***Pets on furniture posts will resume in a couple weeks when I return from holidays! – Kim

The other day my sister called me and said “OMG Kim, you have GOT to blog Lexie’s house!!!”. Lexie is a furniture designer and her husband is an architect (his firm is Mork-Ulnes Design) – which explains why her house is so freaking amazing. In 2006 his firm was responsible for extensive renovations of this 1896 Victorian home located in San Francisco, which features 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and is just over 2600 sq ft. I absolutely adore every square inch of this home, from the architecture to the decor. And for those who may house hunting in the area, this home can be YOURS, as the family is moving to Norway in the summer. This has got to be one of the top 5 homes I’ve ever blogged. (MANY more photos after the jump).

When this post publishes I will be madly cleaning house and doing last minute packing for my trip to one of my favourite places on earth (not that I’ve been to many), Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I worked my arse off to get some posts done to publish while I’m away (11 days – we leave tomorrow morning) so you won’t even notice I’m gone. While you’re not noticing I’m gone, I thought you’d enjoy some eye candy from one of my favourite magazines that I’ve mentioned on occasion (here, here and here), Décormag – which happens to be French Canadian. 🙂 (I saw those chairs above at Beige, and almost bought one for my desk…kicking myself now that I didn’t buy a whole set!)

I am a huge fan of industrial touches in a home….but sometimes people should quit while they’re ahead. I found this apartment on a site from Israel called bvd, and while I love some of the finishes, all in all it’s pretty much a prison cell, but a bit larger. I’m sure there are some men out there who are saying “WOW – that’s COOL!!” but I’m sure that sentiment would be short-lived after living here for a while. Your thoughts?

The other day while flipping through the Interiors issue of Ottawa Magazine that little ‘ol me was featured in, there was a GORGEOUS kitchen featured that was the creation of a new firm based here in Ottawa called VoK Design Group. This firm was created about a year ago by Dylan O’Keefe and Thu Vu. It’s so great to see such talent here in Ottawa, a city not exactly renowned for its exciting residential design. Dylan contacted me the other day and was kind enough to send along photos of the home featured in the magazine. Not only that, he saw my call for help with the exterior of our home and he offered to help us!!!! I cannot begin to explain to you how excited I am to have Dylan and Thu help us (hopefully – we need to talk to our architect). 🙂 Let me show you why I am elated at the prospect of getting advice from this firm….

Back in May of last year, Jo blogged the awesome San Francisco pad of DTI reader Heidi Lender. It turns out Heidi recently moved to Uruguay, and she gave us a little glimpse of her home in the first photo of this pet post a few weeks ago. She kindly sent us some photos of her new digs, along with a bit of info. She’s done an incredible job and I’m so excited to share it with you all.

Excited about our new digs — a century-old ranch in Uruguay, whose dilapidated little house we are in the midst of remodeling — and wanted to share (even though it’s not completely done). We sent a container’s worth of our belongings from San Francisco, and smattered with its contents, this rundown house felt immediately like home (not without a lot of construction woes and obstacles and dust, of course). You can see all of the furnishings from the San Fran flat that you posted back in May….amazed at how different it all looks down here. We bought the O’Keefe and Merrit stove off of Craigslist and shipped it down too, along with the vintage sink in the bathroom that had been sitting in our backyard forever, waiting for the perfect home.

P.S. Her photos are pretty fab – turns out she’s a photographer! Check out her website here. I freaking love her Once Upon self-portait series (a photo-tale that examines the individual through fashion and environment). A few of those photos are featured after the jump.