Kevin O’Shea emailed yesterday with a submission to the next Monday’s Pets on Furniture post, and I noticed his signature included a link to Kevin O’Shea Designs. Turns out Kevin is an interior designer based in New York City and Provincetown, Massachusetts. His firm is brand spanking new, having only been launched in the summer of 2009. He’s got a great eye and believes in creating comfortable and timeless spaces. Below are photos from his portfolio including info on a HUGE project he’s currently working on (and a few “before” photos). I cannot wait to see how it turns out!!!

Curious about Kevin’s HUGE project I mentionned? Here is some info in his own words:

“As you probably saw on the website I am currently in the throws of renovating an 18th century house (The Martin House) on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The property was a restaurant for the past 30 years and then sat vacant and rotting for the past 4 years. My partner and I found it in the spring and I have spent the past few months transforming it back to a single family home. Incredibly a lot of the architectural details in the house are original to 1750 including gorgeous wide pine floors and UNPAINTED mantels and wainscoting! We are about 5 weeks from the completion of construction and then the fun part begins! I will be continually updating the progress of the house on my company blog and hope to have it completely finished by the Spring.”

I am so jealous. To have a house with architectural details maintained from the era it was built is amazing. (My 100 year old home completely lacks any architectural detail whatsoever). I am definitively going to be keeping an eye on Kevin’s blog to check out the progress. Wishing you lots of luck with it Kevin!!!

I think I could use a little dose of some gorgeous photography to get me out of the Thanksgiving-ate-too-much-long-weekend-is-over-already blues. You may recognize David Tsay‘s name of photos from the pages of magazines such as Domino, Martha Stewart Living, Cookie and Real Simple to name a few – and he was the photographer of the famous Betsey Johnson pink New York apartment spread that I still think is one of the coolest pads ever.

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!)

*****HAPPY THANKSGIVING fellow Canadians!!!!*****

“Jitters is catching a little sun on the vintage folding chair that my mother re-weaved! It also one of my few salvageable pieces that went through Katrina.”
– Heidi (Hattiesburg, MS)

“This is my whippet Marvin. I love him. The smiling couch photo was taken while I was photographing something else and he kept nudging me to get my attention. So, I turned around and he was laying there smiling at me. HILARIOUS. The bed photo proves that HE believes it is ok to sleep, nap, lay on top of my bed. Although, as a rule in my house, it is not.”
– Danielle (Durham, North Carolina)

“Winnie and Bendel wanted me to share with you some candid shots from over the weekend.
Winnie – French Bulldog, 10 months. Bendel – Toy Yorkie, 2.5 years.”
– Scott & Jess

“Here’s my silly Yorkie named Marley. I think he thinks he’s a cat— loves to be on the furniture with something soft underneath him! This is his current favorite spot in the house.”
– Katie (Knoxville, Tenn.)

“Beatrix surveying the room from the top of our wing back chair”
-Jessica (Austin, TX)
  

“This is my cat sitting on top of the red locker.”
– Annelie (Umeå , Sweden)

“I have gone back so many times to your sofa that you built yourself, and have kept saying to myself “I can do that”. I’ve been searching forever for the perfect sleeper sofa with no luck. Mine is nothing like yours, to be honest, but you insprired a fellow Ottawan to give it a shot. I found fabric that I couldn’t pass up and just had to do SOMETHING with, and I came back your post again. It’s finally finished and being lived on by my cat Doug.”
– Erin (Ottawa, On.)

“This is Guapo. He loves being on furniture, whether its our vintage leather club chair, radiator cover or coffee table.”
– Anne

“I enjoy reading and viewing your Monday’s posts featuring pets. They are so cute. I wanted to submit two pictures of my miniature pinchers for feature in next weeks ‘pets on furniture’ post”
– Marilyn

“This is our 5 month old German Wirehaired Point, Otto, who was caught yesterday sitting on the living room chair. He’s taken a liking to this chair as it’s just his size and of course, the lightest colored piece of furniture that we own, now covered in brown hair. 🙂”
– Kristin (Denver, CO)

“At my mother’s urging, I am sending you a picture of Jake – our 6month-old Weim/Lab puppy – on our Ikea leather couch. He’s a big (and getting bigger) Cubs fan!”
– Amanda

“Violet and Coco, my perfect pair of library bookends! 🙂”
– Debbie (Michigan, USA)

“Double Trouble, Mandy (Panda) and Jack Black Daniels, A Pirate (the little one, yes, thats how he’s registered) enjoying the cool leather on a hot summer night”
– Mel (Tampa, Florida)

“Our lovely Ollie relaxing in his favourite spot on the mohair, suede and leopard print niche in our kitchen where he relaxes every day whilst we cook. A far cry from when Ollie first turned up on our door step as an escapee farmdog who wouldn’t even come inside and slept on our doorstep!”
– The Carey Family (Umbria, Italy)

I am still a bit uncertain as to what to post on Sundays, but today I thought I’d do something different because I visited a very interesting place on Friday that I thought I’d share, since I took a ton of photos. It’s called the Third World Bazaar. This bazaar happens every weekend (Fridays – Sundays) in autumn for 7 weeks, beginning Thanksgiving weekend (which is this weekend here in Canada) and ending November 21st. I’ve been trying to go yearly for a few years now and it’s amazing. It’s a huge barn filled with thousands of items from countries all over the world – clothing, purses, furniture, knick-knacks, carpets, jewelry, Christmas decor and much more. The owners buy the majority of the products directly from the artisans and craftsmen in the source countries. This means they get to travel the world seeking out these beautiful hand-crafted products including Morocco, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, Thailand and India. I always leave the bazaar with a car full of goodies, and this year was no different. Below are a few photos of my purchases and many photos taken inside the bazaar. If you’re in the Ottawa area, you really must head out to Manotick and visit the Third World Bazaar….and make sure to go with an empty trunk!

I have a thing for punched tin – and Jo does too so I think some of these pieces above will be going in her parcel that I wanted to send out months ago…and maybe that Asian wall art…

I bought these on my second trip out to the bazaar. Yep, I went twice. The first time was too overwhelming and I spent most of the time snapping photos. I think the dragon will be a Christmas present for my nephew. I love the punched tin inlay in the wood vase. PRETTY!

This thing is SO RAD! It’s huge, and made out of recycled tires. It’s from Thailand I think, and in Thailand these bins are used to store garbage. It has holes in the bottom so it could be kept outside and used as a planter. I’ve heard this is also great for storing firewood. I may use mine (when I have space for it indoors) to store blankets. And now for the photos from the bazaar (which are not that great because we arrived at about 6:30/7 pm so there was no natural light)….

99% of the posts on this blog are published to inspire our readers. I’d say the other 1% are purely selfish posts that Jo and I post because we find something we adore and want to remember. This is one of those selfish posts. My twin sister sent me this home on Hus & Hem the other day and I went a little nuts. I am in love with the black exterior of this home. I’ve been thinking alot lately about what to do with the interior of my home, particularly the new addition we’re adding, and haven’t given alot of thought to the exterior. But after seeing these photos I WANT A BLACK HOUSE!!! The interior of this home is pretty fabulous too because it’s black and white and that’s what I’d like to do to mine, but with less of a modern/Swedish vibe and more industrial and ethnic bits thrown in.

P.S. My husband and I found 2 local architects that we’d LOVE to work with for the addition we’re planning for the house but one is too busy and the other missed an appointment with us this week. I’m starting to worry we’ll never find anyone so if anyone out there knows of an architect in Ottawa who is creative and likes to think a bit outside the box, please email me @ desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com. THANKS!!