I know eh?

Kelly Behun rocks!

I recently came across the website of New York based interior designer Kelly Behun and to my shock (or horror) I discovered that we have never blogged her work. I find this nuts because I have just added her to my imaginary top ten list of favourite designers of all time. And on top of that, I am giving her a title – QUEEN OF WHITE. How she makes white rooms work THIS well and be so damn interesting is beyond me. (Perhaps the fancy lofty NY condo backdrop has something to do with it). I’m smitten. And grateful for this momentary diversion from the cat drama of yesterday (….no takers yet, and I can feel the beginning of the insanity of potentially owning 8 cats creeping into my bones – hey, even straight jackets are white! will the walls of my padded cell be white too?!). 

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!)

The picture I attached is of my cat Aslan (we call him our toy lion) resting on my $20 Craigslist dresser. He’s so big, he almost stretches across the whole thing! Of course, he makes himself at home on every piece of furniture – he is my best decoration!
– Anna

Ruby, lying on my antique wrought-iron bed.
– Kiera

Hi, do you know how to use an armchair corectly? My one-eye cat Edek lies down on it to jump and chase the second cat, Cymek.
– Ewa, Zielona Góra (Poland)

We are a rescue home and are suckers for Golden retrievers. Here ate some shots taken over the past couple months. Youngest is Bella that was in a crate for the first 10 months of her life until she found us and now she has the life!
– Patrick

1 – Elliot (Wirp), Oliver (Pants), myself and their sister Madi all shared a tiny 1 bedroom apartment in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, WA. They were all VERY busy with the goings on of the hens that lived across the street that would break out of their pen. Almost daily, I will find both (HUGE) boys snuggled next to each other on this, my favorite green chair, or atop one of the many pieces of luggage I’ve collected.
2 – A tiny Elliot, aka Wirp stretched out atop of my old 1950’s cream colored sofa.
3 – Elliot + Oliver sleeping on striped vintage bedsheets.
– Gabby

This is my cat, Wilma, on my daughter’s hand-me-down table. (She had to leave it behind when she moved to Hawaii). Wilma randomly picks a spot for hanging out and today it was the coffee table.
– greta (minneapolis, minnesota)

Maria- the evil cat that turns into an angel when asleep.
– Irina

This is my Burmese cat, Ellie, sitting next to a bunch of Australian natives on my Blackwood coffee table. She’s clearly fascinated by the flame of the candle.
– Kath (Canberra, Australia)

My baby boy Foxy pouting because he couldn’t have another treat.
– Becca (Michigan)

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!)

This was the first time I ever met Mr. Peepers. After overcoming some shyness, he proceeded to take me on a tour of his entire apartment.
– Sharon (Los Angeles, CA)
I’ve attached two photos:
• The first is of our 14 year old cat, Jake, curled up on my moroccan pouffe in my favourite reading corner.
• The second is a wide shot to include my beautiful 4 year old dog, Sam, lying next to our ottoman, and in the background our little Minnie, who’s 5 years old, in her favourite armchair. What a life!
– Victoria

Attached is a photo of my dog Harley relaxing at our new apartment in brooklyn. I think he likes it here!
– Dana

These photos are of my two cats Atticus Scout and Boo. Atticus is the torti-tabby and Boo is the black kitty. As with most cats, they rule the house but the bed is by far their favorite spot. I swear I did not pick my bedding to match my pets!
– Joan
  

Here is my long-haired miniature dachshund, Jager, on a few different chairs in the house (he likes to sit up high on furniture like a cat; I think it’s short legs syndrome!)
– Kara

I am sending you photos of our three cats; the first photo is of Mia posing on an antique chair and the second is of big boy Capone sharing our island with (a not so flattering bum shot of) Mia with little Sofia looking on from the countertop!
– Jennifer (Sherbrooke, Quebec)
  

Even though I’m not a fan of Mondays on your blog, you are so on top of my mind for inspiration that the first thing I thought about when seeing Jade on top of the table was “Monday’s Pets-on-Furniture”
– Indira (Dominican Republic)

This is of one of our three adopted cats, Riley. She is recuperating from a thyroidectomy and in this picture, is sitting on a Thomasville demi-lune table in our kitchen. She loves spending time with me in the kitchen when I am preparing meals.
– Susan

This is the precious face that greets me when I get home each day, GingerSnap…my precious King Charles Cavalier.
– Jennifer

I figured Monday was the perfect day to blog this, as I have a dilemma involving a cat and I really need help. 

Over the summer, our next door neighbour Steve developed cancer. It wasn’t long before it got really bad. We haven’t seen Steve in a while, and last we heard he didn’t have much time left – so we’re assuming he has since passed away. Steve had 5 cats and his family trapped all but one and took them to the Humane Society, where I am guessing they were all put down (the shelter here in Ottawa does not have a no-kill policy and his cats were not friendly to anyone but their owner). The one left was “accidentally” let out of his apartment a few months ago and we’ve been feeding her ever since. But with winter here being awful (over the weekend it was -30 C) we couldn’t bear to see her freezing outside anymore so 9 days ago we trapped her and put her in the only room we have available – a 5’x5′ windowless bathroom. 

She has really come around in the past week but she is really not happy stuck in that bathroom (she hasn’t been to the vet yet so we can’t let her near our cats). It did not take her long to get used to us and now I pet her every time I go in the bathroom to visit (although she is still a bit “feisty”) – which is fairly often because she meows frequently. As soon as I go in there with a book to hang out she shuts up and curls up typically in the sink and goes to sleep. It’s heartbreaking.

We were in contact with a cat rescue organization (who lent us the trap to catch her) but they are not offering to take her in – seems they are full to capacity and due to the freezing cold weather many of the cats have respiratory infections and passing it to each other. We don’t know what else to do. We already have 7 cats and there is NO WAY I can handle another one. (We have 3 cats on meds, and had a vet come to the house the last week to check them all out and give them shots…to find out 4 of them need dental work done. Total for all this being somewhere between $3000 and $5000). We can try and take her to the SPCA in Quebec that is a no-kill shelter but I can’t bring myself to do that just yet. 

So if anyone in the Ottawa area knows an organization that has room for one more cat, or knows anyone that might be willing to take her in, please email me at desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com. We’ll pay all her vet bills and whatever it takes to get her ready to go to a new home.