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This post took me ages to complete, as I could not stop going over and over these photos. Such unfussy yet perfectly arranged spaces, beautifully captured by South African photographer David Ross (check out a previous post of his work here).

If you’d like to send me photos to include in next week’s pets on furniture post, please ensure your photos follow these 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 wan t to show off…and your pet happens to be sitting on it. And second, if the photo is too dark or unfocused it may not make the cut. Photos, your name, location and a brief description can be sent to kim[at]desiretoinspire[dot]net. Thanks!

Here is Lolo relaxing on the pouff in our living room.
– Lidia (Poland)

These are Ronin (the black one) and Pepe (the cream one), my two exotic shorthair cats, sitting in ‘their’ Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman.
– Carlos (Spain) 

1 – Gibbie our rescued yellow Lab with Grace Ann our rescued English mastiff. The knockoff Le Corbusier sofas are dog beds at our house.
2 – Gibbie, (yellow female Lab) Beau our rescued English mastiff,  (he is sick with a suspected sinus tumor) and Hugo our rescued golden retriever. Hugo is also know as Buzz, named by my son for the lack of thought that goes on between his ears. He is absolutely the sweetest and the dumbest dog we have ever had. All of our dogs (we have six) are rescues from shelters or from people that couldn’t or wouldn’t take proper care of them. Beau weighed less than 6 lbs at 12 weeks when he came to us with sarcoptic mange and malnutrition. He grew to weigh in at 140 lbs at 5 years.
3 – I couldn’t resist this perfect pic of Beau the apricot English mastiff on the Le Corbusier dog bed. He is the light of our lives and such a rescue story.
4 – The silly golden did one of his patented “don’t hate me because I am beautiful, hate me because I am stupid” poses. This is totally a family joke taken from the 1980’s Pantene shampoo commercials. It is all in fun, Hugo the golden is a mama’s boy and much loved.
– Patty (Muncie, Indiana)

Pets on Furniture is one of my favorite parts of your site so I had to send you our 9 year old dachshund, Chili, posing on the Bertoia Diamond chair.
– Angela

This is my pug Olive, who thinks my reupholstered roadside find is hers. Who am I to argue?
– Jenny (Brisbane, Australia)

An unexceptional old garage with an amazing view. What to do? Take it apart, re-use its components (along with a few more), build a structure that celebrates the vista, the moments and the memories. Layers of family history. Old materials, new life. Garage by Seattle based Graypants.

DeWayne Lumpkin had quite a challenge put upon him. He was given $15,000 to completely furnish this 2800 sq ft guest house in the middle of southern Oregon wine country (it only had beds, a leather sofa and four wooden dining room chairs). The owners, David Gremmels & Cary Bryant who own Rogue Creamery, requested an industrial, agricultural style that could hold up to use by families, friends and even strangers through airbnb (listing here). DeWayne completed the project in 5 weeks and had to purchase EVERYTHING, from dishes, silverware, glassware, linens for bed, bath & kitchen, alarm clocks, hair dryers, etc….everything you need to stay and not want to leave. And it’s so fantasticly vintage/industrial I would absolutely love to rent this place and never leave.  (Photos by Nikita Lee)

Several Craigslist scores in the living room – the green leatherette sofa was $150, the chrome armed settee was $100, the burl root coffee table was $150 (LOVE). 

The rolling metal warehouse ladder used as a bookcase in the corner was found in the storage sheds at the Rogue Creamery. 

 I designed and manufactured most of the lighting throughout the house using equipment & elements from the Rogue Creamery Cheese Factory (and other sources). My nephew Justin, an appliance technician helped me with all of the welding, fabrication and much of the wiring. In the living room – the two floor lamps were made from parts of a cheese press that went together to remove excess liquid from a wheel of cheese. 

All of the pillows (except the two needle-point animal pillows on the twin beds in the cowboy room) were designed by me. They include a combination of vintage grain, feed & seed bags & pages culled from vintage cloth baby books (specifically those dealing w/farm animals – cows, pigs, chickens,etc.). The seed/feed/grain bags & baby book pages were paired with colorful hopsack linen (chartreuse, yellow, orange, red, etc.) and woven mattress tickings in primary colors. To form a less frenetic backdrop in some areas (long wooden train station bench & leather sofa in the family room) we scored multiple rayon sacks from etsy w/off-white backgrounds and the simple text “Premium Quality Seeds” in green type. We used a dozen of these particular seed bags whole and also trimmed to highlight individual words “Premium,” “Quality,” & “Seeds” on smaller pillows mixed throughout the house. All pillows are filled w/waterfowl feather inserts – a real luxury. Many visitors select the pillows as their favorite part of the house. Pillows are sewn by my go-to seamstress, Carmen Lawson (her husband was my nephews’ music teacher throughout high school). These pillows are available for custom order by contacting me.

In the family room we scored the 8 foot long wooden bench that came from a train station in India at a local consignment store for $159. The upside-down galvanized watering trough is the perfect scale for sitting at the sofa or on a pair of paisley poufs and eating away from the dining room. We saved a puppy-chewed leather sofa by taking the gnawed cushions to a shoe repair store for patching & polishing – at a cost of $100, two chewed cushions were repaired and the rest were revitalized with leather polish.

Paying the price to add simple black frames on the Cuban Posters in the Family Room wasn’t cheap – about $80 each – but they are the focal point of the living/family rooms and @ $320 for the entire group – that’s a lot of modern art bang for the buck.

The levitating life-size deer target came from the owners’ globe-trotting adventures.

The orange “spool” style dining room table was the biggest round table we could find – it is 65 inches across – it was $85 on CL and was transported from the 1970s to the new millenium w/a quick sanding and several coats of Annie Sloan’s Barcelona Orange Chalk Paint. As the table is used and the finish may become chipped, scratched or worn – we plan to do some additional roughing up and add a hand-applied wax finish – in the meantime, we love it the way it is. Random vintage office chairs in browns & beiges (not the hottest colors scheme right now, but perfect w/the orange table) were nabbed for $10-$45 each at flea markets & thrift shops. Two of them still had their inventory tags from the Denver Post newspaper.

Above the dining room table – 3 of the 7 fan blades are galvanized paddles used to stir cheese curds from the bottom of the vat – all fans outfitted w/porcelain sockets & each one sports a different Edison style bulb.

These milk cans used as bar stools in the kitchen with cowhide trimmed to fit the round tops were also found in the creamery’s storage shed. 

 The metal gates used in the two guest bedrooms were no-brainers. Scoring the extra wide one behind both twin beds really brought that room together – Cowboy Room Gate Headboard – $60 – Cow Room Galvanized Cyclone Gate – $40. When I saw the fiberglass horse head at the Flea Market with a $300 price tag – I gulped and walked away. Then I went back – how could a pass on that showstopper when I was planning a “Cowboy Room” based on vintage cowboy artwork & minimal furnishings already on hand from the homeowners.

In the “Cowboy” bedroom, between the two twin beds, there are a few round cheese molds welded together into an orb and electrified from the inside – we call this one “tumbleweed” and it throws great shadows around the room.

In the Cow Bedroom, a friend had taken photos of the Rogue Creamery Cows – colorful shots w/bright blue skies and splashy green grass – nine of these were framed with large white mats and pre-made bleached ash frames (matting artwork into pre-made frame sizes radically reduces the cost of framing). This group of art is the focal point of the Cow Bedroom at a cost of less than $500.

A contemporary home in Melbourne with interiors by Chelsea Hing. A restrained palette with rich texture and flash of accent colour. Simple lines, simple truth of material, simply stylish.