Interior Design Sense

I was thinking about doing a blog favourites post today as I typically do on Sundays but I am a bit too distracted to spend the time blog surfing. You see, back in April I mentioned (ok, bitched about) a French oral test I had at work. Unfortunately I did not get the grade I needed, and since then I have had no French training (due to lack of a training budget). All of a sudden on Tuesday I found out I am permitted full time training for the month of October, then I have to take the test, and once again I need to pass the freaking thing or potentially lose the position I have been working towards for the past 8 years. No pressure or anything. So if I have any spare time for the next several weeks, I need to have my nose buried in my French notes. *insert expletives here* The joys of working for the government of a bilingual country.
I was trying to figure out what post I could do relatively quickly, and realized I had some photos saved of “wood walls” – inspiration for my house when it finally gets renovated (on that note, we’re now considering tearing it down and rebuilding, which has thrown me for a loop, as that was never the plan when I bought this house). I want a rustic touch to the place, and what better way than a wall covered in wood slats…or maybe panels, but I’m leaning towards slats. Here are some photos with walls of wood that I really like. (See also this post on wood panelling)

House To Home
H&D Homes
Le Journal de la Maison
Design*Sponge
Avotakka
Design*Sponge

Yatzer	Apartment Therapy
Deko	Katarina Malstrom Brown
Design*Sponge	KITKA design toronto

Dwell
Twig Hutchinson
Design*Sponge
Style At Home
La Vallée Blanche
RUM
Dana Meilijson
MESH Architectures
Design*Sponge
Design*Sponge

Today’s reader request comes from Ina in Norway: I’d like to request a post about sexy, glamorous rooms. a’la your post called “Room porn” from the 13th of July. I feel that lately there has just been a lot of posts about entirely white rooms, and it’s getting old. Lets bring some colors to the screen (preferably dark, calm ones). As much as I love white spaces, I agree with Ina – dark spaces are SO moody and can be SO hot. I’d be happy to give you all a bit of sexy and glamourous today (yes, this is a bit of a subjective post but I tried). Happy Friday!

BNOdesign
Vogue
Lonny
Greg Natale
Nicholas Haslam
Todd Yoggy

Rue	Decor Demon
The Selby	The Selby
Design*Sponge	LoftLife Magazine

Rue
Rue
Lonny
Vårt Nya Hem
Mai-Linh
Graham Atkins-Hughes
Katarina Malstrom Brown
B. Garcia Designs
Woodson and Rummerfield
Tobi Tobin

Today’s reader request is from Eva in Toronto: I was wondering if you could perhaps provide some inspiration on how to decorate and style some build-in units in a main living space? I would love to see how others around the world have filled these spaces with treasures/books/objects d’art so that I can do the same in my home. Simple enough request, but sometimes quite a daunting task to get vignettes looking just right. I constantly change items on display in my house as I am never happy with them and get bored quick. Observing how others display objects can help us rethink how our own pieces are used. For example, I have a bunch of spray painted black vases (leftover from my wedding) on some shelving, and I took a wide/short vase and stuck 2 skinny/tall vases in it. I have a stack of about 8 books on the same shelving, standing upright with the tallest at the back and shortest at the front that way you get a peek at the cover of each book (seen here). Hopefully the following group of photos help to inspire Eva’s built-in displays.

Lonny
all about you
Lonny
Hus & Hem
Lonny
Design*Sponge
Jen Fong
MH Studio
Lonny
Studiomama
Freunde von Freunden
Lonny
David Jimenez
Living Etc.

Domino	Domino
vtwonen	Lili Diallo
Katrine Martensen-Larsen	RUM
Design*Sponge	Decor Demon
Piet Boon	The Selby
Freunde von Freunden	The Selby

Heather sent us the following request: I have a fantasy in which I own a cottage and of course it has one (or more) alcove beds–you know, those beds that are built right into the wall, sometimes with drawers or a trundle underneath, sometimes with a window in the nook itself? Can you put together a collection of those? I would love to see it, if only to fuel the fantasy. I LOVE the idea of sleeping/reading nooks, tucked away in corners. And sleeping arrangements at a cottage is always a dilemma because the more the merrier, and squeezing in as many potential “beds” as possible is always a must. Plus, you can get away with being an adult and sleeping in a not-so-ordinary bed, which in my mind is a total bonus. Many of the photos I found are of children’s rooms but translate so well into ideal beds at a cottage. (P.S. Check out this post I did on napping nooks, and this one on couches in alcoves).

Hus & Hem
Hus & Hem
Sunset
Folio
Sunset
Sunset
Fernau + Hartman Architects
Fernau + Hartman
Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles
Sunset
Steven Gambrel
Per Ranung
Design*Sponge
Robert Gervais
The London Magazine
Elliston Lutz
House Beautiful

If there is one book I’ve been dying to get my hands on it’s Grace Bonney’s Design*Sponge at Home. Well the wait is over! It’s finally here. This step-by-step guide will help you hone the skills to create your dream home. This is no “let”s admire the pretty pictures” book (although from these sneak peeks Grace has sent Desire to Inspire there is certainly lots of luscious room porn on offer. Just the way we like it).

Sneak peeks to DIY projects and basics, flower workshop to before & afters. It’s all here and I’m so excited. You can find it on Booktopia (AUS),  Amazon.ca and Chapters/Indigo (Canada), Amazon.com (US), Amazon.co.uk (UK) or pop over to Design*Sponge. Congratulations to Grace and her team!

Today’s reader request is from logsy: I recently discovered your blog (love it) and found myself wading through the first 100 pages in one sitting. Throughout this I saw a double desk (two chairs, two computers, side by side) and forgot to save the picture for inspiration. I now can’t find the page it was on. With this in mind, I was wondering if you’d consider doing a blog post on double desks? Here you go logsy, some side by side desks and a few that are different options for 2-for-1 workspaces.

Country Home	Bo Bedre
Design*Sponge	Bjarni B. Jacobsen/Eckmann Studio
Tommaso Ziffer	Massucco Warner Miller

rue magazine
Apartment Therapy
Jeffers Design Group
Design*Sponge
Greg Natale
MH Studio
Lonny
Marsh Cashman Koolloos
Apartment Therapy
du côté de chez vous
Frank Roop
Jeff Andrews
Design*Sponge
Design*Sponge
Vastu

Annie emailed us a while ago hoping we’d do a post on tall dining room buffets….and she mentioned she doesn’t really like classic ones with glass door fronts. I thought I’d do a post that features some tall cabinets as well as some other options for those looking for dining room storage inspiration. I had to include some buffet/hutch combos with glass doors because I think they are so handy – you can hide away linens, cutlery and other things you don’t need out on display, and glass doors let you see all your prettiest dishes without worrying they’ll gather dust.

New York Spaces	Petra Bindel
Design*Sponge	Amoroso Design
Hus & Hem	Alexander van Berge
e-architekt	OWI

Bolig Magasinet
Dwell
Freunde von Freunden
Freunde von Freunden
Location Partnership
Light Locations
Hus & Hem
Sköna hem
Tine K Home
Homes & Gardens
Ideal Home
Living Etc.
Living Etc.

Today’s reader request comes from Erick: I wanted to know if you could help me find ideas for designing/decorating an apartment with exposed brick wall. I think I’d like to see more of a modern take rather then a rustic one. I’m open to the industrial look also. Jo and I are HUGE fans of exposed brick. H U G E. And I think exposed brick works with any type of decor. Smooth and sleek modern furnishings add an interesting contrast to the rough and raw edge of brick walls. And industrial mixed with brick just makes total sense. WORK IT ERICK!

minh+wass	Chocolat Mag
Dan Duchars	Eric Roth
Design*Sponge	Design*Sponge
jeltje fotografie	Design*Sponge

Stephen Falcke
décormag
Style At Home
Marie Claire Maison
Salon Interior
Amy Lau Design
Apartment Therapy
Apartment Therapy
Design*Sponge
Lovatt Smith
Lucy T. Penfield
Patricia Martinez
Rafael Vargas
Rafael Vargas
Shoot Factory
Carlos Miranda
décormag

It’s been ages since I’ve done a chair porn post. I have a chair fetish you see, and have a hard time not bringing home a cool chair every now and then. And because I’m feeling a bit guilty for not having blogged last Sunday and wanting to spend the evening with my husband off the computer for a change, I thought I’d just slap up some chair porn for your viewing pleasure. 

Elle Decoration (South Africa)
Design*Sponge
rue magazine
Sköna hem
Style At Home
Design*Sponge
Eva Gentry
Le Journal de la Maison
Living Etc.
Deko
Avotakka
 Matchbook Magazine
rue magazine
Vårt Nya Hem

Happy Canada Day to all of our Canadian readers out there. I hope you enjoy the day off and partake in some typical patriotic nonsense like an overload of beer consumption, food and fireworks – all at someone’s cottage on a lake. The weather is supposed to be GORG here in Ottawa which will be perfect for the aforementioned activites – and coincidentally Wills and Kate’s visit. In the spirit of Canada Day, I thought I’d feature some spaces decked out in red and white (like I did this day back in ’09)- and while red is probably my least favourite colour, it is a quick and easy way to inject some drama and energy into your decor.

Folio
Hus & Hem
Jake Fitzjones
Darren Chung
Lonny
Design*Sponge
Domino
Domino
Hus & Hem
Magnus Marding
Agent Bauer
Apartment Therapy
happy homes
houseworks ltd
Vanessa Hadaway
Apartment Therapy
INGRAO
Murray Fredericks