Displaying posts from October, 2009

Back in May I shared the work of designer David Carter, but what I didn’t realize then was that many photos in his portfolio were of his own home that is often used as one of London’s most popular and successful location houses. And with two rarely used guest bedrooms, 4 0 W i N K S is being launched to help give photographers, stylists, art directors, designers, buyers, models and anyone in the creative and fashion industries somewhere fun and different to stay when they are in London for work or pleasure. It’s bold, romantic, whimsical, quirky, glamourous – I’d stay there in a heartbeat. (Thanks to reader Bernadette for sending the link!)

Mim (noun) – A fusion of modern with old world charm, light and shade, minimalism with maximum impact. This Melbourne based design firm creates a modern glamour with a clean line and a luxe but less vibe.

Oh – to be a photographer. To be able to experience the personal spaces of others, where you open the door and sometimes find yourself transported to a different place and time, or simply find yourself completely at home. Luca Trovato has had the luxury of capturing on film some delightful environments that have me wanting more. (Although at the end of the day I’d go home so inspired that I’d want to redecorate again and again…)

If you’d like to send us photos to include in next week’s “pets on furniture” post, please ensure your photos follow our basic rules: First, the pet must be on a piece of furniture. And said piece of furniture must be clearly visible in the photo, so both pet and furniture takes center stage. (Think of it more of a photo of a great piece of furniture…and your pet happens to be sitting on it). And second, the photo must be of decent quality. For example, if it’s REALLY dark or fuzzy (camera phone) then it may not make the cut. Thanks!

“My architect friends’ cat, Jane:“
– Jennifer

“Desire to Inspire is a new find for me- and I am thoroughly enjoying perusing your archives! I’m especially enamored with the Pets on Furniture posts. My little Matilda always seems to be posing herself on our furniture- finally, her efforts can be appreciated by all.
Here is Tildy-Cat enjoying a private moment inside my linen cabinet. Why? She’s a cat-she defies logic.
Matilda enjoys a good sprawl across the velvet cushions of my dining chairs.“
– Elizabeth

And here she is again, looking rather imperious on the arm of the sofa- her favorite perch for monitoring our human activities.

“I love your pets on furniture feature and wanted to submit a picture of my cat Harvey on my new (to me) kofod larsen rocker for consideration. He loves everything I bring home and has to sleep on it all (including paper bags). Lucky for him, I’m constantly thrifting and bringing new things home for him to sniff out and claim as his own! I have tons of pictures of the things I find (many featuring Harvey) on my blog.“
– Alison

“I’d like to submit these pictures for your Monday’s Pets of Furniture. This is my dog Rex who likes to chill out on any piece of furniture that’s big and comfortable.“
– Jirard

“Olá estou enviando fotos dos meu gatos Dunga e Sofia.
Dunga tem 11 anos, adotei de um vizinho que o maltratava e Sofia 4 anos, entrou dentro do carro, bem filhotinho e ficamos com ela, são as paixões da minha vida.
Moramos em Porto Alegre, no sul do Brasil.“
– Carmem

“I send you two photos of my cat Süti. Her name means Cookie : ) I found her for 10 years, it was a very cold winter night… Süti haven’t got her own place, she possesses the whole house. But she prefers sunny places, as you can see.“
– Anna (Hungary)

“Here is a picture of our 5 month old great dane cross bull mastiff puppy called Raffi. She is so sneaky and knows she is not meant to go on the couch but she gets on there so quickly and gets comfy before you get a chance to say anything to her.“
– Stephanie (Queensland)

“Jealousy broke out at our house after Pepper’s inclusion in your Pets on Furniture series. You see- Pepper isn’t the only pet at our house. SO- for your consideration- here is our pesky little 9yr old chinchilla Skitchman Boo Radley (aka: the boo). Here he is surveying ‘his’ new couch and side table, and gracing us all with the presence of his beautiful fur.“
– Tess

“The orange-white cat is Artos, he is a rescued cat from the cat-shelter I volunteer for. This is his new favorite spot, and he loves that Missoni-esque blanket to death. He is sleeping on a mid-century day bed, which also is a rescue from the curb! I had new upholstery made in grey felt. The little stool right next to it was recovered from my parent’s house and has a little cowhide top. The toy-horse is from Sweden.“
– Astrid

“Rascal (a Siberian Husky, just without the normal markings) fits his name. Any type of furniture we put in the backyard becomes his throne. Here is King Rascal looking over his domain.“
– Katherine

“This is my boyfriend’s sister and her husband’s yellow lab, Barkley. These pictures were taken when he was just a puppy and he loved to sleep in and on the furniture in funny positions! He’s about ten times that size now, so no more sleeping on the coffee table! (I know it breaks the rules, so I was hesitant to send it but I LOVE pets on furniture. It MAKES my Mondays and I love Barkley so I went ahead and sent them!)“
– Angela

“I came across the “Pets On Furniture” post in your blog, and I thought you might enjoy pictures of Otis, my cat. At the time of this photo I had just recently bought this red leather recliner. I had held off in buying it for quite some time, worried that the cats would claw it to death. They haven’t. In fact, they hardly payed it any attention….. until one day I found Otis sitting like a king in my red leather chair! He looked like he knew he got caught, and then his paw went up to his mouth in a gesture as if to say, “Uh-Oh!”. I managed to capture both expressions.“
– Heidi

“Here are some pictures of our cat Carlyle on our couch and on the kitchen table and on my husbands guitar amps! She sleeps on these amps every night! She loves to lay on or get into things she’s not suppose to! We love her! (sorry these are iphone pics. I hope they can still be used!)“
– Audrey

“Yvonne’s money saving interior design tip: Get an inexpensive chair you like and upscale it with a cat. This is a chair I picked up at the Salvation Army for less than $10. It’s a cool looking chair, very retro with the “wicker” arms. I love the chair, but I have to admit that it’s seen better days. Still, whenever Pidget lies in it, the chair looks like a throne!“
– Yvonne

“Today, I thought I’d send you a picture of my little Machy doing what he does best- sleeping! He usually sits on that ottoman all day looking out the window {and barking} at everyone that walks by. I guess this day in particular he was tired, lol. ENJOY!“
– Lynn

We received an email from Stephanie the other day and thought I’d share it here to see if our reader’s had some ideas for her.

“I am in the process of closing on a new apartment in Brooklyn! The apartment is completely white now, and I want to do something fun with it. The layout is very open, which isn’t totally obvious from the photos, so maybe the color change from room to room shouldn’t be too drastic? The middle room (with the huge closet) has no windows, so that might be important to consider. Questions: What is worse, leaving ratty-looking brick exposed, or covering it up with paint (in the kitchen)? How should I deal with the panel molding that covers the entire lower half of the living room (with the blue sofa)? It’s the smallest room so I don’t want it to feel too disjointed. Warning: the rooms all feel smaller than they look in the photos (damn that fish-eye lens!). Any help would be great!

P.S. The furniture in the pictures is the previous owner’s, so no need to match any of that (the photos are from the original listing and taken by a company called VHT, for credit’s sake).

I’m sure a lot of good ideas will come from this. That kitchen brick is really in shoddy shape in real life and I think I should paint it, but since it’s irreversible I’m nervous. Anyway, the apartment is truly “cozier” than it looks through a fish eye!”

What a fantastic apartment – love the tin ceiling (!!!), the brick fireplace in the bedroom, the open floor plan. Here’s my 2 cents. Leave everything white and paint out a wall in each room in an accent colour. That way the white keeps the open spaces unified and flowing into each other, but you get some colour in each space to define them (ie. the wall the bed is on). Judging by the poor condition of the brick in the photo, you should go for it and paint it out. And I’d go bold with that wall. Stephanie had sent a link to this post from Apartment Therapy, which included this photo:

That colour would be AMAZING over the brick. I’d keep the rest of the kitchen white and punch it up with accents in that colour and a bit of red. (Or do the opposite – paint the brick white and the walls/backsplash the yellow). And use a bench like the former owners did – great space saver and emphasizes the brick wall. I was going to say that you could paint the panel molding in the living room but it’s right next to the brick wall in the kitchen…so painting that would depend on what you do with the kitchen. I’d maybe leave it white and paint the upper part of the walls (something coordinating with the kitchen colour…a grey maybe). Anyway, I’d love to know what our readers think so comment away everyone!

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Something creative and personal you can do with empty wall space is print some of your favourite photos large-scale. Parrot Print Canvas offers such services. I am looking to do this in my living room over my sofa. Fun!