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.comand PLEASE don’t send closeups of your pet!)

Princess Brida, our 3 year old brazilian terrier resting on “her” Louis XV armchair…
– Merson & Renata (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) 

This is Simon (blue), and Theodore (creme) british short-hair taking one of their many cat naps together on our CB2 avec sofa.
– Henry (Downtown LA)

This is Totoro, the day the sofa arrived.
– Alina (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

This is Bruce on one of the sofas in the sunroom. You can tell he’s relaxed because his tail is “loose”.
– Q (Minneapolis)

Nibbler stayed frozen in this position for quite a while – like Han Solo stuck in Carbonite.
– Ruth

Our dear Jack.
– The Gilmore Family (Oklahoma City, OK)

Sophie bypasses a larger and more comfortable sofa to sit all squished up in this chair: we’re guessing the view out the window is better from there?!
– Rachel (Atlanta)

Tippi doesn’t like getting out of bed in the morning. When I tell her it’s time to get up, she groans and burrows under the blankets. In this photo I happened to capture her attitude perfectly. She would be flipping me off if she could. 
– Christa

Finn
– Marnie 

My “vintage” greyhound,Bruno,enjoys his old age snoozing on his vintage chaise-longue.
– Beryl (Bolton, England)

I’d like to dedicate today’s pets on furniture posts to Tom, my latest stray who sadly lost his life Friday. I wanted to share his story, as traumatic as it was for me, because if I can get even a few people out there who come across a stray animal in need to do what they can to help, then I can feel Tom’s death wasn’t for nothing. Because it hurts alot that I wasn’t able to help him in time.

Friday I didn’t go to work due to an excruciating muscle spasm in my neck. I really believe I was meant to be home that day. Tom started visiting us in the winter, coming by randomly. Then about 2 months ago he suddenly decided he liked us and started to come by twice a day, for breakfast and dinner. He let me pet him until I gave him his food, then would take off to go galivanting in my ‘hood, looking for the ladies (he wasn’t neutered). Then about a week and a half ago he stopped showing up. I was really worried about him. Suddenly, Friday at noon he showed up. I looked outside and saw him laying on the driveway with his head down. I knew something was wrong. I grabbed some food and went outside to find him very lathargic and not interested in eating at all. His back end was crusty and he smelled like pee (he was usually a pretty well kept cat for a stray). All he wanted to do was sleep. I noticed his nose was runny and he was shivering. I called the vets and told them I had to bring him in ASAP. While waiting for my husband to show up I brought him inside into my powder room (away from my 7 cats) – he was totally unphased by this, put his head down and tried to sleep. He had never been in my house before so I knew he was really sick. When we got him into the cage, he started shaking really badly (from shock) and we realized he was worse off than we thought. We rushed him outside where he started making odd noises and then stopped breathing. I broke down, and then when I went to double-check his breathing I noticed he was breathing again. We raced him to the vets and on the way he was gagging and choking and having a hard time breathing. He was basically dying in my lap. The vet is luckily only a 5 minute drive away but they could not save him. He had a blocked bladder – it was huge and filled with blood. This caused kidney failure. He didn’t have a chance. I honestly think he showed up in my driveway that day to die, with us, because we were the only ones who cared. I know we did what we could but I can’t help but feel guilty that we didn’t try sooner to get him off the streets and find him a home. He would have made a great pet. 

I had a sinking feeling this wasn’t going to end well, so I snapped a photo of Tom in my bathroom while I waited for my husband to get home.
He deserved better – he deserved to live. Tom, love you buddy. I’m so sorry. 

I am pretty excited to share a couple of new books with you today while I head out to the cottage to enjoy a beautiful summer day and spend time with my mom (Happy Mother’s Day Mom!!). 

The first one I was REALLY stoked to receive, as it was written by a fellow blogger. Maryam Montague has been living in Morocco for several years now and it is because of her and her blog MyMarrakesh.com that I have fallen in love with the country of Morocco and especially it’s absolutely gorgeous interiors and architecture. The textures and colours are mesmerizing and such beautiful inspirational decor. Maryam’s book, MARRAKESH BY DESIGN, (Artisan Books, May 2012), is filled with wonderful photos that she took herself (several are of her own home and boutique hotel called the Peacock Pavilions)  and gives quite an introduction to the Moroccan culture and elements of decor they are so well known for. I even busted out my vintage Moroccan wedding blanket Jo sent me as a wedding gift to use as a backdrop for the photos I took of the book. (That blanket is SO gorgeous and one of my prized possessions). I can’t wait to devour every word and photo of this book – I think I’ll bring it to the cottage. 🙂 Congrats Maryam – you should be so proud of this book! P.S. Maryam’s home is featured in this month’s Lonny and last month’s Elle Decor!

This next one I unfortunately didn’t receive a review copy of but the photos that we were sent were so great I had to show you all so you could get your hands on a copy of this book too. The Emmy Award-winning television producer formerly of The Oprah Winfrey Show and Nate Berkus Show – and fellow blogger Janet Lee is soon to release her first book, Living in a Nutshell (Harper Collins). Living in a Nutshell was inspired by Janet’s professional and personal experiences having made a home in over a dozen pocket-sized spaces over the past 20 years.From this sneak peak I’d say this book is one to look out for. 

A huge thanks to Dash Marshall for letting us know about this cool project of theirs: The Cassowary Room is a renovation of a single space in a Tribeca loft. It was originally built as a caviar warehouse in the 1890s and then renovated in 2005 before being purchased by the current owners. We rolled back time to create the caviar boss’s office as if it had never been touched, only upgraded with wifi and air-conditioning. That meant designing custom lighting and woodwork and then collaborating with craftsmen to make sure everything is just right. With dutch doors the space works well as a private office when completely closed, or can be left open for more connection to the adjacent living spaces. When the owners’ children are old enough, the Cassowary Room will transition gracefully to a playroom within earshot of the kitchen. I’m blown away. The woodwork is gorgeous! I would LOVE a space like this to get away from all the cats while I blog (one is sitting right next to me as I type this trying to chew on my earbuds).  

I recently stumbled upon the portfolio of Johnson Chou, and architecture and design firm based in Toronto and was very intrigued by this penthouse: Situated in a turn of the century candy factory, this 2700 SF loft penthouse suite was one of Toronto’s first residential adaptive re-use projects of its kind. The owner, an avid sportsman with a penchant for traveling to remote areas to camp in the wilderness, requested a residence that evoked, within an urban context, a sense of the landscape he loved so much. What I love about this loft is the blend of modern and rustic elements. That juxtaposition gets me going every time.