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

Sofa So Good

For something like a sofa, it's difficult to go vintage and get something that's both sleek and comfortable. Plus for me, a sofa is almost like a bed - you kind of have to buy it new. Not to say there aren't some really great examples of modern, minimal, vintage sofas out there, but when you do find one, the price of often higher than getting something new.

One of the best sources I've found in Seattle is Modern Design Sofas. www.moderndesignsofas.com. Not only do they have a great selection of central entertaining seating systems, but they also stock some very cool chairs, lighting, accessories and more. We bought the sofa shown here and ordered a second set of washable microfiber covers to handle the heavy traffic of our 2 kids and rambunctious beagles. Their prices are really affordable with the sectional shown selling for $1400, we didn't find a better deal locally anywhere.

#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.

Modern Kitchen Renovation - After

In order to take down the walls and closets our engineer friend told us we needed to reinforce the header, a large beam that essentially spreads the load of the roof to the walls. We got him to do all that and build in the new partial wall we decided to construct in order to save money by not having to rewire almost everything, allowing us to keep light switches and circuits in the same places. Our contractor friend Chris was really smart about suggesting ways to cut costs and be conscious of the remodel footprint. He reused much of the timber from the demolition and not only saved us some money but also a tree or two.

While undergoing the pain of the usual remodel woes - over time and over budget - we lived on a mattress in our basement, the laundry room, our makeshift kitchen. Fortunately our dear friend and accomplished home remodel guru Daniella Conchita Consuela [hereby known as DCC] advised us to keep the fridge from the old kitchen and put it in the laundry room. This ended up being more than convenient during the remodel and saved us a ton of grief due to some hard decisions on appliances that really made the kitchen come together - again, grwat advice from an awesome friend. Which brings up a good point. Talk to your friends about your project, especially those with experience. It will save you great pain.



After demolition, and base construction the fun part started - designing the space and choosing materials, appliances and hardware. We chose Ikea cabinets and hardware as well as cut costs by going with Ikea Formica on the kitchen counter. Ikea was also our choice for the faucet and sink apparatus, while the dishwasher, fridge and gas range were all from Sears - a smoking deal We paid to have gas put in to the kitchen - another solid recommendation since we love to cook. I had never had gas before and I can't say how much this was worth the couple hundred bucks to put in the line. Another friend recommended to also get the line put out to the patio, so we have a natural gas grill and never run out of fuel. It rocks.

For the backsplash we used this fake stainless steel from Ikea. it ended up looking great with all the stainless appliances and saved us big dollars for not having to tile or install stone.

Finally the hood was form Home Depot as were the dark porcelain tiles, paint and odds and ends. Home Depot loved us. Finally our plans called for a nearly six foot by six foot island in the center of the kitchen. We simply stacked Ikea cabinets against each other and then sunk, what was for us big bucks, into two large slabs of warm buttery colored silestone to top off the very center of our home. Another place where it paid off to invest the few extra dollars we really didn't have, but money we didn't really have, well spent.

For the fridge our dear friend, DCC advised us to spend a few extra dollars and get a counter depth fridge. Because kitchen cabinets aren't as deep as standard refrigerators a standard fridge would stick out like 6 inches or something. It would not look slick, custom or modern like the look we were going for. The caveats to these models is they do cost more but you also lose storage space. So, keeping the other refrigerator was critical in order to have the storage needed to feed a family of four, two dogs and guests over all the time. Since the old fridge was only a couple years old it was efficient and met our goal of being as light on our remodel footprint as possible.

For anyone attempting to design and assemble an Ikea kitchen...you can do it yourself like we did...but be prepared to make at LEAST ten trips back and forth. Our first trip back was because after painting the ENTIRE interior of our top floor, I decided that the dark red cabinets we picked out wouldn't work and that we'd have to go with a more neutral color. It ended being the right decision but was a little frustrating. :-)

So about 45 days and $20,000 later we transformed our kitchen and subsequently the entire house. If you lok closely here and there, you can see the mickey mouse job on some things...it was our first time and for a lot of it we really didn't know what we were doing, but with the help of some smart friends and a lot of elbow grease and take out food, we created a modern look for our Mid Century home that perfectly meshed with our lifestyle, opened up the view of Lake Washington and the Cascade foothills and now serves as the cornerstone of our daily lives.

Nothing Like Following Yourself

As my blog takes shape I can't help but marvel at the one follower who has picked up on my genius. Me. I like to say that I'm always one step ahead of myself, so the fact that I'm following myself makes perfect sense.

Now I'm really going to rock myself and go back in time about 30 months ago when we bought our 1960 Modern-inspired typical 2-story block house - that's what I like to call them. Moving from the junction in West Seattle wasn't easy, but the only thing we could afford in that neighborhood was a sub 1000 sq ft war box. So we started looking in South Seattle, where large neighborhoods sprung up during the cold war, spurring on a plethora of modern residential architecture. We loved the neighborhood, the people and the homes and after looking at over 75 homes we finally found our place. It was a rock solid 1960 home but definitely needed the queer eye - this was going to be work.

ModMan - Explore Modern Home Design on the Cheap!

Well this is my first post all about slicking up yer pad all Dwell-like for not a lot of cash. Seriously...Design Within Reach? Give me a break but I can't afford to fork over $800 for a casual chair - I have kids and dogs and life to pay for. That doesn't mean our house needs to look like turds on a plate - although our one dog would eat that shit up.

As my posts unfold, I'll talk about places to look, looks to place and finds to keep and divulge some secrets about creating your own look for not much bank. I'll show you a few of my finds, many for less than a dinner out and some for less than a cheeseburger. We'll explore both interior and exterior looks and how to go mod in ways that are as green and as easy on the environment as they are easy on the green in your wallet.