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[.]com and PLEASE don’t send closeups of your pet!)

oscar on vintage danish chair
– Danielle

This is our little boston terrier Gus. We all live in San Diego CA. Even though I am a professional photographer and spend the whole day shooting, I still come home, kick off my shoes and take pictures of the cutest dog in the world [I could be a wee bit biased]. Gus makes me smile every day. What else is that dependable!
– Tee

this is gracie my brother’s terrier. i got her to sit still for 5 seconds to take her portrait.
– Janelle

Here are a couple of photos of our much loved havanese mix pooch, Lexi.  Our sofa is actually Lexi’s very large dog bed.
– Joy

I had to share this one of our Cali sitting and admiring the backyard on our Ikea dining bench. We have 3 cats and this seems to be their favorite perch: they take their turns to sit on the bench.
– Swati (Cleveland, Ohio)

1 – This is not right.  Why is she making me sit here.
2 – Ok I guess I can do this
3 – Ok I’m safe on the 3rd floor.
– Bettina (River Forest, Illinois)

Well this is Winston sitting on my desk chair. This chair was purchased for all of 10 dollars at a thrift store and it has a wonderful wood cane center. I painted the chair Ralph Lauren “polo pony white” and upholstered it in a vintage burlap sack I bought at a tag sale. It’s a really a wonderful chair…. And Winston is pretty great too.
– Sarah (Los Angeles CA)

1 – These are my two poodles Louie (5) and Logan (3) laying on my bed. They think they are humans and are always sitting on some piece of furniture. Sometimes I find them laying in the bed under the covers with their heads on the pillows! People tell me their spoiled, I say their well taken care of 🙂
2- This is logan. Note: He’s on the bed; I’m on the floor…
– Gianna

This is my 6 year old rescued cat, Ellie on one of our 1960’s chairs.
– Joanna

Munchkin in my mother’s outdoor wheelbarrow
– Paula (Levittown New York)

I have some really good news for those who had been following my pleas for a home for the stray cat I rescued. First of all, her new name is Desiree. Wednesday morning I brought Desi to my vets to get spayed. It turned out to be a likely life-saving procedure as she had a really bad infection in her uterus from being unspayed for so long (and this means she is likely around 5, not 2 like the vet initially thought). Unfortunately this procedure also turned her back into the not-so-friendly kitty she was when she wasn’t in heat. The following morning an angel named Wanda drove all the way to Ottawa with her brother (she lives a 6 hour drive away), picked her up at the vets and took her to her new home. This new home is with Wanda and her other kitty named Sushi. I have no doubt that eventually, little miss Desi will become the sweetie I know she can be. I asked Wanda to send along some photos over the weekend and she obliged. The first one is the last photo I took of her, the night before she went off to the vets. The others are of Desi at her new home. Wanda, I cannot thank you enough for giving Desi the home she deserves. You are an amazing person.

At the end of the summer I blogged about the sad news that one of my favourite Ottawa shops, Green Light District, was packing up and moving to Toronto. On our last trip to the shop before the move, I decided to make a rather significant purchase and ordered one of their lounge chairs. When these chairs first arrived at the shop, owners Deborah and David insisted on taking the chair out of the window so I could try it out. OMG it was like sitting on a cloud! Amazingly soft leather that you sink into. I dreamt about that chair for weeks afterwards and knew it would be a perfect addition to the living room in my new house (which btw has yet to get past the planning stage). I was able to choose the colour of leather (I went with black) and cord colour (black again). I waited several months for the chair to be made in South Africa and get sent here with some other pieces Deborah and David had ordered. A couple of weeks ago on a quick trip to Ottawa, they delivered my chair. It is now my favourite piece of furniture. I cannot wait to get my new house finally built to show it off in. I finally managed to get some photos taken this morning (with my new Fuji X10 that I am still trying to figure out). Thanks Deborah and David!!!

Of course, with 7 cats I am incredibly fearful they may harm my chair (they know momma will freak if they do so they are pretty good about just laying on it and nothing else) so this is what the chair looks like when my arse is not planted on it.

P.S. Green Light District was featured in the latest issue of Toronto’s Designlines! A fantastic magazine I may add, that had me dying to take a trip to TO to check out GLD’s new shop and a ton of other shops listed in the mag.

I was meandering around one of my favourite Swedish blogs, Annaleena’s HEM, and came across a few simple and awesome DIY projects she’s blogged lately that I had to share.

First, how about writing words on a wall using rope lighting…

Or a simple clothing rack using copper piping and some cable (this one actually comes from Ivania @ Love Aesthetics)

And last but not least, covering a vase with bubble wrap, for something a little unexpected.

This reader’s home belongs to Lucy, and here’s what she had to say about it: We’ve been living in this house for 5 years. It had lots of, shall we say, ‘deferred maintenance’ when we moved in – all hidden under layers of cream paint. It’s gone from being a vanilla ice-cream-colored box filled with IKEA furniture that we bought in a single weekend (long story – we moved from England and had to start from scratch) through the arrival of our two kids, countless variations of layout and wall color, to finally becoming a family home. I blogged about the process (and other design dilemmas) at fourwallsandaroof.com. The most newly remodelled part of the house is the kitchen, powder room, dining room and family room. Love the mid-century vibe in the newly done rooms. Great job Lucy! (Some photos by Chris Gaede)

Cathy sent us an email the other day about a church conversion in her city of Seattle she thought we’d enjoy. She mentioned it has finally come on the market after a long and winding road including the first developer running out of money to finish the job. This former ‘First Church of Christ, Scientist’ is now 12 incredible modern condominiums. The website states: “Enjoy voluminous interiors boasting soaring ceilings up to 30 feet high and generously-scaled floor plans of 1,600 to more than 3,000 square feet of living space. Many homes include rooftop terraces… pricing from the low $500,000s to more than $1 million“. Very cool! Below are 2 of these condos (a basic one and a not-so-basic one).