I've always loved the all aluminum Emeco chairs, but the $400 price per chair has always kept them in the distance. I ran into these, um interpretations, (read: knock off) called the "Style Oceanic" over at Stack Chair Depot for $112. At that price, I can almost imagine myself getting one. Made completely of aluminum they are quite bomb proof, they won't rust or tarnish, they are super sturdy, and if you ever wanted to get rid of them they would be pretty much 100% recyclable. Man, the Navy really was on to something when they had these made.Available from Stack Chair Depot for $112.

Last week was the start of West Coast Green, a yearly conference on green building design and construction. There were lots of big names there like David Suzuki, Sarah Susanka, and Al Gore. Perhaps one of the most significant things to happen this year was the showing of the SG Blocks container house. Constructed of used Shipping containers, the house was erected on sight in just four hours and 47 minutes. In following with the theme of the conference, the home was thoroughly green throughout with FSC certified woods, solar panels etc. Besides the amazing rate at which the home was built, I was amazed at the stated per square foot price of $150, which includes "all the bells and whistles". If that number is true, then this shipping container home is truly an amazing combination of aesthetics and affordability. I would love to see if the interior is as well designed as the exterior.

Via Inhabitat SG Blocks website Designed by the Lawrence Group

I have been vowing for over a year now to get up a decent links section to all the other wonderful blogs that are out there. I'm finally determined to get it done, so if you have a blog that our readers would be interested in, contact me and let me know and I'll add it to my links. I'm especially interested in starting a SLC blog list, so even if you have sent me a link in the past, do me a favor and resend it. Thanks!

A couple months ago I posted some beautiful salvaged cardboard lights from Graypants. These City Honeycomb Hanging lights share many of the same design cues, even if the core material is plastic instead of cardboard. By by layering the corrugated plastic in alternating patterns, these pendants form a beautiful honeycomb detail that help give these lights their unique look. The lights are available in three different sizes, and start out at a fairly reasonable $85.

Available from Tonichome from $85 - $135.

It's been just over two years since I updated the look of the website here at Grasrootsmodern, and in those two years we have seen an incredible amount of growth thanks to you. So much grown in fact that we were starting to look like a fat man in a little jacket here. Our sidebars suffered the most with a lot of navigation and other content being pushed down way to far by advertisements. So we loosened our belt and added an extra column just for our sponsors, after all they make it possible to pay some of the hosting bills. Being the cheapskate that I am, I did all the coding myself, instead of paying someone so if you see something funny please let me know. Also if there are any improvements/features that you would like to see, speak up! Hopefully you all like the new look.

I love the old retro freestanding fireplaces. My grandparents have one in their A frame cabin up in the mountains of Colorado, and I have fond memory's of sitting around it listening to the fire crackle. I figured that they were either gone with the 70's or too expensive or hard to source, but the fine folks over at shelterrific have proven me wrong. Malm fireplaces continues to make a variety of funky freestanding wood burning and gas fireplaces. Prices are surprisingly affordable starting at around $1,000 and going up from there. They have a few different models, with only a few shown here, and are available in a variety of colors. They even do custom designs if you have something special in mind.

Available from Malm Fireplaces starting at $1000.

I lived in Brasil for a couple of years, and everywhere I went I would see these stainless steel drinking glasses. No one could ever remember where they got them, because it had been so long since they had bought them. It took me a year and a half of searching before I finally stumbled across some at a hardware store for $0.25 each. I bought a dozen of them. I have been using them ever since and still love them, although the quality of them isn't the best and some of them are starting to show some rust stains. The other day at Ikea in the bath section I again stumbled across the SEMVIK tumbler which is almost identical to the ones I bought in Brasil. The price is a little higher at $2 each, but for a cup that will last a lifetime, it's worth it. I bought 4 and plan on buying a couple more next visit.

Available at Ikea for $2.

I have had a couple of people as me about how I was able to wire up our industrial outdoor lighting so that it comes on automatically at night and goes off in the morning. At first we thought about making it motion activated like our old one, but the reality is that we would probably prefer to have a porch light on all night regardless of any motion in the area. We were able to find a cheap photocell that activates the light fixture in low light conditions. The trick was finding one that would fit nicely in the waterproof junction box that came with our light. The one we settled on is pictured above, and was available at our local hardware store for around $8. They are commonly used for outdoor pole lights. I was able to find it online at farm-home.com, but I am sure there are other places that have it as well. To attach it to the fixture you simply unscrew one of the access holes in the junction box (we used the top one) and insert the photocell. It has a rubber foam gasket to keep it water tight. The only two downsides to the $8 trick is that photocell usually only last around 5 years, and they can only control incandescent lights.

I am loving this shelving idea I saw over at Apartment Therapy this morning. Apparently there were some similar shelves in a recent issue of Dwell Magazine. I'm a little behind in my Dwell reading, but grateful to have seen such a great idea. The shelf brackets are the legs from a IKEA FROSTA stool, and the shelves are oak planks. I would love to do the same thing, except use a nice birch plywood with an exposed edge for the shelves.FROSTA stool available at Ikea for $12.

We used to have two big spotlights on a motion sensor on our garage. Over the last month or so the motion sensor has gotten progressively worse until it was almost non functional. This weekend we finally got around to replacing the whole light fixture. We found these nice weather tight industrial lights in the "barn section" of Sutherlands, a local hardware store. We ended up buying one for the front of the house, and one for our back porch. I love the look of them, and love the $18 price tag even more. The one in the front we added a little bit of hardware to make it turn on and off automatically depending on the amount of daylight. Needless to say, we are quite happy to be rid of the two huge, non-functional spotlights.

While this isn't an original Saarinen tulip chairs and table set, this retro table and chair combo does have a wonderful vintage look to it. The set includes a table approx. 45" long, 35" deep and 29" tall and 5 chairs. Overall it looks like they are all in pretty good shape, and at an asking price of $200 they probably won't last too long.

Available from SLC Craigslist for $200.

I love the simple ideas. Take the Griffin Air Curve for example. In a market that's flooded with option on how to amplify your iPhone or turn it into a base thumping piece of audio ecstasy, Griffin has managed to step outside the box. The Air Curve uses a

cleverly designed coiled waveguide that collects the sound from the built-in speaker of your iPhone, amplifies it, and projects it into the room.

What that means to you an me is that it uses your iPhones speakers and just amplifies the sound. It requires not power at all and does have a space for a charging cord for your phone. The end result is a product that is innovative, simple, and affordable at only $19.

Available from Griffin for $19.

Hopefully you have been following the 100k house blog where chad has been working on building a modern, green home in Philly for 100k. I have been crossing my fingers hoping they would meet their budget, and so far they are right on track. In a twist of events Chad will actually be keeping the home for himself instead of selling it, but they do have another project that is for sale, the 120k house. The actual sell prices is 250k, the difference being the cost of the land and the fact that they still have to make some sort of profit on the thing. That's still an amazing price for a modern, platinum certified home in Philly. If you are interested, or know someone who is, head over to the 100k house website for more details.

120k house Check out the for sale video after the jump.

My wife and I love to cook, it's what we do for entertainment every night. That may be what has lead to my obsession/facination with kitchen timers. The twice as nice timer is one that I have never seen before and I am loving it. It has two separate timers in case you have more than one dish that you need to keep track of, and it has a great retro look that would be right at home in any Mid Century Modern home. Available in mint or red.

Available from uncommon goods for $18.

It seems like Ikea is all about the three day sales lately. We were out of town for the last labor day sale, but some friends were nice enough to pick up a cheap POANG for us. This weekend is another three day extravaganza. If you were ever wanting to pick up a BILLY bookcase, now is your chance. They are $30 off normal price. The SATER leather sofa is on sale to for $299 which seems like an insanely good deal on a decent sofa. Oh, and did I mention they have free breakfast? Check out more deals at the Ikea Draper website.

We went to Ikea the other night to pick up a kids sized POANG chair for Arrington. He is finally getting to the stage where he wants to climb up on chairs and sit down. Unfortunately they were "temporarily oversold". While I still think that the little POANG is the best deal out there, I like these Bunny Junior chairs as well. With obvious design cues from the original Ant chair, they have a classic modern look to them. They are made of plastic instead of bentwood, and should hold up to the rigors of childhood play. They are available in white, pink and blue. Available from the Conran Shop for $36.

I got this email from Paul today, and I didn't have any good answers off the top of my head, so I though I would throw it out to the crowd for and answer. Paul asked;

Our house was built in 1951 and it has two bathrooms that were done in Carrera Glass blocks....or vitrolite. Some idiot in 1982 when the second owners bought it decided to smash several of them to install new towel racks and they have covered all of the glass with a layer of clay like plaster and then they wall papered the walls. I really like the tile HEATH Ceramics in Calif has but who can afford them? I also like ModCraft. But there seems to be a real shortage on mid-century modern tile. Do you have any ideas for us on a source for tile?

Any good ideas?

I found this fence over at Apartment Therapy, and it has me thinking about fences in a whole new way. I love the simplicity of it.

Congrats to my buddies at Furni for teaming up with Hulger to make a beautiful VoIP phone.

Via MoCo Loco

I love it when someone pushes the bounds of materials, using them for something that you wouldn't typically think of. That's exactly what Benjamin Hubert has done with his Heavy Lights. The range features several beautiful light fixtures with delicate 5mm thick walls. The concrete is stained a soft grey color and the visual effect is gorgeous. It makes what some think as a cold hard material look soft and inviting. While it doesn't look like these are readily available for purchase you may be able to find a local concrete countertop guy that would be willing to give it a try, or you could try yourself. One thing I love about concrete is that it is very inexpensive. Check out all of Benjamin Huberts work here.