If you haven't been able to answer the age old question of whether the glass is half empty or half full, maybe these "Revolution" Wine/Water Glasses are for you. Depending on which side you choose to be up you either get a 8 oz or a 5 oz drinking glass. I can't help but think that they would make a great vase as well. Designed by Felicia Ferrone, these Italian made glasses are sure to be great conversational pieces at your next party. The price is a little steep at $40 for a set of two, but if you think about it, it's almost like getting four glasses right?

Available from Fly-Bird.net for $40

My mom and step father make artisan cheeses, their company is called Rockhill Creamery. True to the slow foods movement they keep things small scale and local. Most of their cheese is sold at farmers markets. My wife and I sell their cheeses at the Salt Lake and Park City farmers markets. The nice thing about it, is that we have a great opportunity twice a week to get all sorts of fresh produce. Last week we were introduced to Garlic Scapes. In case you didn't know garlic scapes are the flower stalks found on certain variety of garlic. Not only are they beautiful with their twisty stalks and Dr Seuss like pointy pods, but they are also delicious. A couple more days on display, and these scapes are bound for the saute pan. Looking for some Scape recipes? Try here.

I've featured LA based Plush Living here on Grassroots Modern previously for their affordable modern shower curtains. Last week I got the heads up that the have just introduced a new line of bedding. They have three different patterned duvets available, my personal favorite is the Montreal shown to the left. The colors are bitter chocolate and white. According to the website, the pattern is an adaptation of damsk fabric used in France during the period of Louis XVI. It seems to follow the newest trend in modern bedding which is breaking away from typical modern patterns and turning towards more luxurious traditional patterns. Speaking of luxury, the 250 thread count 100% Egyptian Cotton Sateen sounds pretty good for the money.

Available from Plush Living for $168-$208 sizes queen or king. Set includes two matching shams.

It's no secret that the DIY approach is one of the best when it comes to trying to ad some style to your flat without breaking the bank. Unfortunately not all of us have the time or the resources to make all our furniture and decorations from scratch. That doesn't mean that we can't use the same creative spirit to combine some pre-made parts into an affordable creation of our own. People have been combining a variety of Ikea parts together for a long time to make original pieces. Now there is a website dedicated to it. Ikea hacker is updated frequently with all sorts of great DIY Ikea hacks to inspire you to get a little crazy with those flat packed boxes of goodies.

Via Apartment Therapy

Last week I promised some pictures of the bathroom vanity that I started making, and of the concrete countertop installed. Well, here they are. The countertop turned out pretty good. There were some small bubble pockets on the top from not vibrating it enough, and there was a small 1" section on the front corner that chipped off. I think the chip was due to messy caulking of the edge causing the concrete to weaken (all the corners of the form get a small smear of caulk to give it a slightly beveled edge). I ended up finishing it with a water based penetrating sealer from The Concrete Exchange and a natural wax on top of that. I highly recommend the sealer, it was great to work with, and looks sweet. For the vanity, I still have to make some drawers for it before it is done, but so far I think it has turned out nicely. You can see in the pictures below some before and after pics. This whole vanity and sink actually sit where the door to the bathroom used to be, which means I had to move all the water and sewer to a new location. As far as prices go, the vanity so far is under $100. It will be closer to $150 after drawer slides and hardware. The concrete countertop comes in around $50, the sink $120, and the faucet $80. Not too shabby.

Every now and again I get some readers who write in and share their tips on how to make modernism affordable. The following is by Michael Cohen. Let him know what you think.

I was intrigued by your discussion and frustration about modernism’s promise (or broken promise) of affordable, quality design for the masses. My little secret to buying modernist design is loyally cruising sample and floor sales. Of course, I live in NYC so the showrooms are more accessible than for someone who lives in Des Moines. But here’s a few tips: Terance Conran has a floor sale starting on July 7 and ddc has ongoing 50% off clearance in the basement as well as online. Also, Design Within Reach usually has some decent sales ongoing. Then, one of my favorite used/vintage dealers, Mod Haus, has a huge warehouse in Boston and some of it goes up on their website.

I love stores like LIMB (290 Townsend Street, San Francisco) to find inspiration or places like the Future Perfect to snap up independent designers but it’s no secret that the affordable purveyors like IKEA or West Elm don’t even approach the quality. I think the real secret is being flexible. If you’re looking for a bookshelf, table, chairs, or whatever, don’t let the “need it now” mindframe become overly pervasive. By next season, that fantastic piece you covet will be on sale. Then, even if its more than you would pay at The Container Store, you’ll get a quality piece that will last decades.

Also, I always try and cruise the annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair which is NYC and open to the public as well as the press. There’s always a unique piece at a student exhibition, some funky Euro-inport, or otherwise inexpensive piece that I find. Of course you can’t really buy it there unless you’re in the trade, but smaller designers are often willing to make a deal and sell you a single piece at wholesale. One last bit to help some readers trust what I’m saying here: I write for Zagat Shopping (better men’s category) and other consumer titles so I’m fairly tuned into the consumer shopping experience. I’m always s evaluating shopping experiences but usually can’t afford the stores I go to. So I make sure that I really enjoy the pieces that I get. To me, it’s better to have fewer pieces that you love than tons of pieces that you only like.

For our new bathroom remodel we decided to go with a concrete countertop. Partly because the price is totally right, and partly because we really like the look. We have done a concrete table top in the past, so we figured it wouldn't be too hard. The slab is an 1 1/2" thick with a 4" lip on the front, and is reinforced with wire and rebar. It took three bags of quickcrete 5000 and one sheet of melamine. Well actually two sheet of melamine, because I cut the first one an inch too short, and had to go get a new sheet. Oops. Minus the extra sheet the whole cost came in at about $50. Not bad at all. The fact that we had an above mount sink made the form super easy. Above are the pics of the form before the pour, and after. Next week I'll put up pics of it installed, plus the walnut vanity that it sits on.

Just a quick post today. Last week I told you about the vessel sink I got for a screaming deal. Well we needed a nice deck mount faucet to go with it. Faucets for some reason are insanely expensive, many of the nice ones are upwards of $300+. There was no way I was going to spend that much, so after a long time of hunting around I found this one at overstock.com. It was clean, modern and fit in the kind of asian inspired look we have going on. The price was only $79 so we figured we would go for it. I was pretty scetched out that the quality would not be that great. Luckily when we got it, everything turned out to be up to par. Turns out it is made by Kingston Brass, which would have been nice of overstock to mention. Anyway it looks good installed. I'll get some pics up soon.

Available at overstock.com for $79.

Overstock.com has some great patio furniture on sale right now. There are actually about three different clean modern tables ranging from $199-$349. I am usually shocked at how much a nice clean outdoor table costs, it was refreshing for once to be shocked about how affordable these are. The one pictured above is made of anodized aluminum legs with an slatted balau wood top and is only $199.

Check them out here, here and here.

Design Public just announce that they are taking pre-orders for the new Pablo Tube Top Table Lamps. Pricing starts at $100 for the 14" high lamp, which is on the edge of affordability for me, but still not a bad deal for a very clean designer lamp. It is available in either a light or a dark finish (shown) both of which are made of an acrylic base with a mesh fabric top. It is also available in a larger 21" and 27" tall version for $210 and $270 respectively.

Available from Design Public for $100-$270.

This is a quick shout out for one of the local boys that is doing some awesome work. I recently had the pleasure to talk with Scott from H Space Design build. I actually stumbled across his website googling for residential concrete, salt lake city, or some random search like that. From my brief phone call, I was very impressed with some of the things that they are doing. Their website shows a very sweet remodel they just did in a swanking, yet charming neighborhood near down town salt lake. While it is not exactly affordable by any stretch of the word, it is a great example of the work they do. The good news for us little guys, is that Scott and H Space are doing a number of nice modern additions in much, much more affordable neighborhoods. Hopefully I can get together with them and get the good news of affordable modern housing out. Definitely more to come on this one.

H Space designs website is still a work in progress (like my house) but check it out anyway. It has a link to an MLS listing with lots of sweet pics. I especially love the Duravit Happy D tub.

*****UPDATE 2/15/11

I've update the photo's on this old post because the old photo's were just showing broken links.  The photo's shown here are from the Brach Design Website.  Dave Brach was working for H Space at the time these were designed. H Space is no longer in business.

As we started into our bathroom remodel, we started looking for some affordable yet chic new fixtures. One of the first big obstacles was to find a above mount square sink. We wanted above mount (vessel) for a couple of reasons. First it makes the concrete countertop a lot easier, since there is no knockout for the sink, and second, we like the look. Let me rephrase that, we like the look of square vessel sinks. It complements the simple modern design we have for our vanity and the japanese influence that the ofuro will bring to the bathroom. We went to a local plumbing supply called Standard Plumbing to look at their showroom. Nada. We mostly were ignored as we wandered around, but finally someone was nice enough to pay attention to us and answer our questions. They recommended Miro Ceramica for square vessel sinks. We ended up with the one shown above, which I believe was called the box 50. They had it in stock, and even gave us contractor pricing, so we got it for $120, which was a total steal. We couldn't be happier. Now we just need a facet.

There are a couple things that my wife and I had hoped to get done before we start the actual construction for our addition. One of them was to remodel our bathroom. If you looked close at some of the drawings I have posted you can see that we plan on changing the location of the door, and moving a wall over a couple feet. Since de-construction is cheap and things were going slow with the addition, we thought that we would get a start on it. Above you can see a before and after of the process. We have big plans of course. A walnut vanity capped with a concrete countertop and vessel sink are in the works, as well as a stainless steel Ofuro (Japanese soaking tub), Ipe floor mats, a new toilet, shower, and lot and lots of tile work. Keep checking back for all the juicy details.

More pics after the jump.

This is the the view where the long hall will be connection the original house to the addition, you can see where we tore out the old wall. We really only had to move it over about 2 feet. Unfortunately we had to move all the sewer and water too, which was slightly less easy. Same view as above, but you can see where the new wall is starting to go in. This is actually the first wall I have ever framed in before. Looking the opposite direction, but from the bathroom instead of the hall.

Looking towards the back door from the bathroom.

I saw a post over at Husmusen about Murge Designs, and thought that I would check it out. When I saw the picture of this little tike in his baby blue and brown argyle bib, I knew I had to share. Murge Designs actually has a very nice selection of baby textiles and bags. The style reminds me a lot of some of the first Dwell patterns. Simple, bold colors and great patterns. The good news is that the prices seem to be a little bit more affordable than the Dwell stuff. For example a Dwell Baby bib and burp cloth is about $35, while the beauty above is only $20.

Available at Murge Designs for $20.

Via Husmusen.

I posted some time ago about my love for Flokati Rugs. They add a great textural element to the room, at a price you can afford. If fluffy and plush is not your thing, then go the other way. Sisal rugs are just as affordable as a good Flokati, and offer a nice texture to a room as well. One thing that I really love about sisal is how freindly it is to the Earth. Natural Area Rugs has some great deals on sisal rugs, without the ugly cloth border that you usually see.

Natural Sisal Area Rugs

While this one doesn't exactly fit into the affordable category, I thought it was a pretty cool concept. The HiLOW table/seat takes the basic form of an ottoman and adds a adjustable table top to it. The inherent flexibility of the design allows it to function easily well as a low end table, a personal desk, or seating. I always love a product that can do more than one thing at a time. Pricing starts at about $300. Available from Kyo Design.

This post comes to you via Shelterrific, a great little blog. It about a nice alternative to hanging your towels on a hook.

During our trip to Los Angeles last weekend, we stayed at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills. What could be more glam than a chic mid-Century modern hotel with a kidney-shaped pool? In addition to the Eames chairs and Nelson lamps sprinkled about our room, we also really dug this clever space-saving towel rack in the bathroom. We suspect that this is actually a magazine or newspaper rack fulfilling another task by sporting rolled up bath towels next to the shower stall. After a little surfing last night, we found a few mod racks online that could work well in this way. Check out this Rosendahl Wall Magazine Rack at themagazine.info, $150. A more minimalist style, The Gus Wall Mount Magazine Rack, $300, at artafax.com, could easily work for hanging towels. And for a bargain, either of these from boconcept.com for under $60, could be just dandy.

My wife came home with these lovely coasters from Bed Bath and Beyond the other day. They are made by Seattle based Tovolo, who makes a bunch of different kitchen stuff. These simple rubber coasters are just the thing to protect your nice wood tables. The colors are very nice in person. I especially like the fact that between concentric squares you can see the surface they are sitting. Of course the best part about them is the price. A set of six will set you back $5.

I have seen these vases before, and had completely forgot about them until I stumbled across them again today. Made from bent plywood with a bright resin filled inside, these vases achieve a nice balance of natural and artificial. They are available in six different wood veneers and four different bright resin colors making the possibilities almost endless. They are available in three different sizes, the smallest being 10 inches high and the largest 22 inches. Pricing ranges from $60 (not bad at all) to $230 (ouch). Available from Greener Grass Design.

Here is a great little table lamp that is currently on sale at Flax Art and Design. It is a round, natural cotton shade, that sits atop a square dark wood base. The cotton shade casts a warm natural light when turned on. Its a nice simple lamp, that looks a lot more expensive than it really is. The normal price is $34, which is not to shabby really. It is currently on sale for $21, which makes it a total steal.

Get yours at Flax Art and Design for $21.