Interior Design Sense

… I should have known. Saw this amazing exhibitionist bathroom by Suppose Design Office in the latest Vogue Living. Raced to their website and devoured their unique Japanese take on minimalism. Great post idea until Kim informed me she had featured their work last year. I suppose I should have known. Still I had to share this bathroom. OMG! Love. Very scared about using it but love the concept.

Back in May of last year, Jo blogged the awesome San Francisco pad of DTI reader Heidi Lender. It turns out Heidi recently moved to Uruguay, and she gave us a little glimpse of her home in the first photo of this pet post a few weeks ago. She kindly sent us some photos of her new digs, along with a bit of info. She’s done an incredible job and I’m so excited to share it with you all.

Excited about our new digs — a century-old ranch in Uruguay, whose dilapidated little house we are in the midst of remodeling — and wanted to share (even though it’s not completely done). We sent a container’s worth of our belongings from San Francisco, and smattered with its contents, this rundown house felt immediately like home (not without a lot of construction woes and obstacles and dust, of course). You can see all of the furnishings from the San Fran flat that you posted back in May….amazed at how different it all looks down here. We bought the O’Keefe and Merrit stove off of Craigslist and shipped it down too, along with the vintage sink in the bathroom that had been sitting in our backyard forever, waiting for the perfect home.

P.S. Her photos are pretty fab – turns out she’s a photographer! Check out her website here. I freaking love her Once Upon self-portait series (a photo-tale that examines the individual through fashion and environment). A few of those photos are featured after the jump.

We received emails from Stephanie (from Montreal) and Bec who wanted to show off their bedrooms that they say were inspired by desire to inspire. Big smiles from both Jo and I as we’re here to inspire the pants off of you all. I thought I’d share them with you today, starting with Stephanie’s (the rest of Stephanie’s and Bec’s will be after the jump).

I’ve been a big fan of your blog for a while now, and your posts have definitely been a huge inspiration for my new bedroom. Though I’m not a professional photographer with a big (and expensive!) camera, I’ve got some decent shots and a very adorable kitten is even featured !

Calm, warm, welcoming. Casual city elegance. Relaxed but stylish. Never precious but always just what the client cherishes. Dreams and desires for real people in real homes. Welcome to the portfolio of New York interior designer Bella Mancini.

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!)

***Pets on furniture will be put on hold for the next couple of weeks while I am on holidays. Feel free to continue submitting photos to me. I will resume these posts on March 14th.

Here you have our hairy persian cat Bengt, six years old. He loves our furniture, here on a armchair from IKEA and a footrest from Englesson.
- Maria

Pets Name: Sabine aka Bean, 6months old on Feb 18th
Pic 1. Nice Chair: Her strong attempt at looking regal upon her Louis the 16th chair…
Pic 2. Nice Chair: Apparently her strong attempt at looking regal bored her to sleep… upon her Louis the 16th chairs.
- Margaret
  

Our pug Mischa, who lives a life of leisure.
- Heather & Greg

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!)

***Pets on furniture will be put on hold for the next couple of weeks while I am on holidays. Feel free to continue submitting photos to me. I will resume these posts on March 14th.

P.S. I’d like to wish my husband a very happy thirty something birthday! How about a trip to Mexico for your pressie? Love you Jeffrey!!

Here is my kitten Harriet-who I usually just refer to as Muffin Top ( “…is all that whole grain low fat” 30 rock anyone? )- on a mid-century looking chair i found for five whole dollars  recently. Two of my favorite things.
- Amber (Salt Lake City, UT)

Pierre on (his) ottoman.
- Robert

Here’s a pic of my German Shepherd Major Dukes, lying pretty in a ’29 Spanish Revival apartment in Hollywood, CA. Of course, he’s got a Facebook fan page, too.
- Kristopher

It’s hip. It’s cool. It’s retro modern and I want it to be mine. Add a piece of art or two. Find a place for my Featherstone chairs. Maybe a PNG spirit house totem in the corner and I would be very very happy in this Surry Hills warehouse. Sometimes stalking pays off. I’m already living my imaginary life here

I am in panic mode now – my trip is less than a week away and I have hardly crossed off any items on my TO DO list. AH WELL. As a result I did not have time to travel around blogland looking for my favourite photos of the week to post today. Rather, I had to spend some time digging through my photo stash looking for photos of the exterior of homes because my architect emailed the other day wanting to know what we were thinking of (we’re replacing the ugly-ass siding on the existing house too so it will be a BIG job with a hefty price tag) . I have no freaking clue what to tell him – all I know is because it’s pretty much 2 flat 2-story rectangles perhaps some of the windows could protrude a bit and at least 2 different materials could provide some visual interest. I have never had the opportunity to deal with the exterior of a home before so I figured we could just send him some photos of inspiration and he could figure something out for now. I narrowed it down to the photos below. If anyone has suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comments (plans we have so far for the new house are here).

Hillery Priest
Charles & Hudson
Hus & Hem
Buttrick Wong
Dwell
Carl Dahlstedt

Here are the last of my snaps of Freedom’s new Autumn collection. Contemporary, clean lined and urban. I’m loving the grey pinstriped dining chair. My photo just doesn’t do it justice. I’m scheming on how to include it in my black bedroom redo. The cane canopy chair is a great statement piece as is the oversized red lacquer Chinese chair. I can’t wait to see the collection in store mid March. There was so much to take in on launch day I think I need to take my time and visit them all again. Thanks again to Freedom for allowing me this sneak peek (and the chance to schmooze with Australian and NZ magazine editors and stylists).

Got a problem? Need some help? Just stand there shaking your head? Don’t know what to do? You’re not alone. Send us a link to photos of your design quandary and let the Desire to Inspire design crew help you …. that’s you lot … the readers …. get to it! You did such a good job last week I know you can do it all over again. Besides I have a Saturday to enjoy.

“I really need some design help! I love the black gloss look and I also love designs with featured wallpaper and deer antlers! Basically, I have a completely new bedroom to decorate and I have no idea where would be best to put my furniture, I would love to put my bed in front of the window however there is a radiator on the wall so I don’t think that it would be the best idea as I would lose a lot of heat.  Please please help me!!  I am wanting to incorporate a leather bed, black gloss wardrobes, bedside tables, a desk and possibly a bookshelf too. (This is) a pic of the furniture style I intend to buy. Thanks once again, I can’t tell you enough how helpful this will be x” – Emma