Now that we had the floor all ripped out and put back in, we could finally start working on the radiant heat. We decided before we went to all that trouble we would go ahead and rip out the dropped ceiling that was over the bedroom. Of course the demo only took a good day, but dust would last for weeks. We were hanging new 2 x 10's on Halloween night. At one point I literally left my wife holding one end of a beam while I went to answer the door. Hanging the insulation took another couple of days, and unfortunately the drywall is still pending. Getting the radiant up and going quickly became the main focus as the temperatures started dropping. I had read many, many articles online about DIY radiant heat installation. Most of them made it sound like it was a pretty easy thing to do. Get a boiler, add a couple of pumps, some pex and a thermostat and you're in business. I had read approximate square foot costs and figured I could do my 750 square foot home for around 3 thousand dollars. One of the single biggest costs was going to be the boiler. Thats where we totally lucked out. We found a monitor boiler, the "MZ25C" used in the classifieds for $500. It is a 95% efficient, gas boiler that puts out over 94,000 BTU, which is almost twice as big as we need. Normal retail for this boiler is over $2,500, so we were getting a screaming good deal. I asked for a quote online from radiantdirect, and it came back significantly higher than I thought it would. I don't remember the exact number but it was something like $4,500 without the heat source. Besides being significantly higher than I thought, I was less than confident about the support I would be able to get for installation. I decided to get a quote from a local plumbing supply place Standard Plumbing. They would take care of the system design and main board, and I would do the rest of the install. For some reason I was confident that they would come in cheaper. The initial quote I got from the was around $6,000. I was obviously shocked, but the fact that our house was getting down to 55 degrees inside at night convinced me that it was the best thing to do. Besides, their lead time was a lot less than the online places, plus they would do most of the hard part, the panel. The guy that was helping was obviously surprised to see that I told him to go ahead and do the drawings. He was used to plumbing contractors, not punk kids who had almost no idea what they were doing. I was pleasantly surprised when he called back a week later and told me that the plans were ready, and he had simplified it to save me a significant amount of money. Turns out he was just trying to scare me off with the original quote, and when he saw I was serious, he reworked things. It was now starting into December, it was very cold, and we still didn't have any heat. They were several weeks out on any panel assembly, which was way too long for me. I decided that I would go ahead and build it myself, even though I had no idea how to sweat copper. They were even nice enough to take me back to the back and give me a crash test on how to do it. Luckily for me, the day I went to pick up all the parts to build it myself I got another call. Apparently one of the guys that did the assembly had offered to do the job over the weekend for me. Instead of paying $1000 for the job, he would take $400 under the table for Christmas money, plus another $250 for part to the company. I gleefully agreed. Now all I had to do was run all the tubing, and hook up the panel and boiler before I froze.

My wife and I bought our home less than a year ago. While we were looking for something we were absolutely disgusted with the lack of decent affordable modern housing. Basically it doesn't exist. We opted to buy a tiny home in a good neighborhood, and do a modern addition to it (more on that soon, plans are almost done). For those of you living in the Denver area, check out 5280mod.com Colorado based realtor focusing on modern housing. While everything might not be affordable, at least they will know where you are coming from.The pics to the left are of a ufo home (I remember one of those in dwell) for $129, and another mod influenced MCM home for $210.

Also check out Shannon's blog on livemodern.

I know, I know, you are already completely overwhelmed with the number of design blogs out there. I feel your pain. That said, if you just can't get enough, run on over to tejay's backsplash, the blog backside to a new design firm called lightcouture. Not a whole lot of news about lightcouture yet, but we look forward to seeing what they can do in the future. About the blog, well they had some nice stuff too. I really loved Kai Linke's felt dahlia, but unfortunately have no idea where to get it, or if I could even afford it.

I know that this will most likely appeal to a very limited number of you, but you should check it out. I went ahead and made an RSS Screen Saver for Grassrootsmodern. Yep you heard me right a RSS Screen Saver. For those of you that are not super techno-lingo suave (ie you non-geeks) RSS stands for Real Simple Syndicate and basically means a simplified version of a news page or blog. They are a great way to get your daily fix, and now a great way to protect your computer screen. Of course supper cool stuff like this is only available to Mac junkies, so you will have to have a Mac and be running OSX Tiger for it to work. If you are lucky enough to be one of the few that own a Mac, and have Tiger installed, just download this file here and put it in your screen savers folder (user/library/screensaver) and select it under system preferences, screen savers. Having done that you will now have a screen saver that automatically scrolls the newest blogs from the site. Pretty rad, and very geeky!

Get the Grassrootsmodern RSS Screensaver here.

EDIT: Sorry to those that tried downloading it, I had a broken link. It should work now, so let me know what you think.

A quick sorry to all you IE users that had to look at an ugly site for a couple of days. I am not a programer by any stretch of the imgaination, and had made some changes recently. Of course everything looked great on Safari, so I figured it was all good. Little did I know that majority of you were looking at an ugly page. I feel like the guy with a booger hanging out his nose in public thinking he's looking good. Man someone should have given me the heads up. Anyway, I finally noticed it and think its all fixed. Let me know if it is still looking funny to you.

I stumbled into this genre of photography a while ago, and thought that it was some crazy fun looking stuff. I almost forgot about it until I saw this ActionSampler Camera over at Unica Home. It is a Lomographic camera (see link if you don't know what that is) that takes a four picture series on one print. With a little creativity these little cameras can produce some amazing photos. They are reasonably priced too at only $30. I was impressed by the overall form of the camera too, very modern!

There are some of my favorite pics from lomography.com after the jump.

So you love modern style, and don't have a lot of money right? Chances are you are like the rest of us, and are a complete Ikea junkie. You might even be the most fanatical person you know when it comes to the Swedish super store. Well, its time to test your knowledge. Head on over to the Ikea Game site (not affiliated with Ikea as far as I know) and show us what you got. I shamefully admit, I suck. Let us know how you did!

Get your game on.

I saw this little diddy over at BLTD a while ago, and fell in love with it. I almost forgot about it until I stumbled across it again over at Moss. Designed by Theo Williams for Lexon Design systems, this simple white calculator seems to pay homage to the minimalistic style of Apple. I think the only thing that could have made it better is if it were light powered in addition to the batteries. The price is not too bad at $33, especially if you really need a simple desktop calculator and you are a design junkie like me.

Available here.

Its not often that I do a write up on something like laptop cases, but for Pinder, I will make an exception for two reasons. First, I think that they have a good product for a good price, and second, and more importantly, they support some great causes. The case is everything you need a laptop case to be, durable cordura exterior, ripstop nylon interior, YKK zippers, and 1/4 inch closed cell foam padding. Its called the Pinder Thin, and it's just that. Not too big, but just enough to protect your precious laptop for those short trips. They are available in 7 different colors, and are only $49. Now here is the part I really liked. Pinder will donate 5% of the net proceeds to charity. They actually have a list of 7 different charities, and you can choose to just donate to one, or disperse the funds among them. So, if you are looking for a good laptop case, and want to make a positive social impact at the same time, check them out.

Available here for $49.

via PopGadget

I always check out MoMA to see if there are any new fantastic products that I can actually afford. Unfortunately there rarely are. I did however stumble across this KarrySafe Phone Pouch the other day, and was surprised to find it quite affordable. But what is it and why do I need it you ask? Well the designers over at Vexed Generation have a whole line of fashion products that are designed for high crime areas, where you need a little something extra to keep your goods safe. The KarrySafe Phone Pouch is designed to give you a place to carry your cell phone, where you don't have to worry about someone snatching it from you. I thought it was a pretty novel idea. I bet your iPod would fit in there quite nicely as well.

Available here for $12.

Following in line with my previous post I present you the Henry Kloss Model One® AM-FM Table Radio. It is made by Tivoli Audio, makers of beautifully simple modern electronics. The Henry Kloss Model One® comes in many different color combinations to fit into any decor. My favorite is the Classic/Walnut (shown to the right), but they also have Black/Silver or White/Silver for you minamalists. As with the Lexon dolman mini radio simplicity on the outside does not mean simple on the inside. This little guy is about as high tech as a AM/FM radio can get. It even has an aux in and record out, so you can hook it up to all your other toys.

Available here for $120.

Via Apartment Therapy

During the last several weeks, I have come across several radio's that were both simple, affordable, and attractive. In this age of technology where electronics seem to be becoming more and more complex, I thought it a breath of fresh air to find something so beautifully basic. The first radio I found was the Lexon dolman mini radio. This simple wooden radio with metal rotary dials is the perfect combination of simplicity and style. The stainless steel knobs and buttons add the perfect accent to the dark wood enclosure. Don't be fooled by the simplicity though. Inside is a state of the art digital AM/FM radio and amplifier.

Available here for $74.

Via Better Living Through Design.

It's no secret that CB2 is one of the big hitters when it comes to sources for affordable modern furniture. I think its always interesting to find out the story behind the company, and aparently so does the crew over at Apartment Therapy. They recently sat down with Marta Calle, the Product Manager at CB2, and asked her a few questions. Check out the full 1/2 hour audio interview, or text highlights here.

Now don't get me wrong, I am as big a fan of Dwell Magazine as the next guy, but their newest prefab venture with Empyrean (makers of the Deck House and Acorn House) has me wondering if we are really on the same page when it comes to defining "affordable". When Dwell launced its first Dwell Home Design Invitational in 2003, the challenge was to design a prefab house for under $200,000. The point of the whole contest was to show that prefab was a potential means for making modern housing affordable to the masses, and it was largely succesful. The winning Resolution 4 Dwell home, came in slightly over budget, but ended around $100 a square foot. Now just two years latter, Dwell has anounced its partnership with Empyrean and a new Dwell branded prefab product. The Dwell homes by Empyrean. Their latest issue manages to slip in some free advertising in the Editors Note announcing

"...not one but three beautifully designed, highly functional, and eminently livable modern prefab homes."

At least they didn't try and slip "afforable" in there. Because if you are looking for that $100 a square foot mark that Res 4 hit, your looking in the wrong place. Later in the magazine they have a full page ad that reads.

"3 Great Modern Prefab Designs All Under $250/square foot. Want to learn more?"

We would love to. The three houses featured are Res 4's Dwell home, Charlie Lazors FlatPak home, and a new house by Empyrean called the next house. All three of them are manufactured at Empyrean's 300,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Acton, Massachusetts. The sizes range from about 2,500 square feet (Next House and Res 4) to just over 3,000 square feet (FlatPak). So, what do they cost you ask? Well , according to their website:

"The general range of prices for a typical 2500 square foot Dwell home will be in the $175-$250 per square foot range, including architects fees, our components, on site construction costs, and finishes."

Let me help you with the math there. That puts the cheapest of the homes at around $437,500 and the most expensive at $750,000! I think it is fair to say that 1/2 million to 3/4 a million is not affordable to most of us. Now, I'm not trying to be negative here. I am sure there are a lot of great things that will come of this. The fact that Dwell was able to get three great designers together with one of the largest prefab builders in the nation is no small feat. It just appears that it may be some time yet before prefab delivers with its promise to make modernism affordable.

We want to know what you think. Drop by our Forums and let us know what you think about the promise of prefab.

Leave it to computer design masters Apple to come up with a new mouse that is not only supper cool, but affordable. Introducing the new Mighty Mouse. From day one, Apple has had a one button mouse, not to be swayed by a two button world... until now. The mighty mouse isn't a total sellout, there is still just one button that you can see. What is new is the two touch sensative buttons that are invisibly positioned on the top, a 360 degree scroll button, and two side buttons, all of which are custom programable to do whatever you want. The most impressive thing about it may be the price, it's available for $49 at Apples online store.