If you consider yourself a movie buff, you've probably heard of The Criterion Collection, a distributor of "important classic and contemporary films". They pioneered the 'special feature' and their editions are considered by some to be the pinnacle of perfection, from their remastering to their translations to their art direction. The design and packaging of their editions is as beautiful as the films themselves thanks in part to Eric Skillman, who serves not only as art director, but also designer for many of Criterion's releases. Skillman, who works out of Brooklyn, has a distinct style that I really enjoy. On his blog, Cozy Lummox, he shares some of his design process and current projects. If you're a sucker for good graphic design like me, check out Skillman's online portfolio at www.ericskillman.com for more eye candy. Over 450 important films from The Criterion Collection from $11.96 - $99.96

Just a quick reminder out there for everyone thinking about entering our Affordable Modern Kitchen Contest. You officially have one more week to enter. If you're like me and right in the middle of a project, don't worry. There is always next year....

Almost two years ago I posted about Design e2, a PBS show that focuses on sustainable design practices, particularly in our large cities. Truth be told, we don't have a TV at our house, so I never actually got around to seeing any full length shows. If you're like me and missed it the first time around, head on over to Hulu where they have the first six episodes of season one. I sat down and watched one last night, and it was pretty good, especially for free TV.

Design e2 on Hulu.

I read some time ago that Muji, one of my favorite stores, officially launched a US website. I was thrilled at the idea, because it meant that all of us design lovers stateside could now order products without having to pay shipping from the UK. At least that's what I thought it meant. I checked out the site recently and it doesn't look like anything is for sale. In fact it doesn't look like much at all. I know that they are opening a store in NYC this fall, but what about an online store? Anybody have any insight into this one?

Voting has been open at Remodelingmyspace.com for a while now. If you are looking to kill some time, head on over and check out all the contest entrants. There is a good collection of bloggers doing everything from small remodels to whole house renovations. After you look through them and find your favorite, make sure you vote for your favorite blog. The winner of the contest gets $5,000, which is almost enough to start another affordable modern remodel!Vote for Grassrootsmodern here.

Flipper Nation: The Blame Game

There's more where this came from at: FlipperNation.com
If you cannot view this video, you can check it out at YouTube instead.

We are headed up to Cache Valley for a couple of days to hang out with our families for Thanksgiving. We plan on eating lots of turkey, and doing absolutely nothing. Thats what holidays are for right? I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.

Posting will resume as normal on Monday.

I've added a poll to the right, asking what direction I should take the website. I have always had a bigger vision than just another blog, but as a grassroots supporter, I think that the movement should be of the people, for the people. I am trying to make this site the best it can be, so tell me where you want it to go! Rest assured, no matter what happens, I will continue to blog the same as before. Please take the time to vote, it takes just a second and it helps a lot. We get over 700 unique readers here a day, so I expect some good feedback!

In the meantime, I'll keep this post on top as a reminder.

Next week I'll be back with pics of some cabinetry and a bed I did for a friend, plus some updated pics of the wall hung toilet install.

Just a quick note for those out of the loop. CA Boom 3 is under way, make sure you check out Land + Living for daily coverage

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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.

Happy Valentines day to all you modern lovers out there! I hope you all took the time to honor that special someone in your life with some words of kindness. As for me, in case you all didn't know, I have the most wonderful and beautiful wife in the world. It's hard to find something as special as she is to let her know how much I love her. This year, I took a trip to Cactus and Tropicals, one of our favorite plant nurseries, and got her some green goodness. We got over the whole cut flowers a long time ago. Living plants are just so much better. Pics of the new greenies after the jump.

Jewel Orchid

Small Mother in Law Tongue

Cardboard Plant

Josh Spear is always on the pulse of cool, and so are his loyal fans. All of us here at Grassroots Modern thank Josh for the shout-out, and welcome all the new readers that have come wandering in. Its hard to find a niche in world over run with blogs, but we hope we can fill your desire for affordable design news and reviews. Make sure you check out our Forums too, its a great place to get some inspiration, or ask a question. Besides, coming together as a community is the only way we are ever going to drive the dollar down.

Just wanted to wish all of our readers a Happy Holidays! I will be out of town for a day or so, but posting will resume as normal next Monday.

Wow, first Better Living Through Design linked to us, and now Treehugger has. Both in just over a week. I have to admit I am a little flattered to have such great blogs linking to us here. For those of you who have not been here before, feel free to look around, check out the forums, and let us know what you think about our site.

Ok, so I know how annoying it is to have a favorite blog that only updates every couple of days, so I am making some long overdue changes around here. I am quiting my job so I can sit around all day and post blogs for you to read ... Ok, so that may be a little extreme, but I do promise that there will be at least one new post every morning. As usual I promise to stay commited to only posting about affordable design. I figure if I can't afford it, it's not worthing posting about. There are plenty of blogs out there that feature expensive out of this world design that I could never afford. So stay tuned for a bunch of great new affordable content.

A special welcome to all you BLTD fans. Feel free to poke around, and see what goodies we have here. Make sure you check out the archives to see the posts from the past couple of months. Also, check out our GRM Forum and Link Database for more great content. And of course, if you like what we are doing here, let us know.

So, some of you may wonder why I changed the top header. Well I guess I was just looking for something fresh, plus I think that the Eames shell chair is a very fitting image for the website, here's why. The first incarnation of the Eames shell chairs were designer for the 1948 Musum of Modern Art "International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design". The whole purpose of the competition was stated in the catalog: "To serve the needs of the vast maority of people we must have furniture that is adaptable to small apartments and houses, furniture that is well-designed yet moderate in price, that is comfortable but not bulky, and that can be easily moved, stored, and cared for." The chair was originaly designed to be made from stamped aluminum, and had an estimated cost of production of $7.57. In 1950 in an effort to further reduce the price of production, the chair was produced out of fibreglass instead of aluminum. Sounds like a perfect mascot for GRM to me. So, tell us what you think, do you like it?

You may have noticed that things are looking a little bit different around here. I am getting ready to make my website a whole lot more flexible, and this is phase one. Don't worry though, the blog section won't really change anymore than it has, and all the archives will stay where they are. In the mean time, bear with me while things look a little rough around the edges.

I apologize to everyone for the lack of posts lately. I am in the middle of ripping up the floors in our house to install radiant heat before winter comes. So far it has been a huge project, it turns out that the original floor was all uneven, and the previous owner had tried to fix it, but didn't do the best job. So I will be ripping out all the floor, right down to the old floor joists, releveling it, adding the radiant, and hopefully getting it all back up and going before it gets too cold. I will give a blow by blow with pictures, and how I made it as affordable as possible when it is all over. Until then, bear with me, while the posting slows down a little.