Monday’s pets on furniture – part 2

Posted on Mon, 14 Feb 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[.]com and PLEASE don’t send me closeups of your pet!)

My cats, Izzie (aka The Biz) and Mr. Mischief Monkey Man Poopstinks (aka Monkey, The Poop, or Mischief P. Stinks) taking over the couch. 
– Kerriann (Norman, OK)

This is my 3-year old labrador Gromit enjoying couch in sunshine.
– Hanna (Tallinn, Estonia)
1. While shooting Emily Schuman’s incredible home, I was lucky enough to snap this shot of Luna… she is a sweet but shy kitty
2. This dynamic duo belong to crafty modern quilter Alissa Haight-Carlton, and they are not afraid to show you how cute they are.
Bethany
This is Felix, my daughter’s cat. She would be so happy seeing it in your blog.
– João (Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil)
This is my little brother Bailey modeling the “new” mid-century chairs that my mom and grandma found on Craigslist, bartered down to an offensively wonderful price, refinished, reupholstered, and are shipping to me next week. Thanks Mom and Grandma Tiny! (I’ve included a “before” picture of the chairs.)
– Erika
These are my two dogs Charlie and Stella napping together on my Grandmothers leather wing chair that has been with our family for over 60 years! The chair has even lived in three countries (US, UK, Canada)!
– Alexandra Pagar (Cambridge, MA)

 

While I’m on the subject of pets, I have a couple of things to mention before I end this post. The first being Elfriede’s cat Gretchen that desperately needs a home.

I blogged the story of this adorable cat last Sunday (here). So far no one has expressed interest in being able to adopt her so I thought I’d give it another shot, because Elfriede and I are trying to avoid having this poor cat end up at the Humane Society. If anyone in the Ottawa area is able to give Gretchen a home, please email me @ desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com. Or if you have any suggestions of where Elfriede can take Gretchen to be fostered or whatever please email me or leave a comment.

I received a really sweet email from Michelle the other day, who has been in the design business for over twenty years, and happens to be a fantastic artist of pet portraits (and an animal lover). Check out her blog, Ispirato Design, where you’ll find her design work as well as pet portaits. Here are a few I found that are sooooo cute:

Monday’s pets on furniture – part 1

Posted on Mon, 14 Feb 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[.]com and PLEASE don’t send me closeups of your pet!)

This is our black lab Porter.  We’ve been fighting him for 9 years to stay off the furniture, but we’ve pretty much given up.  This is one of his favorite spots. 
Carrie & Ryan

This is by far my cats’ favorite place to hang out in the apartment. The window overlooks I-90 and Lake Union in Seattle, so there is no shortage of things to look at, and facing west gives them a good amount of lazy day sun to enjoy (when we actually have sun, that is…).
– Rebecca

Our little guys name is MAX he’s an 8 year old Yorkshire terrier, and He LOVES our new Wing back!!
Ashli

Penelope’s favorite spot in the house is our bed – she loves perching herself up at the end of the bed to watch youtube videos of other dogs on the TV. She also loves burrowing underneath the covers and finding a warm spot behind my knees. Sometimes we’ll come into the room and she has built a fort out of the pillows – and you’ll only see her eyes peeking over the top 🙂
– Jamie

  

Attached is a picture of Max, our 5 year old Mainecoon on one of our arm-chairs, sitting in his usual regal pose. The chair faces our front door, so the picture is representative of the first thing you see when you walk into our home. Also, our other Mainecoon, Gili usually resigns himself to the floor – you can see his tail in the lower right corner.
– Shruti

This is Oliver, our 7 year of Beagle who is so happy to have is newly recovered “favorite sleeping spot” back.
– Elizabeth (Dallas, Texas)

Attached are some photos of our cats Emma, Ollie, and Alfie. Although they’re a bit fickle about their favorite spots, one thing stays consistent: they prefer to sleep on a blanket that’s folded on top of a pillow that’s placed on top of the actual piece of furniture they’re sleeping on. (Divas!)
Photo 1: Emma relaxing on her favorite John Robshaw pillow in between the two boys; they have no manners and don’t worry about leaving room for us.
Photo 2: This is Ollie on an antique armchair upholstered in beige velvet. He prefers an extra pillow and a plaid cashmere throw to really get his nap on.
Photo 3: We rescued little Alfie last April; his youth on the streets resulted in some strange habits, such as his propensity for napping on the cable box.
Esther and John (Brooklyn, NY)

Hortencia, a lionhead bunny, sitting on a vintage 1960’s bar chair, notice the fruits and onions in bowls behind her.
– Rebecca Sansom (Nashville, TN)

Our dog Harper is a Vizsla, and I have heard the breed called “Velcro dogs,” meaning they like to stick to people. This is very true for her, so usually if she is on furniture it means we are on it as well. However, this one time she decided to be independent and sit on her own. Out of all the seats available to her, she chose to curl up in our papasan chair.
Watson is a very inquisitive kitty, and was very interested as I re-styled our bookshelves the other day. He tried sitting on each and every shelf until he finally settled amidst my husband’s old college textbooks.
– Leslie

Reader request – dining table centerpieces

Posted on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 by KiM

I have received several requests lately for photos of dining table centerpieces (or centrepieces, however you want to spell it) so I thought I’d finally take the plunge and post some for your viewing pleasure. I think I’ve been avoiding this request because often times in photos of dining spaces the tables are either left bare or are too over-styled for every day use. I managed to find some photos of centerpieces that are conducive to every day dining and while MANY of the photos in my stash featured a vase of flowers, I tried to find some that were a bit more creative. I currently have a large Ikea tray in the center of my table piled with my current favourite things (see here), which makes it very easy to remove if I need to set the entire table for a meal. So if you prefer a collection of items on your table, place them on a tray to make your life easier. Otherwise, your favourite large bowl would be perfect (stuffed with apples/oranges/lemons is cute), or include a cute table runner (I love my new one), or perhaps a tray of grass….


AT Casa

Kelly McGuill

Bolig Magasinet

Edina van der Wyck

Hus & Hem

Apartment Therapy

Lonny

Lucyina Moodie

Hus & Hem

Magnus Selander

Petra Bindel

Living Etc.

Decor Demon Mixr
Bolig Magasinet Frank Features
design*sponge Loft Life Magazine
Hus & Hem rue magazine

Jessica’s project #2

Posted on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 by KiM

Jessica from my previous post took on the design of her friends’ home almost 2 years ago and the result is a warm, contemporary vibe that is classic and will stand the test of time. Talk about gorgeous colours! Thanks for sharing Jessica!

** I closed the comments on this post because they were no longer about Jessica’s designs but became an excuse for a b*tchfest. Sorry folks, but it seems some just can’t play nice, and that ruins it for everyone else.