PrairieMod

Architects Bird Feeder

Slightly too modern for our place, but an interesting twist if you're convinced that the birds in your neighborhood share the same great taste in modern design as you do! We've got a nice group of yellow finches visiting our garden pretty regularly, and I'm sure they would love this upgrade. This bird feeder has an incredibly clean design with only 8 parts that slide and lock together, no fasteners or tools required. Great design.

Image copyright The Architect’s Birdfeeder

The Handmade Wedding

My wife and I tried our best to make aspects of our recent wedding as handmade as possible, not only to save money, but to make it unique and personal as well. If you're getting married and would like a little handmade help, the check out this list of articles on etsy.com.

Instant Backyard Cottage

Check out this slideshow of Sunset's Modern Cottage demonstration house that's all about creating an affordable eco-friendly living space.

Image copyright Sunset

Brazilian Leaf House

One of our readers sent us a link a while back to this awesome green home in Brazil. Follow the link to see more images and learn more.

Image copyright Greenhome

Raised Garden Box Kit

Have you always wanted your own backyard garden? Well check out the Raised Garden Box Kit.

Image copyright Scout Regalia

Rustic Mid-Century Modern

The Mid-Century Modernist has a few images where Mid-Century Modern and Rustic style are fused. Very Nice.

Image copyright Sean Hemmerle

Teco and Tulips

For Easter my mom brought over some beautiful red tulips. They look so pretty in my Pagoda vase I had to share the picture. It was taken with my iPhone so it's not the greatest quality. I'm so happy spring is here!

Image copyright Lisa Kelly

Shipping Container Houses

Our friend Joyce sent us a link to an article on Yahoo! Green about houses made from shipping containers. Check out the article here.

Thanks Joyce!

Image copyright Kool-Kini

Treehugger (Literally)

Here's a New York Times article about a California makeup artist who built the addition of his house around an old sycamore tree. Check out the slide show that accompanies the article.

Image copyright Ethan Pines for The New York Times

Modern Gratitude

As you can tell I have Thanksgiving on the brain. I've been looking for some cool centerpiece ideas and I found a post on Lotus Home about a Mod themed Thanksgiving Dinner. Joanna gave some great tips on how she created her look. Head over for some inspiration.

Image copyright Lotus Home

Enjoy a Modern Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I've been looking for ways to create a modern table setting. Thankfully, Hostess With the Mostess has some great ideas. Check out this post for some great ideas.

Image copyright hwtm.com

Halloween 2008

The PrairieMod Squad carved pumpkins again this year. The photos were taken on my iPhone in the dark, so the quality isn't that great.

For last year's images click here. Looking for pre-designed patterns, look no further than eHow.com, bhg.com, shop2.aol.ca.

Another image after the jump...

Etched in Stone

Our friend Marty emailed us about how he used one of the PrairieMod freebies.

Read what he had to say after the jump...

Image copyright Marty Smith

Speaking of LEGOS...

PrairieMod Squad member (and my dear wife) Lisa, shared this with us last week and we all had a good chuckle around the office. Since Eric posted news about Lincoln Logs this morning and the LEGO Utopia last week, I just had to share this....keeping track of your time with LEGOS!

Image copyright Michael Hunger

DIY Getaway in Your Own Backyard, Modish Style

Renee over at Modish has a nice write-up about how to make your backyard more cozy with some DIY touches. It'll get your creative inspirations sparked. So, if you're looking for a fun project this summer...read the details to see what ideas are offered up.

Image copyright Modish

Which rooom poses the biggest decorating challenge?

 

	Living Room
	Dining Room
	Bedroom
	Kitchen
	Entry
	Bathroom
	Home Office
Free polls from Pollhost.com

What's Your Biggest Decorating Challenge?

   

		Don't know where to start
		Not sure what colors to choose
		Living with someone with different taste
		Small budget
		Not enough time
		Living in a rented space
		Small space
		Can't choose a style
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Color Personality

Thanks to How About Orange, I was able to find out what my color personality is. Pittsburgh Paints has a color game on their website that asks you a bunch of questions to help you find out what your color personality is. If you have a hard time picking paint colors for your home try it out, if nothing else it's fun.

About the game:

Every Color has an emotional association, and you are drawn to different colors for various reasons. We have created The Color Sense Game to help you discover your color preferences based on your five senses, your interests and your style. This is a fun process with no right or wrong answers. It is meant to be an entertaining and enlightening game, a quiz that allows you to shed some light on your color personality. Answer with your quickest, strongest instincts and the game will assist you in your pursuit of color-perfect decorating. Your results will lead you to both your primary and secondary Harmony Collection color families, which are most likely to meet your personal tastes and needs.

After playing the game I found out my Collection is White Spaces and my secondary is Al Fresco. What's yours?

Image copyright Pittsburgh Paints

Party Time

I love this blog! The Hostess with the Mostess™ Guide is all about entertaining with a modern twist.  Here's an excerpt from their site:

Hostess with the Mostess™, (HWTM) is an innovative online resource for hip, modern, and unique entertaining ideas.                

We provide party themes that are clever, contemporary and out of the ordinary - then help you recreate them yourself with detailed how-to's, where-to-buy's, tips, and advice. HWTM also researches and showcases fabulous entertaining products and special occasion gifts so you can find them all in one place! From funky patterned dishware to the coolest kitchen gadgets available, to the perfect congratulations gifts for that fashionable bride-to-be, our Fabulous Finds and Fabulous Gifts sections cover it all!

At HWTM, our overall goal is to motivate friends and family to take time to celebrate and enjoy each other¹s company more often ­ whether it be for a major life event or a casual everyday get-together. We hope to inspire creativity and help reduce the stress associated with hosting an event by serving as a resourceful, convenient and visually appealing "go-to" guide for everyone from the first-time hostess to the seasoned party guru!

Hostess with the Mostess™ celebrations with a modern twist.             

This is a great resource, so enjoy.

Image copyright HWTM

The Great Pumpkin is Coming!

Yesterday PrairieMod got together to carve pumpkins. We try to do it every year. Check out the pictures of this year's and last year's...

Here are some links to sites that have free templates for pumpkin carving:

eHow.com

bhg.com

shop2.aol.ca

Happy Carving!

The Heat is On!

Summer is definitely here! The heat index has been over 100 degrees the last few days in Chicago and New York is dealing with temperatures that feel like a 120 degrees! Many parts of the country are dealing with the Dog Days of summer and that means that demand for energy is breaking all-time records. This leads to brown outs and skyrocketing electric bills. But there are some simple things you can do to help conserve energy and still be cool:

• Keep window shades closed during the heat of the day

• Keep the thermostat set at 78 degrees while you're there and at 85 degrees while you're away

• Only run appliances like dishwashers, stoves, washers and dryers in the cooler evening hours

These are just a few ideas. I've actually started setting my thermostat at 78 and have seen a difference on my electrical bill. For more tips on conserving while cooling check out this site. Stay cool!

Photo courtesy of NASA

Seeing the Light

Kermit the Frog famously philosophized, “It’s not easy being green.” When it came to the thought of changing my lifestyle to match my belief in “Going Green,” my first reaction was to agree with him. But, it doesn’t have to be an impossible uphill battle.

One of the things I’ve realized in pondering and implementing the ten principles of the PrairieMod Lifestyle, is that small steps can help put me on the path to big changes. So I’ve decided to take the small step to “Go Green” by replacing all the standard light bulbs in my home with high efficiency CFL bulbs.

This little change will help reduce the amount of electricity used by 25% and the bulbs will last 10 times longer, reducing waste and money...offsetting the CFL’s higher initial cost. This is a win/win scenario and it was easy to implement. It really is the little things that can matter most!

Image courtesy of www.muppets.com

More Confessions from a PrairieMod Squad Member

During hot summers when I was a kid, I used to sneak out of bed in the middle of the night to set the thermostat to a cool 68 degrees. Each morning I'd awake to the furious tone of my mother, shivering and upset at what I had done the night before. After many good scoldings and lectures, my parents settled on a punishment. I'd have to fork over a portion of my allowance to pay for the increased energy bill that month. At that moment I vowed that when I owned my own place as an adult, I'd keep it a constant 68 degrees! Hey, it's my right as an American.

Well I've done just that, but I'm beginning to feel convicted lately. With all the news of depleting natural resources and a possible economic crisis looming on the horizon, I've been challenged to reconsider my own personal impact on energy consumption. Read number ten on this list here.

Frank Lloyd Wright might have just poked me in the ribs with his cane if he was still around today to see my wasteful use of energy. While a pioneer of "air conditioning", he reportedly detested my preferred and overzealous practice of cooling. Instead, Wright used architectural skills and natural features to keep a structure cool during summer months.

So, I've resolved to set the thermostat at 74. Wow! Easier said than done. I honestly feel like a junkie going through withdrawal. There have been sleepless, restless nights...tossing and turning. I kid you not! I awoke at 3am this morning in disbelief at how much of a drastic change 6 degrees actually can be for a self-indulgent, over-pampered individual like myself.

But, I will press on and adjust to the still cool temperature of 74 degrees. I mean really...74 is cool...right? Maybe someday I'll have the strength and courage to make the move to 77 degrees. Whew!

One possible alternative to checkout is here.

See an earlier confession here.

Trash Talk

One of our PrairieMod Squad members went running through their neighborhood this morning and was greeted with some interesting sites that made him feel really sorry for the garbage man. Today was “trash day,” which is normally just another day in our busy lives. But after all the reading and information collecting we’ve been doing to identify the Principles behind the new lifestyle paradigm we’re dubbing “PrairieMod,” the obvious amount of trash that we as a society produce should make us feel sorry for ourselves.

The facts behind the shocking amount of trash we create in this country should make all of us stop and take notice. We can’t continue to be oblivious about the effects our choices are having on our environment, and ultimately us.

We know better than anyone how difficult it is to change our habits. As normal, everyday Americans, we fall victim to the same pitfalls as everyone else. I personally have been struggling with effectively separating the recyclables from my trash. It maybe easier just to throw it all in the garbage can, but I know that it’s irresponsible and not in tune with what I believe. 

What we’ve got to collectively decide is that the status-quo is not working. We can’t rely on someone else to fix the problems that we’re all helping to create. It’s up to each of us to do our part, whatever way we can, to make a difference. Here are some basic ways that you can start to make a difference today. You can also check out reduce.org for more ideas. Little by little we can help make “trash day” a lot easier on us and also on our garbage man.

Old vs. New

Would you live in a Frank Lloyd Wright house if you had the chance? If so, would it be an original or a "new" one? Discuss it at WrightChat.

Here are two articles related to this topic:

"Old" FLLW -

"New" FLLW -

Confessions of a PrairieMod Squad Member

If master Roycrofter Elbert Hubbard were alive today, he'd most likely give me a good lashing. Or, at least graciously lecture me on the sins, which I've recently committed. Even though he loved to watch movies, Frank Lloyd Wright would undoubtedly shake his head in disappointment that I haven’t artfully found a way to conceal my 50" plasma behemoth.

I'm supposed to be decorating my home with beautiful, useful objects. Well, to some folks, this is beautiful and useful. It’s really just a matter of perspective.

My confession is simple. The HDTV is the center of focus in my great room where I use my DVR or DVD player while writing blog entries like this on my laptop via a wireless network. Is there any grace that can be bestowed (if it helps, I sleep on a handmade quartersawn oak bed)?

In all fairness, I'm an individual caught between the ideals of the past and the absolutely ridiculous luxuries of a post-postmodern world.