Modern Shopping in Eugene

Photos provided from owner on Google.

Eugene Modern Newsflash!

Modern is the name of the store. Located over on 5th and Pearl across the street from the 5th Street Public Market this little shop has always left me wanting more. Over the years it has been limited by space. I love that they sell Gus*Modern but with limited floor space they can usually only display a couch or two. So it's not really the Go To place for modern furnishings. They often have great accent pillows, but again the space does not allow them to have a variety. They at times carry Angela Adams rugs (and purses/wallets) - gorgeous - but the space is often a barrier. In January, Denise Sprengelmeyer, the owner, sent out a request for feedback from her clients and patrons. According to the newsletter she sent out this week the survey was helpful and sales have been great. Which leads to this newsflash - Modern will be expanding! What wonderful news during these crappy economic times. I'm super happy for Denise and her staff and I'm super happy for me and those of you who enjoy spending time and purchasing many of their modern items. You can read about our Flor searching and Flor buying experience by clicking on the links. I found the two pictures above from google maps and you can see the angela adams rugs hanging from the second level railing, you can also see 2 really cute christmas stockings on the table - I purchased those both, one for mom (Mother Monkey) and one for brother (Lucky Monkey). In the bottom picture you can also see examples of great lighting, Modern always has the most original lighting options in town plus a Marimekko pillow in the background. We ll I'm very excited for them and for Eugene. I think their re-newed vision will be profitable for the store and beneficial for patrons. Thanks, Modern!

"Our goal is to be the interior design resource customers can count on in Eugene rather than having to drive to Portland to find what they want." Modern Newsletter.

I can't wait! I'll be sure to report back in March once they've opened the new space. Yippee!

Modern Platform Storage Beds!

Doze from Suite New York.

Modern Storage Bed from Modern Interiors.

Hudson from Room & Board.

So when Mr. Monkey and I returned from Chile and Palm Springs we were so happy to snuggle up in our own bed. It's so cozy and soft and soft and lead to achey backs and crooked necks. We were shocked! What happened? Too much kayaking? Too much working out? Too much age? Although we consider ourselves a smart bunch it took us a couple of weeks to realize (cue villian music - dun dun duh) it was our very own beloved bed that was causing us so much pain!!! We promptly moved the old mattress out and moved the mattress from our guest bedroom in. We're cuurently sleeping on that foam pillow of a thing which is super cozy and the cricks and aches have gotten much better. We've recently decided though that we're ready for a new space age springless mattress. We're still shopping for that piece but somewhere along the way a salesperson said to us that platform beds are the best fit for foam beds and well it didn't take much more than that for me to yes yes yes! I started looking and found some gorgeous. I started with Apartment Therapy. They had a posting awhile back on inexpensive modern platform beds. I took a look at the IKEA bed but it was too cheap. I found the 3 examples above. The first one called Doze and is the most expensive from Suite New York. You can pass hours drooling over many of their products. The last one is from Room & Board and is called Hudson with storage. While the price is much more reasonable it's still a touch outside true financial comfort for use. Another problem is that most of these platform beds only come in the queen size. Mr. Monkey and I love being in a smaller bed and our bedroom itself is small. To have a queen would really suck up too much space. And you know we're all about livin' large (in lifestyle) while livin' small (impact and footprint). So our solution . . . drum roll please . . . call in all-around nice guy and extremely talented wood artist - Jonathon Plummer owner of Bunchberry Woodworking. We met with Jonathon this past week and discussed ideas - believe it or not a combination or drawers and cantilevered-ness! We'll keep you posted as we review a first draft of the bed next week.

Backyard Shed: MHA Part 2

Hi Friends! Welcome to February. I've heard from some of you recently that I need to blog more often. I know things were getting pretty skimpy at the end of the year. So last month I managed 3 posts in the month and I'm hoping for the same if not more this month. If you want to be sure not miss any updates just click on the "subscribe to this blog" in the bar to the right. I know you will want to keep updated because we're (FINALLY) moving forward with some projects over here in the modern monkey section of Friendly St. 'hood - finally. Major going-ons include - new bed, staining and hanging of front door - yup we still haven't done that (this includes buying modern hardware), and the super big deal - the backyard shed aka Margarita Holding Area (MHA).

Mr. Monkey and Friends (I think I was in a band once called Mr. Monkey and his friends) (thanks Friends!) have made some serious progress. Check it out!

Up top Mr. Monkey was working on a beautiful December day believe it not! And had nailed up a good deal of the siding. One re-use and recycle tip is that Mr. Monkey used the same planks of wood to create the board forms for the concrete bits that he did for the siding. Below is a detail shot of an eye of a wood board that was left imprinted in the concrete wall. Faux bois concrete style?

This is a view from the back of the shed - this is kinda the alley view. You can see the rafters and the frame for the back windows.

Here is Mr. Monkey is being a monkey and climbing down the south side of the shed. This window is a little funny because it's a bit low. I like it because it rests in between the two texture elements of wood and concrete. It will also be the only eye-level window in the place. The other windows are up high and are meant to let the light in. Mr. Monkey was so thoughtful when planning this aspect of the shed. The shed will be a working shed and so there will be stuff piled high. We don't want to see that stuff from the backyard and we don't want people in the alley to be able to see our stuff in the shed - so he went for a clerestory window feel to let light in but to keep clutter out of sight.

This view below is from the front door perspective. The building is a long narrow shape. You can kinda get a sense of the clerestory style windows and the eye level window. The narrow eye-level window faces out to the pear tree and a future wet-land garden (that area of the back yard is always pretty wet). Overall we're pretty excited and actually since I've taken these photos more progress has been - all the siding is up and windows are in place so those pictures will be posted next week. Next up is the roof and then the staircase up to our Margarita Holding Area. For now it looks like we're on schedule to have a summer debut of the sunset viewing space. Can't wait! Thanks for reading about the MHA and all the other silly stuff on here.