Tissue boxes aren't always the best looking things in the world, and while some have been getting better in recent years many people still want to cover them up. If knit tissue box cozies aren't your style, and you are looking for something a little more modern, you should check out the Wooden Tissue Box over at Molla Space. Designed by Yamato Japan, these simple bent ply tissue boxes are simple and attractive. I can't quite tell from the picture, but it looks like you would just slide the actual tissues, sans box, into the holder. While it would probably be hard to try a DIY version of this in wood, a plastic one could be quite simple.... Available from Molla Space for $20.

Our new house has a much bigger yard than we are used to, and luckily for us it comes with all sorts of birds. There are some old bird feeders that are left behind from the previous owner, but we are in need of some new ones. Most of the ones that I like are way too expensive, so I think that eventually I will just make my own. I did run across these plastic birdfeeders from DWR that are a pretty good deal. For $25 you get three bird feeders (red, black and clear) and a pack of insect flavored bird seek. While insect flavored birdseed doesn't sound too good, I do like the simplicity of the feeders. Plus if you ever decided to get rid of them, they are recyclable.Popoutz bird-feeders available from DWR for $25

When it comes to letterpress goodies, there is no shortage of talent out there. I have seen lots of cards and prints, but I think that this is the first time I have seen any coasters. These Birds in Flight coasters from 12fifteen are very simple and understated, and that's exactly why I like them. Hand printed, each one comes out slightly different, but all are on a heavy weight 3.5" coaster stock. They come in a package of 8 for $12. Available from 12fifteen for $12.

Since we got our upstairs painted we have slowly been bringing in our furniture. Some of it works better than others. We decided our Arco lamp doesn't look so hot with 8' ceilings... We did get a new rug though that looks great. It's from Avalisa, and it's the "60" wool rug in blue. We settled on the 5' x 8' rug, and I think the scale of it works good in the room. Do you think a bigger one would have looked better? I was supper impressed with the quality of the rug. Since it's not exactly Ikea pricing, I was hoping for good quality, and I wasn't disappointed. It's very plush and very well made. Avalisa has been one of the longest sponsors of Grassrootsmodern, and it's been fun to see her product line expand. The move into rugs was definitely a good one! We just might have to get another one too.

5' x 8' "blue 60" rug available from Avalisa for $600.

It's no secret that here at Grassrootsmodern we love Etsy. Prices are usually much more affordable than anything you would find at a real store, and it makes you feel good knowing that the majority of the money is going directly to the artist/designer. I was skimming through some products this morning when I came across tinymodernist. They have all sorts of great baby clothing and accessories, everything from cross stitch patterns for Eero Aarnio's globe chair to American Apparel kids t shirts with Mies and Eames classics. Check out more at tinymodernis.com.

Here is another great Salt Lake City Craigslist find that was sent in by April. She didn't have the extra room for it in her house so had to pass it up. We're so house poor we don't even have an extra $100 for furniture right now. I'm sure that there is someone out there that will snatch this up though. This sideboard buffet was made by the Drexel company and measures 30" tall, 18" deep and 60" long. It looks to be in pretty good shape, and best of all is the price. $100 is a total steal for something like this. Some one go get this and let us know more about it.Retro Sideboard Chest Buffet Server available (for now) on Craigslist for $100.

Here at Grassrootsmodern we love vintage mid century modern furniture. Unfortunately tracking down that favorite Paul Mccobb piece or Arne Jacobsen chair is not always easy. Most of the time when you do find them, the prices are way unrealistic. The Good Mod seems to have a good solid collection of 50's and 60's furniture but the pricing is reasonable too. Sure it's not salvation army pricing, but it's not bad considering you are getting a classic design piece. Based out of the pacific northwest they sell locally and internationally, and offer affordable shipping. If you love mid century furniture, make sure you check out their link section as well. They have a good collection of MCM websites.The Good Mod

Memorial day has come and gone, and even though the weather wasn't exactly conducive to an outdoor celebration, the time for outdoor gatherings is upon us. Whether you are at an outdoor or indoor party, when there are more people than seating, there is always the problem of what to do with your drink. Setting it down may mean losing it, but you still need one free hand to eat with. These clever plates and glasses by Stark have got you covered. Each plate has a small spike built into it where you can set your glass, freeing up one hand and still keeping your drink close by. The plasticware is washable (or disposable for the less frugal) and available from the Conran Shop. Plates come in either round or square and are 6 for $12. Glasses are 10 for $6.Available from the Conran Shop.

For those of you that are local, make sure you don't miss this birthday party. Ikea Draper will be turning one this weekend, and to celebrate, they have lined up of all sorts of goodies. The action starts tomorrow May 23 and goes until Mon the 26th. Here are some details to show how much they love you:

***Bring proof that you were born on May 23rd and receive a $10.00 gift card! ***First 50 adults (18 years and older) through the door each day receives a $10.00 gift card! ***First 50 kids (under 18) through the door each day receives a free soft toy! ***Free birthday cake May 23rd ***Face Painting! ***Bad Dog Rediscovers America (local youth art school) Art Activity ***Radio Disney Road Crew! ***Live Entertainment!

That's a lot of good stuff. If your not into waking up early to get in line for your chance at $10 don't worry. May 23 - 26 you can get $20 off of any purchase of $100. Click on "continue reading" below for a coupon that you can print out.

Read all the details at the Ikea Draper website.

Save and print.

I have decided that one of the best things about having Ikea open a store in Utah is the fact that there is now a ton of super cheap Ikea stuff on Craigslist. Some of the best deals I have found this week are a black leather poang chair for $50. It would normally run you over $200 with the leather. I'm not a huge fan of the cherry, but it's worth it just for the leather covers. There were also a couple good deals on Malm beds. There was an older ad for one in birch with sidetables for $75 and one in white with a mattress for $200. I emailed these guys, but no response yet :( . Craigslist has more than just Ikea goodies this week though. The Saarinen chairs shown above are a steal at $260 for the pair. I also came across a nice looking stainless steel Jen-Air gas stove for $300. It looks like it may be missing a bottom drawer.

More Ikea goodies.

While we are really pretty happy with our grill, this one from The Gadgetshop is pretty darn cool. It weighs in at just over 8 lbs and is able to fold up amazingly small for a grill. This would be a perfect grill for apartment dwellers who don't have a lot of space, or for people who like to take a grill with them for picnics but don't want to lug something heavy around with them. Foldable or not, it's a very good looking grill. Since it's a charcoal grill, you would still have to dispose of the used up charcoal before you could pack it up. Via Apartment Therapy Available from Gadgetshop for $38.

It looks like my host Powweb is struggling a little (last night and this morning). Hang in there, they tell me things should be fixed soon.

I have had quite a few people ask for details about how we did our bases without baseboard. First off let me say that it is completely different if you are talking new construction. New construction is easy, they make a 1/2" trim piece that keeps the drywall floated off the floor. For our house, I simply used a 6" drywall taping knife and smoothed the wall out to the floor. There were areas where I probably added as much as 1/2" of mud to the base to try and cover the floor boards. As long as you take it up smooth for a foot or so you don't really pick up on the added thickness. We were lucky that on all our doorways the wood casing came all the way to the corner. You really can't make a corner out of drywall. For existing construction, one of the problems is that your finished floor doesn't always go completely to the wall. There were plenty of area's in our house that were like this. In the process of mudding they got filled in, and I simply sanded them flush and finished over them when I finished the floor. It really isn't too noticeable. I did worry a little about how the base would hold up over time, but I figured it would be cheap to repair if I ever needed to fix it. To sum it all up, it's not perfectly clean everywhere, but I still think it looks a lot better than having base. Price wise it cost less than $50 to do 800 square feet, but a LOT of sanding and mudding. More pictures below.

It's amazing how much some paint, flooring an furniture can change a space. Much like our old home, we painted everything bright white (we used Behr pure white eggshell enamel). The white paint, along with getting rid of all the baseboard make the room look so much cleaner. It's great to finally get our furniture in the house, now we can start to get some of our artwork up and make it look like a home.

More pictures below!

Our Bedroom Nursery

We have been getting ready to paint for quite a while now. We ripped off all our old baseboard and door casing and decided to just use drywall mud to smooth things out so trim would not be needed. It sounded like a simple job but it ended up taking 20 gallons of drywall mud and a lot of sanding. We finally got everything ready so we could start paining this weekend. I decided that instead of rolling everything I was going to buy a paint sprayer. We got a Graco Magnum X5 from Home Depot for $299. Thats the best $300 I have spent in a long time! In one Saturday I was able to do a coat of Killz to (to get rid of the grandma smell) and two coats of finish paint. The sprayer made it so much easier I have vowed to never roll again.

I'll post pictures of everything painted tomorrow. We are just getting our furniture moved in out of the garage.

My love for Balsa airplanes goes back a long time. When I was a kid, every time my Grandfather was in town he would take me down to the toy store to buy one. The best ones were the ones that were self powered via a rubberband. They proved to be cheap and provide hours of fun. I don't however remember them ever looking this good. These Yoshida airplane designs date back to late 1800's and they still look great today. They come in a single and double propeller version, both of which cost $19. They would be a perfect gift for any kid 10 yrs and up, or great as a mobile for the little one. For the big kid (read adult) check out the expensive, but amazing Carbon Butterfly indoor flyer.Yoshida Plane Kits available at Build It Play It for $19.

If you haven't already checked out the new Destination Japan series over at the MoMA Store, it's time you get over there. While Japanese design isn't exclusively modern, there is often a simplicity that lends itself to modern decor. Many of the items included in Destination Japan are exclusive to MoMA, and pricing ranges from reasonable to mildly shocking. Shown above is the apple jar with spoon, $55 (ouch). Make sure you check out their folding bread board, $75 (expensive but very cool), Ramen Spoon/Fork $12, and Recycled Dish and Bowl $10 - $15. Available at the MoMA Store Destination Japan.

There is nothing new about stock plans. While there are not a lot of modern ones out there, they do exist. What is new about these modern stock plans from FreeGreen is the price. They're 100% free. Yep, crazy as it sounds they are hoping that what they are not making off of selling the plans, they will make money off advertising and specifying certain green manufactures. While I haven't personally looked at what you get for free, the feedback that I have heard is that the quality and completeness is actually quite good. Currently the only modern design is this Suburban Loft shown, which is a 2,000 square foot 2 bedroom 2 bathroom home complete with rooftop garden. If additional customization is needed, FreeGreen can provide that for an additional price. Free modern stock home plans available from FreeGreen. Via Inhabitat.

I'm in Chicago for the week for business, and I decided to drag my family along with me. We are staying at the Club Quarters Central Loop, which is not modern at all, but relatively affordable. While most of my days will be taken up, I have nights to explore, and my wife and kid have a wide open schedule. So what are some must do's and must see's in Chicago? We are about four blocks from the Sears Tower and prefer to roll on foot. We also plan on hitting H & M for sure to get some clothes for Arrington. Any other recommendations?

Here is another cool looking light shade. The best thing about this one is it's free! OK, you have to make it yourself, but the plans are free. It comes from a website called Ponoko. Ponoko is a unique idea where designers can upload their designs and they will be built on demand. Consumers can go to the sight, if they see something they like, they can order it and it will be built just for them. Pretty cool idea. In addition to the on demand builds they have some plans that are downloadable for free. Supply your own materials, and with a little elbow grease you can skip the middleman and go straight from the designer to yourself. The Carbon lamp show is a free download. All you need to buy is some 1mm thick styrene, start tracing and cutting, and hopefully it turns out as good as the picture.Get you free Carbon Lamp plans here. If anyone takes this project on, send pics!