Displaying posts from November, 2011

Mosman house

Posted on Tue, 29 Nov 2011 by midcenturyjo

Whether the weather is hot and humid or there is just a nip in the air I couldn’t think of a nicer home to sit in the shadows and just chill. Like sitting under a big shady tree or the overhang of a cliff face with a fire scraped together from driftwood. The outside is definitely in. This is what Australian architects do so well. Mosman house by Katon Redgen Mathieson.

Light and shadow

Posted on Tue, 29 Nov 2011 by midcenturyjo

Photographer Simon Whitbread generously sent over his latest photo shoot. (See me posts on Simon here and here.) A small 2 bedroom house on Sydney’s Northern Beaches sits snugly on a tight block but screens and walls, awnings and orientation provide privacy, shade and cross ventilation. More importantly this Curl-Curl home by Clifton Cole of CplusC Architectural Workshop uses light and shadow to help define spaces, to bring the outside in and to make a small home seem larger. I love the way that Simon’s photography plays with light and shadows to emphasis this design feature. He seems to “get” a building and plays on this in his work. Simon you weren’t an architect in a previous life?

Monday’s pets on furniture – part 2

Posted on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 by KiM

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 it takes center stage rather than your pet. Think of it more of a photo of a great piece of furniture that you want to show off…and your pet happens to be sitting on it. And second, the photo must be of decent quality. If it’s dark or fuzzy (from a camera phone) then it may not make the cut. Thanks! (Photos, your name, location and a brief description can be sent to  desiretoinspirekim[@]hotmail[.]comand PLEASE don’t send closeups of your pet!)

I’m emailing with a photo of my handsome little Boston Terrier, Kojo. He’s hanging out on a handmade duvet in my old apartment in Washington, DC.
Kim

This a picture of my living room with my cat ‘eye’.
Sophie (France)

Here’s our dog Hachi trying to catch some well earned zzz’s while I sneak up on her with the camera.
– Toby (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

We were sent this link to a post called Elegant Cats and Feline Asthma written by Dominique Browning (ex-House and Garden magazine editor-in-chief and NYTimes writer). It included the following incredible cat photos from the book The French Cat by photographer Rachael Hale

This photo is of Marxy watching attentively Sunday morning as my husband, Richard, cooks breakfast. Marxy loves to observe everything from her ottoman. LOL!!
– Cindy

Please find attached pics of my beloved calico, Jude, and my neighbor’s fawn Doberman Pincer, Coco. (please excuse my exuberance for these dears!!)
-First is the Jude in a beam on our bed. Does the gorgeous Thibaut wallpaper count as “furniture?”
-Second is the Jude on our vintage dining room sofa with a retro spider plant and Block Island beach rocks in the foreground.
-Then we have Coco on the patio table. She does this whenever she is being ignored which alarms us all a bit since she is such a big dog! I call this “dog on glass”
-Last, when we keep an eye on Coco while her people are visiting with thier son who just joined the Marines, ( <3 Kemal!!) she shows us how much she appreciates our attentions. such a peach!
– Samantha

  

My favorite place to sit and read is often taken by our basset hound Finn when I return. Oddly on this day I was reading “Investigations of a Dog” by Franz Kafka.
Debra

Monday’s pets on furniture – part 1

Posted on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 by KiM

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 it takes center stage rather than your pet. Think of it more of a photo of a great piece of furniture that you want to show off…and your pet happens to be sitting on it. And second, the photo must be of decent quality. If it’s dark or fuzzy (from a camera phone) then it may not make the cut. Thanks! (Photos, your name, location and a brief description can be sent to  desiretoinspirekim[@]hotmail[.]comand PLEASE don’t send closeups of your pet!)

Lazy day of Bird
– Gina (San Francisco)

William is 6 months old now. We gave him another chair but he’s taken to this one, much to my chagrin. Do you think our antlers are safe?
– Karen (Oshawa, ON)

This is my cat, Tom Hanks, sitting on my orange director’s that has been with me since freshman year in college – I am now 26 and I currently live in Boston!
Lex

I wanted to send in this picture of my 1 1/2-year-old Ragdoll cat, Josephine, napping on my antique 1930s sofa.
– My (Northampton, Massachusetts)

Please meet our very decorative 9-month old French Bulldog, Martini. The only furniture he is usually spotted on is our bed and we are amazed that he moved downstairs (!) for this photo.
– Andreea (Bucharest, Romania)

This is Gaspar, an 8 month puppy, crazy like Tasmanian devil but really cute!
– Margarida & Dan (Lisboa, Portugal)

Our three cats LOVE hanging out on the furniture. I happened to snap these pictures early on afternoon when Spurfy, the big grey cat and Hooney, the smaller striped cat were relaxing on my old couch. They love standing on the back of that couch to look out the window as well as attempting to destroy said couch by scratching the arms until the fabric falls apart and I have to buy a new one! They’re really ridiculous creatures, but I still love them! Haha!
Mrs. Biscuit (Arizona)

Attached is a picture of our family dogs, Chester (right) and Coco (left), who also happen to be the mascot of our family store- True North Living. Along with keeping me company, they greet the customers with a sniff and lick. Occasionally they like to model the furniture, or should i say, model ON our furniture. The nest chair is their favorite!
– Katie (Oklahoma City, OK)

Family pod

Posted on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 by midcenturyjo

For when guests and extended family stay over. A perfect pod. Part prefabricated, part site built it is the work (again) of Craig Steely Architecture. Sitting lightly on a lavaflow site the modernist lines of the Ohanapod (family pod) provide connection to its surrounds. Tropical retreat with privacy, shading and cross flow. A cool pad in more ways than one.