I have had quite a few people ask for details about how we did our bases without baseboard. First off let me say that it is completely different if you are talking new construction. New construction is easy, they make a 1/2″ trim piece that keeps the drywall floated off the floor. For our house, I simply used a 6″ drywall taping knife and smoothed the wall out to the floor. There were areas where I probably added as much as 1/2″ of mud to the base to try and cover the floor boards. As long as you take it up smooth for a foot or so you don’t really pick up on the added thickness. We were lucky that on all our doorways the wood casing came all the way to the corner. You really can’t make a corner out of drywall. For existing construction, one of the problems is that your finished floor doesn’t always go completely to the wall. There were plenty of area’s in our house that were like this. In the process of mudding they got filled in, and I simply sanded them flush and finished over them when I finished the floor. It really isn’t too noticeable. I did worry a little about how the base would hold up over time, but I figured it would be cheap to repair if I ever needed to fix it. To sum it all up, it’s not perfectly clean everywhere, but I still think it looks a lot better than having base. Price wise it cost less than $50 to do 800 square feet, but a LOT of sanding and mudding.

More pictures below.

Continue reading ‘No baseboard - Details’

It’s amazing how much some paint, flooring an furniture can change a space. Much like our old home, we painted everything bright white (we used Behr pure white eggshell enamel). The white paint, along with getting rid of all the baseboard make the room look so much cleaner. It’s great to finally get our furniture in the house, now we can start to get some of our artwork up and make it look like a home.

More pictures below!
Continue reading ‘Before and After’

We have been getting ready to paint for quite a while now. We ripped off all our old baseboard and door casing and decided to just use drywall mud to smooth things out so trim would not be needed. It sounded like a simple job but it ended up taking 20 gallons of drywall mud and a lot of sanding. We finally got everything ready so we could start paining this weekend. I decided that instead of rolling everything I was going to buy a paint sprayer. We got a Graco Magnum X5 from Home Depot for $299. Thats the best $300 I have spent in a long time! In one Saturday I was able to do a coat of Killz to (to get rid of the grandma smell) and two coats of finish paint. The sprayer made it so much easier I have vowed to never roll again.

I’ll post pictures of everything painted tomorrow. We are just getting our furniture moved in out of the garage.

While we were in Chicago we had some of the best pizza I have had in a long time, and it got me thinking. Who’s got the best pizza in Salt Lake city? I used to live a couple blocks from Este pizza, but it burnt down before I could check it out. Rumor on the block is that they have opened again, and have a new one downtown. I would love to hear feedback if it really is as tasty as it sounds. In looking for some pizza to rival that of Gino’s, last night I stumbled across Sweet Home Chicago Pizza in Draper, which sounds promising. Some other favorites are the Pie Pizzaria and Rusted Sun. Any other favorites. I

Were going to get started on painting this weekend, so some good pizza may be in order.

My love for Balsa airplanes goes back a long time. When I was a kid, every time my Grandfather was in town he would take me down to the toy store to buy one. The best ones were the ones that were self powered via a rubberband. They proved to be cheap and provide hours of fun. I don’t however remember them ever looking this good. These Yoshida airplane designs date back to late 1800’s and they still look great today. They come in a single and double propeller version, both of which cost $19. They would be a perfect gift for any kid 10 yrs and up, or great as a mobile for the little one. For the big kid (read adult) check out the expensive, but amazing Carbon Butterfly indoor flyer.
Yoshida Plane Kits available at Build It Play It for $19.

If you haven’t already checked out the new Destination Japan series over at the MoMA Store, it’s time you get over there. While Japanese design isn’t exclusively modern, there is often a simplicity that lends itself to modern decor. Many of the items included in Destination Japan are exclusive to MoMA, and pricing ranges from reasonable to mildly shocking. Shown above is the apple jar with spoon, $55 (ouch). Make sure you check out their folding bread board, $75 (expensive but very cool), Ramen Spoon/Fork $12, and Recycled Dish and Bowl $10 - $15.
Available at the MoMA Store Destination Japan.

There is nothing new about stock plans. While there are not a lot of modern ones out there, they do exist. What is new about these modern stock plans from FreeGreen is the price. They’re 100% free. Yep, crazy as it sounds they are hoping that what they are not making off of selling the plans, they will make money off advertising and specifying certain green manufactures. While I haven’t personally looked at what you get for free, the feedback that I have heard is that the quality and completeness is actually quite good. Currently the only modern design is this Suburban Loft shown, which is a 2,000 square foot 2 bedroom 2 bathroom home complete with rooftop garden. If additional customization is needed, FreeGreen can provide that for an additional price.
Free modern stock home plans available from FreeGreen.

Via Inhabitat.

Continue reading ‘FreeGreen Modern House Plans’

I’m in Chicago for the week for business, and I decided to drag my family along with me. We are staying at the Club Quarters Central Loop, which is not modern at all, but relatively affordable. While most of my days will be taken up, I have nights to explore, and my wife and kid have a wide open schedule. So what are some must do’s and must see’s in Chicago? We are about four blocks from the Sears Tower and prefer to roll on foot. We also plan on hitting H & M for sure to get some clothes for Arrington.
Any other recommendations?

Here is another cool looking light shade. The best thing about this one is it’s free! OK, you have to make it yourself, but the plans are free. It comes from a website called Ponoko. Ponoko is a unique idea where designers can upload their designs and they will be built on demand. Consumers can go to the sight, if they see something they like, they can order it and it will be built just for them. Pretty cool idea. In addition to the on demand builds they have some plans that are downloadable for free. Supply your own materials, and with a little elbow grease you can skip the middleman and go straight from the designer to yourself. The Carbon lamp show is a free download. All you need to buy is some 1mm thick styrene, start tracing and cutting, and hopefully it turns out as good as the picture.
Get you free Carbon Lamp plans here.

If anyone takes this project on, send pics!

You’ve heard me say good things about the Ikea KNAPPA lights before. They are flat packed, assemble yourself, and look great for a pretty low price ($25). Well, it looks like they aren’t the only ones on the block. The innermost 5 in 1 shade is another flat packed shade, that with a little assembly looks amazing. Available from Design Public for $43 you get 7 flat packed pieces that can be assembled to make one large or two smaller shades. That makes for great versatility and value. Dimensions range from 12″ to 24″ in height and diameter.
Available from Design Public for $43.