Utah isn't exactly the hub of modern design, but we do have a couple of decent stores. One of my favorites has always been By Design. It's my favorite partly because they have a great selection of reasonably affordable modern contemporary furniture, and second, and even more importantly they aren't snobish like many of the other "modern furniture" stores. Since it is one of my favorites, and quite close to my house, I was a little disapointed to hear that they were moving. Looking on the bright side they are having a huge sale. I checked it out on Sat and found some great deals. If you're local and haven't checked it out yet, get on down there before they move.

I'm not exactly sure what the "Q" stands for, but I do know that this Q tote is a great looking and environmentally friendly little bag at a great price. This bag comes from thecraftpantry's etsy shop and is part of her Mod Naturals Collection. The bag is made of 100% recycled organic cotton and is fair trade/fair market. The print is an original design by Cammie who has her BA in art education. She uses ultra high quality transfer paper to get the images onto the totes. What you use the tote for is up to you... Available at thecraftpantry's etsy shop for $8.

This was sent in by a David M a long time reader. He is currently remodeling a mid-century modern home in Renton just south of Seattle. While redoing his bathroom he wanted to put in a vanity similar to the Kohler Purist but didn't want to spend $1,500. With a little creativity he was able to take this Ikea STOLMEN and make it work as a wall mount vanity. I think you will agree when I say it looks great. The price of the STOLMEN was $80, which makes it a very affordable alternative. He finished it all off with a sink an faucet similar to what we have in our bathroom. More pics here.

I found this great Snap-A-Party set over at Night Lab. If you haven't heard of Night Lab before, you should check it out. It's an online store that features unique design, concept and style. It doesn't have a lot of housewares, but it does have some stuff I have not seen anywhere else. The Snap-A-Party set is a plastic plate set complete with chopsticks, napkin ring, knife, fork, spoon, plate, and even a toothpick. It comes as a set of 4 and is only $12. These would be a great novelty for your next party. Available from Night Lab for $12.

I got this tip from my good friend. It looks like DWR is trying to clean out some of their old stock and have slashed prices on all of their house numbers. All the fonts are designed by Erik Spiekermann and are available in four different styles; contemporary, tech, classic and industrial. Prices usually are between $35 - $45 per number, but they are all currently on sale for $10 each. Thats a great deal for these numbers that are only available at DWR. All numbers include all the mounting hardware you need. I really like the contemporary ones myself, but they are all pretty good looking.

Available at DWR for $10 each.

One of the first things I wrote about when I started Grassrootsmodern over three years ago was the Umbra Oh Chair. It's affordable, good quality and a great design. The ok Chair follows closely in it's older brothers footsteps. Sure the design isn't revolutionary, but it is good looking. The design is very similar to the Oh chair minus the arms, and it is priced very similar at $60. It currently only comes in matte white, but who knows what the future may hold. Available from Umbra for $60.

There is nothing like good lighting to make a room have that certain ambiance your looking for. Wrapables has this great Honeycomb Table Lamp that is made of silk worm cocoons. I'm not quite sure if thats a good thing or not, but I do know that it looks pretty good. The 8" diameter globe sits atop a wooden base and casts a nice soft glow. I guess soft light is about what you would expect for a lamp made of silk. What I wouldn't expect is the relatively affordable price, only $45. Available from Wrapables for $45.

We have been seeing more and more products made out of bamboo lately, and why not. It is fast growing which makes it very sustainable, and it is hard which makes it very durable. Seems kind of like a no brainer to me. While I have seen lots of bamboo bowls, I think that this is the first bamboo fruit ring I have ever seen. Handmade for Chiasso, this ring is 11.5”dia. x 2.5”- 6”w. It's also 100% eco friendly. The price is a little steep at $38 but you've got to admit it's a lot cooler than what you put your fruit in now. Available from Chiasso for $38.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that we were getting ready to finish our kitchen. For our stovetop we ordered the Bosch, and originally we were going to get a Bosch oven too. That is, until we saw the price tag. The Bosch oven we wanted was close to $1400, which was way out of our budget. So we did what any reasonable person would do, we went to Ikea. The Ikea MUSMIG oven is a steal at only $700. It may not have all the bells and whistles of the Bosch, but it is a good solid oven, and it looks pretty good. I also figured it should fit perfect in an Ikea cabinet, since it is made for Ikea. We went ahead and ordered it and all the cabinetry we needed for less than the $1400 price tag of the Bosch oven.Available from Ikea for $700.

Here is another great Etsy find. From the windy city comes these wonderful wool pillows. Each pillow is made by felting old wool sweaters, cutting them up, and sewing them back together in these wonderful geometric patterns. Pillow covers have a zipper closure and have a quality down pillow insert inside. 12" x 18" pillows go for $40 and 18" x 18" are priced at $55. This is a great deal for a hand made one of a kind down pillow. There are currently only 3 for sale so get going if you want one!

Available from Plytextiles Etsy page for $40 - $55.

Things happen slower when you do them yourself. Over a year ago I posted about our bathroom vanity that I had just built. I did a walnut base and a concrete countertop. The only thing that was left to do was the drawers. It sat that way for over a year, but it's finally finished. I was able to do all the drawer fronts out of one continuous piece of wood so that the grain pattern follows all the way across. It's those little details that make me really like it the most. I opted to use no handles, but instead beveled the bottom edge of the drawer for a comfortable grip. I think it turned out pretty nice. It's funny because I really love all the walnut in the bathroom, and very little of it was planned. The walnut behind the toilet was because we didn't have enough wall space for the wall hung tank in the wall, and the walnut above the mirror is because they had to cut the mirror short to get it past the sink when installing it. In hindsight, I wouldn't have done it any different.

When it comes to a great looking humidifier for the home the options have been pretty limited so far. One of my favorites is made by Plus Minus Zero, but unfortunately it is expensive and hard to find. The only one I could find this morning was on ebay for $200. However, it turns out that Plus Minus Zero isn't the only one who can make a great modern looking humidifier. This one is from another one of my favorite companies, Blomus. The Umydo Humidifier not only does it look great, but the price is way more reasonable at only $70. It features the clean lines and stainless steel finish that defines all Blomus products and is available from Allmodern.com. Available from Allmodern.com for $70.

When it comes to affordable modern design, there is no doubt that Ikea has some of the best deals around. Sometimes I'm amazed at just how affordable some of their stuff is. Take the Tolga bed frame for example. A decent looking bed frame, maybe a little on the rough side, but it's only $35! You spend that much going out to dinner. I have seen it in person, and it looks pretty good. The one thing I wonder about is how sturdy it is? Available from Ikea for $35.

As the temperatures start to drop outside, many of us turn our attention to our furnaces. If we are lucky firing up the old beast will put a smile on our face, but for some of us the results are less than satisfactory. Thus starts the search for the perfect space heater. If you are going for efficiency, I'm a huge fan of the oil filled radiator style heaters. If you are looking for style, you can't beat the plus minus zero space heater. Like most products from plus minus zero, it manages to make an ordinary everyday object look like a piece of art. They should be available later this fall, and are priced around $140.Via Apartment Therapy

I've got to be honest with you. I have never owned a piggy bank in my whole life, but I have always wanted one. LA resident Pamela Barsky brings us these great piggy banks that have been cast from a mid-century mold and hand-glazed for an authentic 1950s feel. Each bank has a rubber cork at the bottom so you don't have to break the bank when you are looking for some funds. They even start your collection off by sending each bank with some coins inside to get you started. Available at Elsewares for $28.

A lot got done Friday! We had plumbers and metal workers at the house all day long. They are both nearly done and will both be back on monday to finish up. Tuesday we have our final inspection. Premier Metal Works did an awesome job fabricating our railings for the stairs, porches and roof top patios. They have been working hard to get their job wrapped up in time for our final inspection. The guys at In-Line Plumbing worked all day today getting our finish plumbing done. We got all of our appliances installed today as well. We are very happy with the appliances we chose. We went with the Jenn Air "Pro Style" series. We were lucky to get a fantastic price on them. We would not have been able to afford them otherwise. Our kitchen is nearly done and it is turning out pretty much as planned. The Ikea cabinetry is the "Abstrakt" series. They are a high-gloss white finish. The blue pictured here is just a protective film that we will remove once construction is complete. We would not have stayed within budget without Ikea in town. Our total kitchen cost including appliances is under 10k! The house should be ready for us to move in by the end of next week! -Jacob

Many of you may have been excited to find out about Design Public's outlet, only to be disappointed to learn it was exclusively for bay area folk. Well it looks like the tides are turning. For a limited time (Nov 1st 2007 to be exact) they are not only shipping nationwide, but shipping is free for orders over $50! So if there is something that you have had your eye on, but just haven't got around to ordering, now is the time. Most items are priced 20-40% off of their original retail price.

Even though we have done a lot of work in our kitchen, it's still not complete yet. We managed to relocate the sink and rip out most of the old cabinetry and put in new Ikea cabinetry on the opposite wall. We have been waiting to finish the last leg of cabinetry and ditch our old electric stove for a gas cooktop and built in oven. In looking for a good affordable yet stylish gas stovetop we were delighted to find the Bosch line at Lowes. Not only does Bosch make some of the more stylish stovetops out there, but the prices were way lower than any others. We went ahead and got this 30" stovetop (the PCK755UC) with a continuos grate for just under $600. We went back and forth on whether or not we should get the 30" or the 36". We justified that with the layout of t he burners on this one that the 30" would be fine, and it is if you only have two pots on the stove top. Any more than that and it's pretty crowded. I think next time around we will throw down the extra $200 to get a 36". Besides the sometimes cramped space we absolutely love our stovetop. I can't tell you how much nicer it is to cook on gas compared to electric. It makes a huge difference.

Available at Lowes for $598.

I came across this great post about how to make a DIY bentwood lamp today at How 2 point oh. The whole project was done for around $30 as far as I can tell. You can read all the juicy detail on the original post, but the basics are like this; Start with a piece of acrylic, use a heat gun to bend it into the shape that you want, get some glue on birch veneer and stick it on. Last add some LED lighting across the top, and you're done! Looks like a great little project.

Check out How 2 point oh for other great hacks and projects.

It has been a long time since the last update and a lot has happened. We finally got our metal panel installed and we are very happy with the results. We had some difficulty getting the right color and we ended up settling for our second choice. It couldn't have worked out any better. The color we ended up with blends in seamlessly with the windows and creates a beautiful, dark, monolithic effect. We ended up using a company be the name of Double T siding. They have been quite quick and reasonable to work with. They will finish on Saturday which is only about five days start to finish. Alta tile came to do the tile in the bathrooms and did a beautiful job. Benchmark came and built an incredible front fence, fences are the norm in the neighborhood and we felt a little out of place without one. Watch for more photos of the fence in the future. Now we just need finish plumbing, heat and railings and we will be ready for a final inspection. -Jacob