Dining with Drama!

And I'm not talking about viscious food fights or family squabbles or people storming from the table - I'm talking about creating a simple but impactful statement with the use of large format modern art and minimal furnishings. OK, sure, this IS a plug for my painting but at the same time, I think it's a valid point.

I like to this of the food at the art on the table. Kill the kitsch, the carving and the knick knacks. Go minimal and in the palce of everything else adorn your dining wall with a large format painting that SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAMS DRAMA!

The piece shows here is almost 6'x6' and commands the room. Paired up with a minimal mid century dining suite, a simple wire blowl from Pier 1 and a minimal drum pendant lamp from Seattle Lighting and you've got a bangin look that's easy on pocket book and low maintenance too.

Check out some of my inventory here and let's serve up some modern slick with those viddles!

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Modern By Nature - Patio Center Piece

One overriding theme around the house is to do stuff for less. The beauty of this approach is that quite often if a home project costs less, it's also inherently easier on the environment. Now I know if my partner reads this, he's going to laugh his ass off. On top of thinking I'm crazy, he gets a kick out of my mickey mouse approach to so many projects, especially in the garden, where I rule my kingdom with a green fist.

Moving from a 2 BR loft to a 4 BR house meant getting lots of stuff we didn't have. A patio off the dining room called for extending living space to the outdoors in the tradition of mid century modern living popularized by the Eichler dynasty. Starting with Craigslist I set up an RSS feed http://www.craigslist.org/about/rss and then watched for the terms 'modern patio'. It was over an hour driving round trip but for $70 we picked up a 5 piece modern patio set. Then I found a simple little pot at Home Depot for $12 and dug up some succulents laced with a bit of wild grass. Hubby thinks the grass is a weed, but isn't a weed just a plant growing in someplace you don't want it to?

Personally I love the unique and graceful lines of this living modern center piece. The complex texture of the chicks & hens succulents with the wisps of wild grass provide depth and movement to the delicate lines of the table and chairs' metal mesh. Yes domestic plants need a weed free environment to thrive, but sometimes I think controlled use of nature's brush paints a
far more refined portrait than an of us mere mortals could possibly create.

And besides, you gotta respect those damn weeds.

Total project cost: $82

#2 Hand Blown Glass Vase

To the collector of modern furnishings there are a number of approaches to take. There are those for whom expense is not option and there are a lot of great choices right here in the Seattle area, including Area 51, Chartreuse Moderne and Design Within Reach. For larger, more prolific pieces I recommend Modern Design Sofas. Anthony stocks great stuff and the prices are far less than what you'd pay elsewhere.

For smaller pieces and accents, I prefer to take a less hurried, more random approach. Every once in a while, I'll stop by at Salvation Army, Value Village or Goodwill and have a look around. And every once in while I stumble onto something really sweet. The vase shown here was among the reams of garage sale quality, run of the mill glassware at Salvation Army in downtown Seattle. The minute I saw it, it was love. Its sandblasted surface and elegant profile meshed with the colder stainless that dominated most of the kitchen, while the buttery yellow Silestone of our kitchen island mapped to the golden hue of the glass. I carefully checked the price tag. $2. That was in my budget. A few sticks of black bamboo later and I had a killer modern center piece for our kitchen island - total cost: $2

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get a hot look - especially for accent pieces. Take your time, look around, hunt and let the joy of discovery make it all that much more fun.