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!!

It’s reader request time, and today’s post comes from Melissa: “I’ve stalked your blog for years, and now that my husband and I are in the throes of renovating a funky garage/apartment into our future house, I was hoping you might be able to help. The home is 1600 sq. ft, so every sq. ft is in contention. I am a writer/photographer and need to have a home office that, unfortunately, will be placed just off of our living area. I was hoping you might be able to point out some built in home offices or some unusual alternatives to computer/bookshelf storage?” I scoured my workspace photos and found some that are small/built-in/in or nearby living rooms. Hope this helps you Melissa and anyone else looking to carve out a home office out of a small area.

Caroline Paterson	The London Magazine
Country Living	Coburn Architecture
Hus & Hem	Altitude Lofts
design*sponge	Canadian House & Home
design*sponge	Sköna hem
Lucy Interior Design	Canadian House & Home
Robert Kaner	Caroline Beaupère
Sköna hem	Apartment Therapy

FCI
Insight Design Inc.
Robert Kaner
Jacqueline Glass
Jacqueline Glass
Marie Claire Maison
design*sponge
Barbara Weiss

Laura Fulmine, a London-based interior stylist and design consultant and have just finished a project in a cafe in East London called Tina We Salute You and emailed us to share some details and photos. “The installation was to coincide with London Design Week. It was only supposed to stay for one week however, it has proved so popular, the lovely people at Tina’s have agreed to keep it on for one more week! I wanted to do something small this year for Design Week and so approached this great cafe in East London who use their cafe as a part gallery, allowing artists to display their work for 6 weeks at a time. Instead of using the walls as a gallery I chose to do an interiors project and so painted all the cafe in South African wall murals.” The colours and patterns are so much fun. I love how this turned out Laura! Thanks for giving us a peek!

We received a request for help recently from Oksana: “I’m struggling in decorating living area in my townhouse. Basically, my living room is a loft type/open space with the kitchen area at the end. I have a sofa (contemporary) and would like to buy a chair (or chairs) or something else that will provide more seating space, look interesting, and feel comfortable. I’d appreciate any ideas and suggestions.” Photos of Oksana’s space are below, and my suggestions are after the jump.

I would suggest something low and not too big to keep the open feel of the room. Here are a few I love from Ikea and DWR (click the photo to find out more):

Consider checking eBay or thrift shops like Jo and I love to do because you can find some great stuff for CHEAP! Here are 2 chairs Jo found recently on eBay (I think) that I think would be perfect:

If anyone has any suggestions for Oksana please leave a comment!

Federica recently sent us photos of her home in Italy so we could share them with our readers. It’s beautiful with plenty of windows letting in natural light and was designed by her father Bruno Pogliani. Thank you Federica!