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!)

“Hi! My name is Brecht Maes and this is my cat. Me and my cat are from Belgium. His name is Smitty and the Barcelona chair is his favorite to sit in.”
– Brecht

“This is our 2 yr old Pit/Lab mix, Blue, on the newly revamped vintage day bed that (as you see from the extra image) he destroyed earlier this month! It was all original before, but now I actually like it even better! He looks terrified because he KNOWS he’s not allowed on THAT couch in particular ever again! I love this little couch–the whole thing swivels around and the backs fold down to make a twin size bed!”
– Kristine (Albuquerque, NM)

“I don’t know if windows can be called “furniture”, but I nevertheless love them! They’re from our summerhouse in Småland, Sweden. The cat is my family’s, and she’s called Silla. And she love those windows just as much as I do!”
– Karin

“This is my dog Buddy on the platform bed that my husband made for our guest room.”
– Grace

“The first photo is our tabby Soren when he was a wee kitten perched on our antique rocking chair. In the second photo of our favorite red-leather chair you can see that in his old age, he has grown an appreciation for lounging over perching (as well as quite a belly)!”
– Beth & Brian Weiss (Little Rock, AR)

“Our black cat (Womble) can be seen lounging on our Wegner “Papa Bear” armchair footstool (which is in dire need of reupholstering, but our cats don’t seem to mind.) Our Siamese cat, Poppy, blends well with the sofa cushions behind her (unintentional.)”
– Charlotte

“Sleeping Princess Norkadora!”
– Elizabeth

“Attached is a photo of JoePa and his sheepskin chair. JoePa is a Shetland sheepdog, so we like to think he loves this chair because it brings him back to his sheep-herding heritage 🙂”
– Sarah (Philadelphia, PA)

“This is Shadow, more commonly known as Tootsie. She is always very interested in any kind of change in the house, so when I bought this red chair recently, she claimed it as hers immediately and hasn’t left it since!”
– Caroline (Colorado)

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!)

“Here’s my Golden Retriever, Rose, relaxing on my newly re-upholstered shabby couch. I found the couch at a resale shop, its been stripped, sanded, stained and waxed to a soft sheen complete with a down cushion.”
– Michelle

“Meet Kiana.  She was rescued from Ohio, where pits are banned because of breed-specific legislation.  These days, she spends most of her time relaxing on her favorite chair, buried beneath the covers in our bed, or basking in the New Orleans sunshine.”
– Kelly

“Passionate Willow (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) loves to cuddle in my office chair at the Timeless Paper design studio. I rescued her two months ago and she is appreciative of her new loving home.”
– Emily (Drexel Hill, Pennyslvania)

“Hi there! Love your blog. This is Rosie, our Chinese Shar-Pei mix, curled up on our (obviously) super comfy IKEA sofa. We’re not quite sure how she got herself in this particular position, but this is her favorite corner in the entire house!”
– Christina and John (Saint Petersburg, FL)

“George and Lucy lounging on a lazy day in their favorite chair.”
– Ashley

“This is my dog, the name of it is Bidu, one lhasa apso of 3 years that like to sleep and is observing very.”
– Katia (Jundiaí – SP – Brazil)

“This is our lovely girl Frida, she sleeps everywhere but she prefers the dining armchair from Eames.”
– Marianne

“Our recently adopted kittens (Lucillia & Harley) have in turn adopted the furniture in our second floor library. They get to enjoy the softness of the chairs and couches, while basking in the streaming sunlight. It’s now an even better place to read.”
– Matt (Philadelphia, PA)

“my name is Romy, a carioca (live in Rio de Janeiro) and this is Oliver and Flip in my otomam, enjoy the sun of winter in Rio”
– Romy (Brazil)

Unfortunately today there will be no Flickr finds post. My husband and I are on a sort of mini-honeymoon in Prince Edward Island, visiting his family and friends (Jeff grew up there). I didn’t have time to get a post ready before we left so I thought I’d just slap up a couple photos from our trip so far (I’m hoping to get my regular posts up throughout the week so you folks won’t even miss me.) We arrived late Friday night after a 14 hour drive, and will be heading home next Saturday. We love it here – it is SO peaceful and relaxing. We’re staying at my inlaws’ cottage on Covehead Bay and it really is a little slice of heaven. We are hoping to make this trip a yearly summer ritual. Below will show you a glimpse of why we love P.E.I. – the first is the cottage, the second is the view from the window of the bedroom, the third was taken at our trip to a beach (Blooming Point) yesterday and the last 2 of bald eagles were taken by Jeff and his mother using his father’s INSANE 600mm lens. They land daily on the top of the trees along the water line. (I have this set on Flickr for photos of this trip which I’m be uploading to as often as I can).

We received an email from Ron and it started off like this: “I’m 27 years old and live in Tel Aviv Israel, currently an industrial design student. Me and my girlfriend just bought our first apartment and decided to design it completely by ourselves.” Now before I continue I have got to show you a few of the before photos.

And some info on what went on after they had their way with their new apartment:
“In short we re-did the whole place:
Tore down the wall in the kitchen opening it up to the living room and dining area.
United the the bathroom making one long and spacious bathroom
Made the bedroom bigger by closing a indoor balcony.
A bar that comes out of the wall.

I personally designed and built most of the items seen in the pictures:
Large wall clock
Floating unit below the tv
round table and red chairs
table, pipe lamp and the cats playing area which is hung in the red room
faucet in the bathroom
wooden bar
lights in the living room (with red cords)
bed and side table in bedroom. “

I cannot even put into words how in awe I am of Ron’s talent. Seriously. This apartment is FULL of creative and such well-executed items. See for yourselves. (I told him I may steal the cat play area idea). Check out his website HERE.

************************************

To see the newest trends in Bathroom designs for new apartments you can visit iBuyNew which feature Melbourne new apartment designs and Sydney new apartment architecture.

Valerie wrote us the other day to show off her remodeled bathroom and I had to share it on the blog because we LOVE a good remodel here on DTI. Here are the details:

“Our current home is a loft in Midtown Atlanta and while it is a different type of home than most of your readers post about but it fits our style. Recently we completely renovated our bathroom. We only have one bathroom in our 2 bedroom loft, so making it as comfortable and functional as possible was extremely important, all while keeping in line with the way we have renovated every other part of the home. We did the entire project ourselves, except for installing the tub (living in a high rise building means plumbing mistakes can be huge!). We tore it down to the studs and the original concrete floor and brought it back in an industrial but modern and polished way that fits with the rest of our home. This included chipping away the tiny tiles that covered the floor and building a concrete step to accommodate plumbing that can’t go under your subflooring when your floor is concrete.”

Valerie also sent along a couple before photos that show the bland space as it was, but unfortunately she does not have any photos of details to show the terrible workmanship from a very unknowledgeable do-it-yourselfer.

I am in awe that Valerie and Alan did all this work themselves. The mosaic tiles are a gorgeous touch, and the colour scheme is perfectly bathroom-y and fresh. Check it out below. (More information on their remodel can be found on their blog. Great job guys! Thanks for sharing with us!)

Sources: sink – Ikea; faucets, mirror – Home Depot; stool – HomeGoods; towels, bathmat, shower curtain – CB2; soap dispensers – Bed, Bath and Beyond; paint: grey – Valspar’s Bay Waves; blue – Behr’s Wishing Well

P.S. Stay tuned for another reader’s renovation later today…it’s INSANE!