Remember Blu Dot’s Real Good Chair experiment? They’ve teamed up with Mono again with another real good idea: a Blu Dot Swap Meet. The basic premise is, if you love great design, but don’t have a real good money supply, Blu Dot will consider your offer of talents/treasures/etc. for a single piece from their collection. You won’t be getting a set of chairs: you can only ask for one of anything. But, you might just get the couch of your dreams or a new dining table. The project has been going all week, and I’ve been thinking about it since the very earliest announcements came from Blu Dot on Twitter and Facebook.

Tom suggested we offer Blu Dot a picnic and a leisurely ride through the city of Minneapolis upon our folding tandem (seen here), given that Blu Dot is a Minneapolis-based company. He left it to me to choose the piece of furniture we’d ask for in return. I thought and I thought and I thought and I thought.

Heading into the Walker Tuesday night to see Michael Hart speak as a part of the Insights 2011 Design Lecture Series, I couldn’t help but mention the Swap Meet to Julia as we walked past the Shop with several new Blu Dot pieces on display. And, what do you know, one of the projects Hart shared that evening was the Swap Meet itself.

Today, thinking the project was over at noon… I was delighted to see it’s actually on until midnight. And, I have finally decided on the Strut Square Coffee Table in watermelon. Those of you who know of our recent jigsaw puzzling adventures are already aware of our need for a larger table space in our place to further develop our jigsaw puzzling abilities. At 40 by 40 inches, this table is surely up to the task.

So, we’ve offered up a picnic for 2–6 Blu Dotters preceded by a bike ride on a sunny Minneapolis day in June. You know we are no strangers to winter picnics, but we thought for everyone involved it would be best to hold off hosting the picnic until early summer.

Here’s hoping our friends at Blu Dot deem this a reasonable, and desirable, trade. If you agree, vote for our swap at the Blu Dot Swap Meet!

Interested in proposing a swap of your own? You have until midnight to make an offer. Get the details from Har Mar Superstar and get swapping! Wondering where such a phenomenal idea came from? See Michael Hart of Minneapolis’ Mono discuss the Swap Meet and other recent projects from the firm on the Walker Channel.

Top photo: Kate Sommers Photography … who is trying to swap eggs for a new sectional.

In addition to making food so good that people everywhere request that I end our relationship so that he might be available, Tom commutes by bike five days a week to North Minneapolis (~3 miles) rain, shine, or snowstorm. We moved to the city in 2008 and in all that time Tom’s been riding a too-heavy 2005 Raleigh mountain bike everysingleday. Ever since I upgraded my mountain bike (a teal Mongoose Switchback circa 1996) to a Dahon Mariner last July, Tom has been talking about upgrading his own.

Finally (!) Tom bought a new bike this past Saturday after visiting each of the two Hub Bike Coop locations in Minneapolis. With a bit of deliberation between the Surly Cross Check at the LHT, Tom decided on the Surly Long Haul Trucker in Truckaccino (the color of cappuccino—only truck-like). Knowing that a new bike was coming, I’d given Tom a Leonardo Single-Bike Rack & Da Vinci Tire Tray having written about it here. And, since I received a Christmas wish of my own from my father, I was able to install it right away with proper anchors and all. Truckaccino fits in pretty nicely in our living room, I have to say. This weekend we’ll be heading back to the Hub to outfit the new bike with racks worthy of Midtown Farmers Market produce come May.

In other cycling news, Google released Biking Directions for Google Maps today. Biking Directions have been a long time coming—we can’t wait to plan a long ride. Lastly, I couldn’t resist sharing the Minneapolis trio of 2&21‘s lated project posted yesterday under “Forget Lakes. We got bikes”. Full of facts on “what keeps bikers rolling through Minneapolis,” it’s well worth a look.

We keep our bikes in the basement… but I wish we had two of these.

CYCLOC Bicycle Storage, $135 at Design Public and available in three four excellent colors.

*Image source: Design Public