We’ve had terribly cold weather here in Ottawa for the last few days so I think it’s time to take a little trip. I’m thinking about a riad in the Medina of Marrakech. Problem is if I ever visited this home I’d without a doubt NEVER leave. Every detail is simply stunning. This is what paradise looks like in my dreams.

(Photos by Paola Miozza via Marie Claire Italy)

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…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 and a brief description can be sent to desiretoinspirekim[@]hotmail[.]com and PLEASE don’t send me closeups of your pet!)

“This is my Miniature Bull Terrier Lilly. When she was a puppie I loved to have this warm little doggy lying behind my back while I was working. Now she’s grown-up and is still lying there everyday, so we both have to spare that tiny space. But that’s ok as long as we are together.”
– Julia

This next entry I wrote up on behalf of my younger sister. She’s been wanting to participate in a Pet post for a long time now and finally took photos of her Persian named Pugley whom my fiancé and I rescued from the Humane Society several years ago (he drove our Himalayan nuts so she offered to take him). He’s a grump-ass but he was in really rough shape when we first saw him so he’s forgiven and he’s now the king of her house. Here are a couple photos of him on his throne.
– Kim and Jen
  

“This is Hank on the red leather couch at the production office while we were on location in Vancouver.”
– Ithyle

“This is a picture of my sister’s dog. I was watching him while they went on a holiday. His name is Hamudi which means cuty in Hebrew.”
– Adi

“This is my 4 months frenchie, SASHA resting on the couch on a sunny afternoon.”
– Mihai (Romania)

“This is a picture of our fancy tuxedo cat, Cricket, on our not-so-fancy furniture.”
– Nicole

“My name is Jenny West. Photo is by Katie Stoops. Boston Terrier is Stella. Katie is raising money for the SPCA humane society and is taking photos of pets as a side project. This is Stella being a little shy because she wasn’t so sure why she was getting so much attention that day. We had a wonderful shoot after we got to the park where Stella could be herself. (We got the modern and sleek sofa from a thrift store for $100. Fits the room perfect).”
– Jenny

“This is Mayzie in her favourite position in-between my favourite vases (much to my horror).”
– Kate

“This is Bleau, our Great Dane.  She has claimed our Lee Jofa sofa as hers now!  I can’t kick her off, just look at her! 😉”
– Melissa

“This is Bella, our year old Meagle (mini pin, beagle cross). This girl has attitude! She is the queen of the house (or at least she thinks so). She lounges anywhere she pleases and if you try to get her to move so you can sit there, she’s not happy. She loves this old blue chair that I inherited from my parents and have hopes of upholstering. She can lay there all day long and sunbathe (since its right next to the picture window.)”
– Jess

“I know I sent you one photo of my sweet red cat as a kitten in our laundry basket, but this afternoon something happened that I have to share with you too 🙂 I have another cat called Baktus – actually it is my daughters – and it loves to sleep in my expensive Arne Jacobsen Chair-7 that is placed in my bedroom. That means we never can lay our clothes there without having cat hair all over. I have been waiting to catch a photo of it at the right moment, and today I finally got a great picture of it. Then the fantastic thing happend: Two hours later the other cat Rahpaello, who almost never sleeps in this chair, hopped up on it and took an afternoon nap. I succeeded in taking a picture of him too from almost the same angel. And now you can see what came out of that.”
– Annette (Denmark)

“This is KitKat sitting in her (and my) favorite chair!”
– Kristen

“Beneath the couldn’t-be-bothered greyhound,Lizzie, and the ever-alert Toy Fox Terrier, Gordalita, lies a beautiful chaise which I bought on Ebay and recovered in silk velvet. No, really, it’s nice. Move dogs! People want to see the silk velvet!”
– Priscilla

“Ok, so I am not sure if your pet can be featured more that once? My kids really wanted me to send you this photo of our Beagle Rooke. He lays on top of this chair and looks out the window. He reminds me of a cat when he does this”
– Stephanie

“This is the family dog Winslow. He loves to play around on my little sister Erin’s bed in his favourite green shirt.”
– Michelle

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risulinna	sfgirlbybay

Lillian Day

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Gail Nieves

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-Chad Johnson

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Are you all as excited that it’s Friday as I am? I have the day off today from my day job (WOHOO!) so it’s the start of a long weekend for me, which is very welcomed because my fiancé and I need to get working on the renovation of my dressing room (which was suuposed to start last weekend) so he can fit all his clothes when he moves in to my place in a couple weeks. It’s going to be a fairly simple job – rip out the existing ancient shell of a closet, re-drywall where the closet was, replace the UGLY laminate floor with the new maple floating floor we purchased (that is not ready for us to pick up yet), paint, hang bars on one end of the room and floor to ceiling shelving on the other, and then DECORATE! Did I say that was simple? Maybe not. Time consuming for sure so I had better get cracking. To end off the work week and speaking of renovations, I thought I’d feature a couple I found on Country Home. The first is a makeover that modernized the kitchen in a Connecticut Victorian built in 1873 (and adjacent ‘keeping’ room and entryway). It’s all black and white – gotta love that! Further in is the gorgeous renovation of a 1923 Craftsman bungalow in Des Moines, Iowa.

Jo and I have a thing for church conversions. The creativity to turn a structure like a church into a home is pretty inspiring to think outside the box. I came across one last night while I should have been doing other more important things (like finally getting my tax paperwork together, late of course). This conversion (found here) is of an 19th century Protestant church in downtown Cape Town, South Africa. It’s painted all white with wood floors left in their original, rough state with modern furnishings to liven the place up. And the enormous suspended frame with blinds is a great way to delineate the kitchen from the living/dining spaces.