Displaying posts from January, 2012

Simplicity is deceptive. What appears to be sleek and clean lined and refined is highly thought out and designed. Spanish-German architectural design firm YLAB arquitectos (Tobias Laarmann and Yolanda Yuste) have taken a 130m2 apartment in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter and created a space of warmth and elegance, public and private, luxury and practicality. It is as if light and shade, white and earthy, cool and warm, natural surfaces, layers of texture, stone and wood, history and the present have all been distilled into a beautiful home. Deceptively simple. Simply wonderful. Images by Jordi Canosa and Daniela Cavestany.

Last night we had a veterinarian come by the house to give our cats a checkup (easier than taking all 7 of them in). At one point we were talking about our upcoming house project and she mentioned that her brother is a well-known architect in Toronto and has a firm with his wife called AGATHOM Co. Their website is currently a little sparse, but included photos of one project that I had to share (I found a few more and some info on Contemporist). It is a 1000 sq ft cabin in Pointe au Baril, a remote archipelago in Georgian Bay (3.5 hours north of Toronto) on a large area of exposed Precambrian rock. AMAZING!! (Be sure to check out the last photo after the jump)

Over the holidays we received an email from Jacqui, a design assistant at Natalie Younger Interior Design based in Los Angeles. I was stoked to feature this firm’s work, as they’ve only been in business for over a year and they’ve got several intriguing projects already under their belt (mostly residential, but check out the last 2 photos below of a restaurant they designed). Bold, contemporary designs accentuated with graphic patterns and colours, from Hawaii to Colorado, these ladies are talented and have a bright future ahead.

Still hot. Stinking hot and humid. Ah summer how I love thee! But this image by Aussie Petrina Tinslay, I can feel the breeze, the wonderful breeze. A perfect shot by a great photographer.

If you’d like to send me photos to include in next week’s “pets on furniture” post, please ensure your photos follow my 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[.]com and PLEASE don’t send closeups of your pet!)

Here’s a picture of my 3-month old ragdoll kitten – Kuu – enjoying my Rocker chair. He really loves the sheepskin throw (I think it’s because he matches it so beautifully!).

– Diane (San Diego, CA)

This is Lola, my 5 year old Maine Coon sitting in our second bedroom/office. Her facial expression is the exact reason she’s earned the nickname “sassy”.
– sluice (Los Angeles, California)

This is my 5-year-old cat Wilfred on our table. It’s his favourite place to eat, because he’s half-cat, half-human.
– Friedl (Belgium)

When a footstool becomes a cozy bed. This is Pietra at our home.   
– Luciana (Brazil)

In the photo(s), Milo is sleeping on our living room couch. He likes getting up on top of the couch to catch the afternoon sun coming in from the window. The pillows on the couch are handmade by me in Lotta Jansdotter’s new line of fabric.
– Emily (Ottawa, ON)

Here’s Miss Kitty on my green velvet armchair. I use scarves to add some richness. Here, a faux fur wrap and a neutral tribal print scarf.
– Ashlie (Minneapolis)

This is my cute parrot Paco, he is a “loro de cabeza roja”, a great little personality, always curious and adventurous. He loves to fly around and explore everything..
– Divena (Lima, Peru)

These are our cats Charly and Peach on our living room couch, which is draped with a rug we found while traveling in Peru last summer. 
– Sarah (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

I wanted to send along a snap of my boxer/American bulldog, T-Rex all cozied up on my vintage couch during a snowstorm.
– Megan

The sofa in our living room belongs to our Standard Poodle (as you can see by the enclosed pics), Cesar, and this is where he loves to relax.
The picture of my cat, Bisoux, is one of my favorites too.
– Dori (Pembroke Pines, Florida)

These are 3 of my six cats (Happy, Spotty & Fatso) on a Scanteak sofa and Fatso on the same sofa and on a Scanteak bed. Happy left me suddenly last year. Fatso was born in France. Spotty is the baby in the family.
– Christina (Taipei, Taiwan)

This is Diego, oblivious to exam season, asleep on our thrift store papasan chair, replete with bargain bin pillows.
– Lindsay (Ontario, Canada)

Our dog Elliot, a 4 year old Korean Jindo, sitting on her favourite stool in her favourite room; our sunporch on the back of our 100 year old farm house.
Our cat, Pipes, joining Elliot in the sunporch.
– Kristi (Prince Edward Island)

I’m a brazilian graphic designer and i’m sending you my pretty kittens :)The Gray is Margot, the black is Antonio and the other one is Dora.

– Karina

On a side note: I’ve been dealing with some cat drama for a few months now, with new developments on Saturday (hopefully it will all work out in the end). Read about it here.