luckily for us, the folks at Nurseryworks were kind enough to help us out, and support Grassrootsmodern by sponsoring our nursery. We ended up getting the Aerial Crib with a diamond end panel, all white except for the light pine rails. While the price tag for this crib is out of our meager budget, it is pretty close to the price of most of the other modern cribs. The quality is truly exceptional. We have been totally impressed by the finish on entire crib. It will without doubt last us for a long time to come.

With big walls come big windows. Today the stair windows were installed. We have been anxious to see these get done. They started installing windows on monday but the rain caused a serious delay. These are a very dramatic element of the design and it's exciting to see them come to life. The stair windows span the entire height of the building and provide beautiful light to the whole house. We decided to go with Pella Pro-Line windows. Garth recommended them and he worked with the sales rep. to get us a good price. They are efficient and beautiful windows and a large portion of our budget was spent on them. We originally thought we could use a salvaged aluminum window but found that the supply was not as plentiful as we had originally been told. These are also a much more energy efficient window than aluminum. We would have preferred the look of aluminum but Pella's color options were quite limited. The roofing material showed up today and should be installed on monday.

I posted last week about how we were trying to choose the perfect stroller for our little guy. What I didn't tell you, was that really we had already bought our stroller. We ended up getting the BOB, and like everyone said in the comments, it is hands down the best. I really liked the looks of the others, but in the end, the BOB was just way more practical. It only weighs 22 pounds, with the 12" wheels all the way around it folds nice and small, it is easy to fold, and unfold. It really is just a great stroller. We have yet to take the little guy out for the official test run, but I am sure it will do great.

Little Arrington Raymond was born 6/4/07 at 10:28 PM. He weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 inches long. He was born with a full head of hair, and a deep rooted appreciation for classic modern design . . . or at least a good binky. He is of course perfect for us in every way, and I am perfectly happy staying up at night with him. It's great to be back in our house again, and so far we are all doing great, and loving the new nursery.

We have been looking for the perfect stroller for some time now, and we managed to narrow it down to three top candidates. They are (from left to right) the BOB revolution, the Britax Vigour and the new kid on the block the Micralite Fastfold. The one that is not on the list, but we were very interested in is the Quinny Buzz. It looks like a great one, but I hate to buy something I have never seen, and there are no brick and mortars near me that carry it. Luckily for us, there was one local store that carries all three of these strollers, Buga-Boo Childrens furniture in Park City. This week we took a trip up there to try them all out to see which one was the winner. I'll give you the full story next week, but before we got there, it was pretty much a head to head race between the Britax and the Micralite, with BOB trailing pretty far behind.

It's hard to say anything to critical about a sofa that only costs $369. Even if this loveseat was a couple hundred dollars more, it would still be a nice couch for a good price. It has a hardwood frame and legs that have a 12-step stain on them, and lightly textured upholstery that is like a soft tweed. I like the lightness of the arms and the nice straight lines, all of which help to make it a nice clean sofa with a touch of class. There is also a matching chair which is available from overstock for $189.

Available from Overstock.com for $369.

Although at first glance it almost looks like a contraceptive device, rest assured the only thing the Method Aroma Ring prevents is a smelly house. Method has always had a good eye for design when it comes to home products, and the Aroma Ring is no exception. The look is simple and understated. So simple in fact, that it doesn't have to plug in or anything. You just sit it out where you want it and walk away. All the mess is protected behind a one way barrier, so the only thing that is getting out is a refreshing smell. Available in cut grass, lavender lemongrass, sweet water, and vanilla apple. Price is $8 per ring, or $5 for a refill.

Available from Method, or anywhere Method home products are sold.