A reader named Theresa emailed us recently with the following: “My name is – as you may have seen – Theresa, I am a 23 year old student of Book and Media Production in Leipzig/Germany. My large interest in Fashion, Interior Design and everything vintage. I am living at my blog www.neu4bauer.blogspot.com for more than 2 years now. What I like best about my 60 sqm appartment in the Eastern part of Germany are the high ceiling with ornaments, the amazing light because of many windows and the fact that almost all furniture (table, desk, drawers,…) are made by my grandfather or taken from the attic of my grandma. We did a lot of refurbishing last year ;)” I am completely jealous of Theresa’s space. Those windows! The ceiling height! The herringbone hardwood! And she has decorated it sooooo beautifully. (Geez, when I was a student I lived in a freezing cold, tiny, low ceiling basement apartment on the main bar strip). Thank you for sharing your home with us Theresa!!

Our long-time blogger/interior designer friend Mark Cutler emailed us with some photos of a project he recently completed that we HAD to share. The home is in Santa Monica, CA, and was a huge remodel (it was actually raised to add a new basement – the architect was William Hefner). “We tried to create a home that has a modern interpretation of a traditional home. Our goal was to try and create a home that felt at home at the beach but wasn’t trying to be a typical ‘beachy’ house. The use of natural stone on both the interior and exterior gives the house a real warmth and great personality. I intentionally kept the furniture selections a little eclectic. I wanted it to feel like a collection that came together over years, not like a soulless decorators fantasy.” AH MAH GAWD. This home takes my breath away. The stonework is spectacular, and I really like Mark’s unexpected touches throughout – particularly the unique light fixtures. (Frankly, I could live in that closet). Thanks Mark!!

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 my sweet fancy rat Nim, playing in a pile of tribbles on our Eames rocker. Sadly she passed away yesterday, just days after this photo was taken. We miss her so much!”
–Allison (Ottawa, Ontario)

“I was trying to take a picture of my newest piece of furniture to post on flickr, but my little cat wanted to smell it and explore it at the same time!!! It´s in every photo I took that morning.”
– Sofia (Lisbon, Portugal)

“This is Biber who belongs to Jeanette in Potts Point. Biber was very happy to pose on this antique French table for a Come Over Sunday shoot.”
– Rachel

“This is Ptolemy, who I found as a stray kitten here on the streets of Brooklyn. He likes sitting on this chair so he can watch me sitting on the couch.”
– Stephanie (New York City)

“I send you a picture of my new black leather sofa, with my little yorkshire Calinka who has found the large armrests are very comfortable and likes to jump on as soon as possible. So she can look on the front door.”
– Catherine (Bordeaux, France)

“My Bunny’s name is Hyacinth and my Chihuahua name is Mikimoto.”
– Charity

“This is my kitten Pickles, lounging by the corner windows on my screened in back porch. She’s a crazy one, but so deceivingly cute. The second is Pickles perched on the shelves my boyfriend and I built (inspired from a previous post) and installed on our bedroom wall.”
-Julia (College Park, MD)

“I walked in the kitchen and found my sneaky 3-year-old shih’tzu, Lulu, on the kitchen counter!
Our 8-month-old (and 95 pound) bulldog, Newman, likes to play in the den, jumping from chair to couch in virtually the same stride.”
– Elizabeth (Brentwood, TN)

“I got Glitter from the shelter in September, and she appears to have already learned to love good design…”
– Liz

“Meet Oliver, my 3 year old beagle. This chair was a do-it-yourself project I tackled and Oliver decided he wanted in the ‘After’ photos. The chair has found a home in my bedroom and Oliver still likes to think it’s for him.”
– Aubrey (Dallas)

And thanks to Leigha for reminding me about an Etsy shop which is perfect for anyone who digs my pets on furniture posts. It’s called WildLifePrints and is the creation of a photographer named Jeff based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has so many adorable and quirky photos of animals on furniture, like the one below. (And he is having a 2 for 1 sale now until the 15th!)

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

“This afternoon I photographed a wonderful home, and the Peaches the family bulldog stole the show!! This whole house is cozy, warm and well styled…it really felt like the set of a Nancy Meyers film. Their 7 month old baby bulldog followed me from room to room stepping in to frame, as if she was art directing the shoot for me.“
– Bethany

“Nestled on his preferred sofa, Murray enjoys a holiday slumber with his red cashmere blanket.“
– Jennifer (New Jersey)

“This is our English Springer Spaniel, Razi.  She will be 15 in February!  Isn’t she adorable on our red chair?“
– Carly + Elizabeth (Michigan)

“One of my beautiful eight cats, Vassourinha, her name means broom in Portuguese ( when she was little she loved to play with the broom). Here she is resting at my green pouf.“
– Vilma (Oporto, Portugal)

“This is Hurley, our Olde English Bulldogge.  The only furniture he is “allowed” on in our house is our master bed, but I always find him curled up somewhere he shouldn’t be!“
– Erin (Boston, MA)

“Here are two pictures of my Siberian Husky, Tsuga, on my new daybed (she’s still learning to read and thought the box said “dogbed”). Also a snap of her wrangling her toys from underneath.“
– Coral

“I would like to submit these two photos of my Boston Terrier Twinkie on my brand new Pottery Barn chair. She knows it is off limits to her but when the sun is shining in she can’t resist and then she knows I am too much of a softee to make her get down!  How can you say no to that face?“
– Julie (Corning, NY)

“It is Kuzja. He likes to observe of all. Here and now, when I worked at the computer, it has climbed on a shelf and watched my work.“
– Oksana (Syktyvkar, Russia)

“This is flash! My three year-old, Caymus, named him after his love for super heroes! Caymus calls him his brother. Flash loves to play and lay around on his favorite sheep skin rug!
Furniture: rug, since he is a puppy he isn’t allowed on any of our other furniture! Don’t let his looks deceive you- this one is wild…“
– Jacy (Houston, Texas)

It’s freezing cold here in Ottawa and I hate winter with a passion. But yesterday my mood was uplifted with a visit from a photographer at my home for a little photo shoot. It was alot of fun and I was especially stoked that he really wanted to get some of my cats in the photos (which turned out to be hilarious, trying to get 7 cats to sit still). It worked out great amazingly and I can’t wait to see it in print. For the shoot I did a bit of redecorating around the house – necessary as my home has been in a bit of a state of disarray since my husband moved in back in May (with all his crap stuff). When the photographer left I took the opportunity to snap some photos while the house was clean and fur-free.