You've heard me say good things about the Ikea KNAPPA lights before. They are flat packed, assemble yourself, and look great for a pretty low price ($25). Well, it looks like they aren't the only ones on the block. The innermost 5 in 1 shade is another flat packed shade, that with a little assembly looks amazing. Available from Design Public for $43 you get 7 flat packed pieces that can be assembled to make one large or two smaller shades. That makes for great versatility and value. Dimensions range from 12" to 24" in height and diameter.Available from Design Public for $43.
I'm always on the look out for good trash cans. Most of the time the good ones are way out of my budget. Here is one from Blomus, that depending on the size, may fit yours. The larger pushman will set you back $111, which is no small change for something you throw your trash in, especially for something only 4 gallons. The smaller pushboy just may be the ticket though if you need a small waste bin. At only 2.6 gallons it's pretty pint size, but the $32 price reflects that. They both would look right at home in a kitchen.
Available from Unica Home for $32 - $111.
We made an Ikea run over the weekend while we were waiting for our floor stain to dry. They have a large area outside filled with pots and other assorted summer things. I was really impressed with the large pots that they had. The prices were very resonable considering the size of the pot, and most of them were ok to leave out for the winter. I also came across this MYNTA hanging pot, and I think I can say that this is the first hanging pot that I have seen in a long time that I actually like! A thin metal cable attached to three holes keeps this 15" dia pot stable. I seem to remember seeing it in white as well as black.
Available from Ikea for $25.
The fact that it's done is probably the best thing about it. We pretty much knew from the beginning that the floor was pretty beat up. There were a lot of stains that I hoped we would be able to sand out, but in the end they were all full depth and not going anywhere. I ended up going pretty slow with the drum sander to try and get through all the old layers, and since I'm not a pro we have a little of the washboard effect. If I were to do it again, I may try an orbital instead of the drum sander.Even though it's not perfect, we still like it though. It's way better than what we had before and of course you get what you pay for. We spent around $0.90 a square foot, most of which was in the finish. Our stain was a Minwax oil based, natural color. I really like all the color variation we got from the different shades of boards. I'm not usually an oak fan, but I actually like it. We then used a water based polyurethane from Glitsa that was expensive but very easy to work with. We'll see how well it holds up. I wouldn't hesitate may to do it again on a floor that was in real rough shape like ours, but if I had a real nice floor to begin with, I might think harder about just calling a professional.
Cost for 800 square feet; $600 for repair boards, stain, polyurethane and applicator pads. $140 for sander rental and sandpaper.
It took me about 14 hours of sanding and about 4 hours to apply the stain and polyurethane.
More pics below.
I'm off to Diamond Rental to pick up a floor sander this morning. I've never actually refinished any floors before, but I have talked to plenty of people that have so I figure it can't be too hard. I hope to get them all sanded today and get our natural oil stain on. Tomorrow I will be putting on the protective finish.
If everything goes as planned I will be posting on Monday about our newly refinished hardwood floors.
Wish me luck!
While Crate and Barrel doesn't usually have as many good modern products, every once in a while you can find some really nice stuff on their website. I'm really liking this Dane Pendant Lamp. At 11" high and 18" diameter, it's a good sized lamp, perfect for over a dining room table. The Brazilian Sandalwood gives it a nice warm look that could soften up a space nicely. Regular pricing is $129, but it is currently on sale for only $79, which is a good deal. It includes a ceiling plate and translucent cord.
Available from Crate and Barrel for $79.
After much debate, we finally decided to patch the worst part of our floor in anticipation of refinishing the whole thing. We were lucky to find replacement boards on our first call to the Wood Floor Warehouse. Apparently they are the only ones in town that have replacement boards for the old red oak floors. Pricing was fairly resonable at just over $3 a square foot. We only had about 20 square feet to patch. The actual patching was a lot easier than I thought it would be. We should be sanding an refinishing them this weekend and starting to paint next week.
The Wood Floor Warehouse.
It's been fun watching Avalisa's offerings grow. She started out with a couple of nice prints and now has expanded to offer cards, rugs, and her latest, memory games. Memory is one of those classic games that is entertaining for any age group. These 3 x 4 cards feature all the great Avalisa designs you already know printed on a sturdy little card. They come in a lead free metal box to make sure that they don't get bent up while traveling. The price is a very reasonable $15, and as always you can choose to donate to Cure International.
Available from Avalisa for $15.
Good lighting fixtures have the ability to totally transform a space. Unfortunately a lot of good looking lights can be quite expensive. That was why I was pleasantly surprised to see the prices on these porcelain hanging lamps from Greener Grass Design. Priced between $89 and $182 they will set you back a little more than your paper lamp shades you got at Ikea but they will stay looking nice a lot longer. I love the super clean look of the white porcelain. It's sure to add a touch of class to any space.Available from Greener Grass Design from $89 - $182.
I love creative DIY projects, especially ones that are inexpensive. I came across this post over at Make where someone used an old washing machine barrel to make a decent looking lamp. Seems like it would be fairly easy to do, and I see really cheap and/or free washing machines on craigslist all the time. Almost as exciting as the DIY lamp was one of the comments where someone mentioned that washing machine barrels make great fire pits as well. I have been looking for a decent looking inexpensive modern fire pit for a long time, and this might just be the trick.
Anyone else have creative ideas for an old washing machine barrel?
While I am not usually a fan of wicker style chairs, I have to admit the the new ANGE chair from Ikea is pretty good looking. Based around a black steel frame, twisted paper provides a seating surface similar to rattan, only softer. The twisted paper also brings a "green" element to the chair also, since it is possibly recyclable at end of life. Priced at $129 each, its certainly not the cheapest chair available from Ikea, but compared to the competition it's still a pretty good deal.
Available from Ikea for $129.
I've never been a big fan of carpet, so even though our new house has some fairly decent carpet, one of the first things we did was to tear it all out. We knew that underneath there were hardwood floors (red oak) but we didn't know what condition they would be in. Unfortunately when we got them uncovered we found a couple of spots that were in pretty rough shape. We were planning on just doing a nice dark stain, but depending on how they turn out after sanding we may have to fall back on our backup plan of painting them. I have a feeling though that we may just end up staining them, and getting a rug to cover the real bad spots. We hope to sand the floors this weekend, so we'll see...
We also went ahead and tore out all the baseboard and casings around the doors, and for the past two weeks I have been mudding and sanding them smooth. It should be a much cleaner look.
I've been a big fan of Ready Made for awhile now, but have never really gotten around to subscribing. Truth is, I'm too much of a cheap skate and I am always looking to get things for free. I was active on their forums for a while, but that didn't quite cut it for me. Well it looks like I just got my way. Ready Made now has a completely digital version online, and it's completely free. I can handle that price. What's more, the online software is actually quite nice. I have had some digital subscriptions before through Zino, and whatever Ready Made is using seems to be a big improvement over those. This month there is a great article on Prefab Within Reach that looks at several prefab projects from $6,000 and up. Definitely worth checking out.Check out the online free version of Ready Made here.
Ok, I know that some of you have been anxious to see some pics of our new home. These pictures are actually from our inspection, and not of the best quality, but it should give you an idea. Nothing too exciting about the home architecturally. Because of the landscaping and a fence you really can't see the shape of the house at all. There is a basic floor plan after the jump. The garage is a flat roof, and the main building has a very low pitched roof that is tar and gravel. The exterior cladding is blue aluminum, which we don't love. The whole home is made of 50's cinder block that has a 4" x 24" profile. The are quite a few whole interior walls that are just painted block. Eventually we would like to redo the exterior cladding, but that is a way down the road. The yard is all native plants, no grass. We have two huge black walnut tree's in our back yard which we love.Our first project is to rip out all the carpet in the upstairs and uncover the Oak floor. Rip off the base and case, and paint everything white. We are right in the middle of it right now, and I'll be updating you soon. I'll also see if I can't get some better pictures over the weekend.
The appraiser sketched this up. I died laughing when I saw the hummer in the garage. A VW Golf barely fits in that side.
I love DIY projects, especially when you are able to get a high end look for an affordable price. Somehow it seems that a lot of those involve Ikea somehow. This one is no different. John and Kristie wanted a nice looking pendant chandelier for their dining room table, but they didn't want to spend a lot of cash. The budget was around $300 which isn't much considering the size of a pendant they wanted. With a little ingenuity and some KRYSSBO lamps from Ikea they were able to make a very nice pendant chandelier. They were also nice enough to share their project over at instructables so that others can do it as well.Check out instructables for full DIY instructions and more pictures.
My wife is a wonderful cook, so bringing leftovers to work always sounds better than hitting up the old cafeteria. Soups have been a challenge in the past though, as we don't really have a great soup thermos. I came across this great thermos from plastica over at Popgadget, and it looks like it might be just the thing I need. It keeps your food hot for 12 hours, or cold for 20, holds 3.5 cups and even comes with it's own spoon that locks into the handle. What more could you need?
Available from Plastica for $30
Local readers probably already caught wind of this; a seven story condo made of orange shipping containers dubbed "City Center Lofts" is planned for construction in downtown Salt Lake City. I've always been interested in shipping container construction for it's affordability, and I am eager to see if in this project it will transfer that affordability to the end user. My guess is probably not. Still with radiant heat expansive windows and a great downtown location, this could still be one cool place to live. More than anything it's interesting to see modern architecture and design become more accepted in such a conservative state. The container building is designer by container pro Adam Kalkin, and backed financially by Adam Price, a lawyer and developer.For more information check out the article in the Salt Lake Tribune
City Center Lofts Website
While the warmth of summer still somehow manages to allude us here in Utah, I am sure it is just around the corner. Somewhere. When it gets here, you can be sure I will taking advantage of the nice warm weather by sitting outside. I'm always on the lookout for a good outdoor chair that will hold up to the elements. Until now I have completely dismissed the old metal chair, but thanks to this Ibiza Steel Green Folding Chair, its back on the radar again. It has all the practicalities of a metal chair; cheap, sturdy and it looks good to.Available from Sprout home for $36
I have a thing for wooden baby toys. Maybe its because I grew up with them, or maybe I just like how simple they are, either way I'd take a wooden toy over a plastic one any day. It's hard enough to find good wooden toys, but it's even more hard to find ones that are made of sustainable woods. Wild Dill has a great Maple Landmark Mini Disk Rattle that is made in Vermont from Sustainably harvested wood, and painted with non-toxic paint. Best of all it's only $8. If your looking for other good eco accessories for your little guy (or girl) Wild Dill has a good selection. Admittedly "green" products are usually a little more expensive than their counterparts, so to ease the sticker shock Wild Dill has offered a 15% discount for all Grassrootsmodern readers. Just enter the coupon code "grass15" at checkout.Available from Wild Dill for $8 (or $6.80 after your discount!)
You've heard me say good things about the Ikea KNAPPA lights before. They are flat packed, assemble yourself, and look great for a pretty low price ($25). Well, it looks like they aren't the only ones on the block. The innermost 5 in 1 shade is another flat packed shade, that with a little assembly looks amazing. Available from Design Public for $43 you get 7 flat packed pieces that can be assembled to make one large or two smaller shades. That makes for great versatility and value. Dimensions range from 12" to 24" in height and diameter.Available from Design Public for $43.
