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

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.

I have had several reader write-ins lately about the fabulous Home Hero Fire Extinguisher. This fire extinguisher has all the bells and whistles that you would expect to find in a fire extinguisher plus something you wouldn't, stylish design. It has a ergonomic shape for easy one handed use, and a modern look that will fit into about any decor. The idea is to create a product that looks nice enough that you can actually leave it in a place that will be easily accessible, not buried in the back of a cupboard underneath your tupperware collection. They also have a 2 in 1 smoke and carbon monoxide detector that connect wirelessly to other Home Hero smoke detectors. This creates a system similar to hard wired smoke detectors where if one goes off, they all go off.

Fire extinguishers are available exclusively at Home Depot for around $30.

Thanks for the tips!

Our bathroom is almost completely done. We finally finished the vanity a couple months ago (more on that later) as well as installed the hand held shower wand (more on that too). All we have to do now is a little touch up paint, add a towel hook and a toilet paper holder. This one from Eva Solo caught my eye because it is very simple and I kinda like the way it sticks out of the wall. The roll is held in place by those spring loaded black parts. No idea on pricing yet as it is due to come out sometime this month along with their other new products, but how much could a toilet paper holder cost.

The only thing better than an Ikea sofa, is an Ikea sofa on sale. Their prices are already pretty great, but now through Dec 22nd when you buy any version of the five sofa's shown above you get 20% of the price back as a gift card. Sure it's not really like you are spending less, but that means if we get that Kramfors loveseat and chaise we have our eye on, we get $280 back to spend on other Ikea goods. Not too shabby.

Colorware PC has been adding color to the sometimes dull drab computer world for quite some time now, but just recently has it offered it's services to the new iPhone. You can design your own style, and buy directly from them, or you can send your iPhone in to them to have it spruced up. The fee isn't exactly cheap, $149 for an 8GB iPhone, but in lieu of recent iPhone price drops, that still makes it cheaper than a plain one was several months ago. Colorware has also included the new iPod Nano, Touch, Classic, and the new iMac in it's lineup. Available from Colorware.

Our trusty mixer broke almost two years ago, and we have been making due without ever since. Most things aren't too bad to try and do by hand, but mashed potatoes have been the biggest challenge. For those of you who have been struggling to make mashed potatoes by hand, help is here. The Chef's Planet Potato Masher makes it easy to make perfect mashed potatoes. By simply rotating it in a circle it mashes and fluffs your potatoes to perfection.

Available at Target for $10. Anyone ever tried this one out in real life?

I admit, Sears is probably one of the last places I would ever look for affordable modern home furnishings. Thanks to Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover: Home Addition, Sears has a little bit of style, Ty Pennington Style that is. His whole line is found exclusively at Sears, and surprisingly most of it isn't too bad, and some of it is quite good. Take these vases for example. Simple, ceramic, white and only $7 each. The are actually on sale right now, as is most of Ty's line. Apparently the normal Sears shoppers don't quite like his style as much as they thought, go figure.

Available from Sears for $7.

If you love to cook like I do, it seems like you never have enough cutting boards. While it's hard to beat the price of Ikea (there cutting board is only $19) if you are looking for something a little bit different, make sure you check out this Scooter cutting board designed by Olze and Wilkens. Olze and WIlkens are two German Industrial Designers that have a background in carpentry and psychology. How that translates into cutting boards, I have no idea, but I do like their style. These beauties are made of Acacia wood which is know to be very durable. If you're not into scooters, they also have a diver and skier. Available from Elsewares for $38.

Now that unique stuffed animals are all the rage, it's hard to find one that stands out above the crowd. Sure, your ugly doll comes with a little story about what that doll is like, but really you know that there are a million "unique" dolls just like it. Odkins surpass mere dolls and are complete stuffed individuals. Each is hand crafted with hand stitched facial features to give them that human touch. What's more, each comes with an elaborate story that really gives you an idea of their true character. For example read the description of Tomika Munkin:

Tomika Munkin is a monkey with a rich inner life, by which I mean she is always imagining strange worlds and scenarios in her little monkey head. You can often find her playing by herself somewhere, maybe crouched looking at some ants, or making little structures out of twings. In such instances, she is often quietly humming to herself, and if you stare you can almost imagine the story she's concocting about what she sees (ants becomes herds of buffalo, twigs are giant, ancient trees). She will be startled if you speak, as if you've pulled her right out of a different world.

She is truly special, and individual, just like the creator of these wonderful plush friends.

Available from the Odkins Etsy Shop for $30.

Avalisa, one of my favorite makers of wall art has taken her great design sense to a whole new level. Her wonderful graphic prints are now available on wool rugs. There are no prices yet, but they will be available for ordering on Oct 1. They come in 3x5, 5x8 and 8x10 sizes, and a variety of colors and patterns. Check out this PDF in the news section to see all the patterns (Be patient it's a big download).More pictures available after the jump.

The new CB2 catalogue is out and available online. Generally speaking my favorite things from CB2 are their lighting and their dishes. They seem to walk the fine line between affordable and stylish. I was glancing through the catalogue this morning and noticed this go-cart side table. It's simple, a little industrial, quite sturdy looking and affordable. While it may look most at home in a dorm room, it's simple enough to be able to slip into just about any home and still look good. Available from CB2 for $69. What's your favorite thing from the new catalogue?

I am a big fan of cards, and while my wife and I usually make our own, we appreciate a good card. Good cards is what Modern Printed Matter is all about. Everything from modern furniture to tasty graphic design. There is something about the simplicity of this Barcelona chair card that I really like. It's printed on 80 lb cover stock in black ink and measures 4" x 5.5" (folds from the top). It comes with an A2 shimmery white metallic envelope (square flap) and is blank inside for your personal note. Sold as a set of six cards for $10. Available from the Modern Printed Matter Etsy shop.

When it comes to affordable modern furniture, there is no better price than free. I've been lucky enough to come across some good free stuff lately. These Danish modern chairs I found sitting next to a dumpster and quickly snatched up. It's funny because just a couple of weeks before I saw almost the exact same chair on apartment therapy listed for $200. The LAKT tables were another craigslist freebie. Some of you might remember that we got half of our back yard sod free from craigslist a month or so ago. We love craigslist and frequently watch the free section. Unfortunately "free" is the only kind of furniture we can afford right now.

WIth the completion of our addition we have completely exhausted any available funds, and have found ourselves without any furniture. Luckily the one room we did manage to get furnished was our nursery. I previously featured our Ariel crib which we absolutely love, and the other favorite is our Storytime Rocker. We ended up getting an ecru microsuede with light ash legs. Just like the crib, the build quality of the rocker is top notch. It has been getting plenty of use, and it still looks good as new. While it may be hard to fork out that much money (retail is $800) it is worth it in the end. If you are not too picky on color, Sparkability has several colors on sale for $560, which is a heafty discount.Other choices for more affordable modern rockers; the classic Eames shell rocker for $349, or the LILLBERG rocking chair from Ikea for $139.

I thought it might be nice to show some of the details we have been working on lately. We are starting to install light fixtures, switches and outlets. We have selected all of our light fixtures and a few are shown here. It has been hard to make final decisions even on simple things like can-light trim. We are quite happy with our light fixtures in general and feel like we spent the minimum price for lights that we really like. The only fixture we spent more than $100.00 on was the front exterior light and it is our favorite. Shown to the left are some other finish details (click to enlarge). I promised somebody a long time ago that I would show a photo of our window trim detail. There is actually no trim whatsoever but just the metal sheetrock edging that fits in to a small slit in the window jamb. A small bead of caulk will be placed where the window and metal meet. Then the metal edging will be painted the wall color. Also shown is one of the steel brackets that hold our beams together. These were custom fabricated out of a metal similar to the stairs. This will later be varnished to prevent rust. Jacob