Jo just emailed me a scanned copy of the latest issue of Inside Out magazine (one of our absolute favourites by the way). It’s their special 10th birthday issue and inside is a story called “style ideas that never date” featuring an expert design panel…..and Jo and I are one of their experts!!! We’re included with the likes of stylist Sibella Court, Glen Proebstel their style director, and Karen McCartney their editorial director. This is so exciting for us – we’re so thrilled and honoured that the mag wanted to include us on their panel. Thank you Inside Out!!!!

Just got home and on to the blog and all I can say is “squeal”. I love Inside Out and I’m so honoured to be part of their 10th anniversary issue. You must must must get your hands on a copy. It is full of the most beautiful homes of the most talented people in Australia. Stellar edition! – Jo

Hope you all had a fabulous Easter weekend spent with family and eating great food and lots of chocolate (like Jo). I spent the last half of it with a really REALLY bad stomach virus that was passed around to most members of my immediate family. Good times. I haven’t eaten since dinner Saturday so I’m hoping my appetite comes back (maybe not full force though!). That being said I’m a bit behind in my blog research but I did manage to find a classic Swedish flat that I really like for it’s ethnic and modern touches, loads of comfort and great built-in storage (via Lagerlings).

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

“my pup lucy. my new table top sculpture…. she likes to sit on the window shelf  and watch the world go by.”
– Dennis

“My dog Oliver, taking a nap.”
– Kym

“I was playing around with my camera this weekend trying to document my living room for my blog (before I change up stuff for the 10,000th time :-), and I happend to take this shot. My photography skills are limited to point and shoot, but I managed to capture my cat Charlie resting on one of my favourite pieces of furniture – my grandma’s retro armchair. Charlie loves to snooze up there, while keeping an eye on the turmoil of the street below…”
– Katja (aka Fat Cat)

“Cletus knows she is not supposed to be on the couch. This particular couch is in my front room, the “Cat Free Zone”, but sometimes I forget to close the door and I just know that she will be in there curled in a ball, pretending that I can’t see her snoozing. In this pic she knows she’s been caught! Sometimes she gets evicted but if she looks at me cute enough.. she gets to stay until Dad gets home.”
– Sara (Ottawa)

“My husband and I adopted 8 year-old Whiskey from a shelter a year ago, and he’s 17 lbs of fluffy love! This week he discovered the comforts of sleeping on the back of the living room chair. I bought the pillow case on a business trip to Africa, and it is hand-painted.”
– Laura

“This is Gus. He belongs to Designer Darryl Carter. He posed on a chair in Darryl’s Middleburg, VA Country retreat.”
– Nick

“Here are some photos of Oscar, my friend Meredith’s cat, whom we were “cat sitting” last week. This was his favourite hang out spot. So cute – didn’t want to give him back!”
– Sheila

“This is our 6 years old Jack Russell, Toby, who simply loves sleeping and making himself cosy on our sofa, on our beds, and with pillows and cushions in tow!”
– Susan

“this is my dog Cash chillin on my Rachel ashwell arm chair, and watchin tv on my west elm sofa!”
– Becky

“Hi, this is Gala, my 2 year old Himalayan. We are from Lima, Perú. Gala loves to rest and play on the top of my computer´s chair… even when I´m working!”
– Jen

“My kitty sitting on my bed…hope this isn’t too much of a closeup.  I just really like these pillows 🙂”
– Jessica

“This is my golden retriever Ella! We live in Manaus, right beside the amazon rainforest.She thinks that every fluffy place in the house belongs to her.”
– Karime (Brasil)

“Gracie Rose lounging on the deck”
– Lauren

“Lucy sleeping halfway off her chair. Yes, it’s her chair now.”
– Sarah

LolaNova
Ashleigh Ewing
abchao
The 10 cent designer
afewthingsfrommylife
Candi Mandi
jasna.janekovic
kaylovesvintage
rossyedinak
Super*Junk
tovemichelle12
Lisa Airdrie

It’s about time for another reader request. This one is from Nadine: “I am wondering if you might have some inspirational curtain or window dressing photos? We are just moving into our new (well new to us) unit and are having a little trouble deciding how to hang some curtains… i.e. to the floor or to the bottom of the window sill etc. Any advice or examples would be greatly appreciated.” Now I often find myself wondering what to do with window treatments, in particular curtains, and never really know what rules I should be following. After going through my photo stash, it’s pretty clear that the acceptable standard is long curtains that either just touch the floor or puddle a little. And in my search that was for the most part all I found. My 2 cents is that if you have a small window and you’re trying to keep the space casual, then hanging a curtain that ends a foot or 2 below the window works. I did that in my office in my haste to do something with my little window. I happened to have had a piece of fabric I was dying to use that covered the window with about 15″ going below the window frame and just hooked it up on clips….a year and a half later and they’re still up and looking adorable (to me anyway). So here is some inspiration for you Nadine. And if anyone has any curtain tips for Nadine please do leave a comment.

Lori Dennis
Tracey Butler
Phoebe Howard
Rodolphe Foucher
Blount Design

Amanda Nisbet	Eric Roth
Atlanta Bartlett	Simon Brown
Steven Gambrel	House Beautiful
Siskin Valls
Retrouvius	Guido Barbagelata
Perianth	Rodolphe Foucher
Domino	Judy King