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!)

I have attached a cracker of my VERY over weight cat Horangi (he is on a diet of VERy expensive low cal food but it is impossible to break through his terrible deeply ingrained laziness!) on the coffee table my flatmate whipped up and a large poster by Debbie Carlos.
– Julia (Wanaka, New Zealand)

I’ve attached a couple photos of my girls. The first is of Heidi. She’s a humane society rescue who loves to stretch out on my antique table to watch the geese on the water and catch some rays. The second is Bailey, who is also a rescue. One of her favourite spots is my director’s chair. Usually she’s curled up in a ball sawing logs.
– Wendy

I bought this chair at a yard sale for $25!  It is huge, the leather is soft and worn, and it sucks you right in.  It has become the coveted seat in our living room, especially by my new kitten Mae who sleeps there most of the day.
– Hilary (Philadelphia PA)

This is Lucy. She is half beagle, half bull dog and has a talent for finding nice furniture to take naps on…nonchalantly, of course. The chair she is sitting/laying on was an antique find ($25) that I recently completely reupholstered and had restuffed with a bright, fuschia velvet complete with a high gloss black finish. Perfect for long nails…oy! In other words, she should not be up here.
– Johanna

This is Calvin our 6 year old domestic short hair. I was taking “before” pictures of 2 book shelves I am refinishing, and Calvin jumped right up there to pose. The second picture is Calvin exploring the innards of the dresser we picked up free on the side of the road.
– Mallory (Enid, Oklahoma)

This is Keeva my 6 month old female golden retriever. I call her Keeva the Decorating Diva because whenever I am moving things around my house she is right there beside me watching everything I do. Once she jumped up on a table and knocked over the object I had just put there – guess she thought it didn’t look right!
– Ali (Bradford, Ontario)

this is our cat Panini.. she sleeps in the strangest places 🙂
– Steve & Stephanie

These are actually my mom’s babies, Shiner (mini dapple dachshund), Spike (dachshund-brother of Jasper), Jasper (dachshund-brother of Spike) and front and center, as usual, Sparkle (French Bulldog…and the ONLY girl mind you). Obviously, it’s nap time on the couch!
– Kirsten

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!)

I finally got round to photographing our whippet Albert on the Bertoia chair that I bought my husband for Christmas a couple of years ago.  It’s never really been my husband’s chair though, Albert staked his claim to it from day one.
– Helen

Thought I’d share these photos of my 2-year old tabby cat, Yoni. In the first one he’s on my Habitat sofa with a Primrose & Plum lambswool throw blanket, and the second is a vintage Danish chair we’ve re-upholstered and re-varnished, with a Roddy & Ginger cushion.
– Katie (London, UK)

I snapped this quick picture of Boomer wrapped in our bedroom curtain. The light coming through the window made for such a pretty glow.
– Kristi

I snapped these while visiting my parents in New Hampshire. Their dogs, Pete and Gracey, call the shots and Pete MUST be wrapped in a blanket before everyone leaves the house. Sometimes, my mother even pops a blanket in the dryer before she gives it to him, so it’ll be warm and toasty. Not sure they cared this well for my brother and I!!
– Jessica L.

this is simon, and he thinks i bought this sofa for him.
– Jessica B.

Here is Amelie taking a nap on the couch.
– Cintia (Brazil)

I couldn’t help myself-I just HAD to send an email chocked full of MY babies! I may be biased, but I’m pretty sure my pets are the most amazing animals ever:). Mini my six-year-old mini rat terrier, Baxter my sweet gray, 7 year-old boy cat and Finn our new addition “mixed” puppy age somewhere-between 6-7 months-old, really complete my family.
1) Christmas rolls around, we have our first Christmas Tree as a married couple (and growing family…hello pets! My husband, Mini and I moved into our home and started our remodel May of 2010. By August we had Baxter and by October we had Finn!) and Mini LOVES it!
2) Miss Mini on a stack of blankets on our huge, comfy couch. Miss Mini…uh, I mean…The Princess and The Pea.
3) In the middle of our home remodel, we adopted a stray dog…all the way from Colorado! We live in Washington State-getting a dog here was an interesting feat. Here Mini still isn’t sure about Finn-our new addition. However, they snuggle on the couch as the remodel progresses…who needs throw pillows when you have pups this cute??
4) BAXTER! Feisty as usual and lounging, oh-so-casually, on our couch!
– Kirsten
  

Back one Sunday in August I blogged about a new shop here in Ottawa called Green Light District Design. It’s one of my favourite shops that I must stop in whenever I’m visiting the Byward Market. I’m stoked to have GLDD as one of our new sponsors and thought I’d do another little intro to showcase some of their gorgeous wares. The following photos I took on a trip to the shop (sadly I only had my iPhone with me) when I stopped by to pick up some Christmas gifts for my mom…and of course, a couple things for me. 😉

Think unique and timeless, a cool and contemporary simplicity of design that still retains its soul.

They had the most beautiful saddle leather and iron butterfly chair in a stunning red sitting in the window…

You have no idea how badly I covet the chair below. David and Deborah, the owners, took it down from the window and insisted I try it out. BIG MISTAKE. It’s like SITTING ON A CLOUD. Or what I would think sitting on a cloud would feel like. 🙂

This table, the Loves Me, Loves Me Not 8 petal table, is so cute I can’t stand it.

This coat rack almost made it home with me.

I picked up a gorgeous hand-painted table runner and a dinner plate/platter for my mom (haven’t had a chance to get a photo of those) and the following vase (I have one from the same artist).

Below is my current dining table centrepiece. I adore the dishes I have collected so far from this shop, and since I don’t really have open shelving to show them off, I decided to just stack them on a tray on my table. We use them all the time, and I just love how they don’t line up when stacked because each piece is handmade and therefore has subtle differences in shape and pattern (the table runner is from GLDD as well).

After the jump are more incredible pieces of furniture I found around Green Light District Design.

Stacey sent us in a reader request I wanted to tackle today and while it’s quite brief, I found it intriguing: “Hi! I’m not sure if you’ve done this one, but I’d love to see kitchen fireplaces…..thanks!” Easy enough request, but I immediately began to wonder how many photos I’d find of kitchens with fireplaces. I think it’s a bit odd to have a fireplace in a kitchen, which tends to be one of the warmest rooms in the house (if you cook that is). Although the more photos I found in my stash the more I thought how fab it would be to have a fireplace to make a kitchen even cosier. I’m sold!

Marie Claire Italy	Sköna hem
Domino	Sköna hem
Per Magnus Persson	Adriano Bacchella
Sköna hem	Hus & Hem

Elle Deco Spain

booli

Hus & Hem

Hus & Hem

Tracey Butler

Hus & Hem

Michael Robinson

Skelton Harris Interiors

The Selby

Tim Clinch

Hus & Hem

House of Pictures

Marie Claire Maison

I love the name Mixed Pickles for a vintage shop. We heard about a very cool vintage shop of that name though San Francisco based photographer Christina Schmidhofer, who happened to have photographed it. Christina put us in touch with the owners and they provided us with a bit of history:
Mixed Pickles is Sharon Hoyle, Roger Williams and a big pile of really great vintage stuff. Sharon opened the first location in North Berkeley in 1998. Roger wandered into the shop in 2002. They struck up a conversation about 1920’s Jazz musicians, and have been talking ever since. The opportunity for a great new location in their hometown of Oakland presented itself. The new bigger & brighter shop opened as a partnership in December 2010 when the contents of their two homes reached maximum capacity. Favorite things: Salvaged and architectural antiques, advertising signs, furniture with clean lines, and finding new uses for vintage items. We dislike things made of brass, and the color lavender.
(Check out their blog and website for info, particularly their latest finds). The shop looks like a place I could spend a ridiculous amount of time in scouring each and every little square inch. Too bad it’s so far from Ottawa…