creativehomes

If you'd like to send me photos to include in next week's "pets on furniture" post, please ensure your photos follow my 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. Photos, your name, location and a brief description can be sent to desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com and PLEASE don't send closeups of your pet! Thanks!

Hjalmar, our 8 weeks old Boston Terrier, enjoying our sofa, finding his place in his brand new home. - Janne (Norway) 

Claire Oldham lounging on her vintage Happy Chair. That's her brother Cliff in the window! - Marie

This was our Great Dane FAY! She passed away a few yers ago but was such a cutie....she was like a really scooby doo: a big little dombo and full of fear! Laying on this Barok bench was really a victory for her! In ♥ memory. - Marina (The Netherlands)

Here's a pic I took some time ago of my dog Digby on our beloved Habitat armchair (the chair was a wedding present). - Helen

Here's Boo, having a break. - Maria (Norway)

It's my doggy, stealing the leather chair (as usual) but she's also browsing the web! - Stephanie

Here are two interior details - Silva and Nevis, both of which my friend Kristina took from an animal shelter and keeps in her apartment, in Vilnius, Lithuania. How do you like the way folders are numbered? - Mika

This is Mao, he mans the desk for me when I get up to assist customers. He takes his job seriously. - Maggie (Birmingham, Alabama)

Recently adopted from the area shelter, 8 year old, Sonney, got caught snoozin' on the couch! Sidetable with recycled pull, handcrafted by rusticbenches.ca - Tristyn (Perth, ON)

Jagger is my 5 month ( yes i said 5 months) old, Old English Sheepdog puppy. Weighing in at 41lbs already! His personality grows as much as he does each day......he loves to sit on top of the couch......not sure how much longer her will fit there.....but it's his spot for now! - Wendy

Three years ago, brothers Evan and Oliver Haslegrave moved into a raw space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The brothers had founded a building and design company called hOmE, an anagram of their names and those of their sisters, Hadley and Morgan. They’ve designed and built commercial spaces in New York City such as the restaurants Goat Town and Paulie Gee’s, as well as a cafe for Van Leeuwen ice cream. Their own home in Greenpoint provides the perfect canvas for their building experiments. When they moved in, all that existed was the bathroom. They were able to build out everything else in an effort to maximize their working space — the carpentry shop is just off the kitchen, and rather than waste space with a sofa, there are comfy armchairs and a hammock for relaxing. Thanks, Evan and Oliver! — Amy Azzarito

All images by Jennifer Causey

Image above: This was a sign that we found at Build It Green. We believe it came from a movie set. It was too big to bring through the hallway, so we took out the window, and with a lot of ropes and willing friends, we managed to get it in.

See more of Evan and Oliver Haslegrave’s Brooklyn apartment after the jump . . .

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If you'd like to send me photos to include in next week's "pets on furniture" post, please ensure your photos follow my 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. Photos, your name, location and a brief description can be sent to desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com and PLEASE don't send closeups of your pet! Thanks!

This is Memphis - our 7 year old boxer.  He isn't allowed on the white chairs, so he likes to get cozy on the rug.  While he's not laying around, he spends his time keeping watch out the window (while sitting on my pillows!).- Danielle (Baltimore, MD)

This is Chewy.. she is a pug in Dublin Ireland. This is a chair from India that she has chosen to use for sleeping during the day. It is in the hall by a window so she can see when we come back home from somewhere. She hates to be alone so it's very important for her :) - Helen C

Bijoux. One day she will be a star. - Dori (Pembroke Pines, Florida)

Here are some pictures of our miniature dachshund, Otis, on furniture in our home in Milwaukee, WI. You can tell Otis is used to having his picture taken by his doting mother... - Michelle 

Those two little guys are Ringo -starr chancho huesitos bigotes locos camarada boris peluca- (the grey one) and mikhail gorbachev (but we call him Gorby). Ringo is 6 years old and Gorby is 6 months old. They are schnauzers but we believe gorby might be a schnoodle, we brought him home in December after we lost our other doggy moshe dayan, he was suffering too much and had to put him to sleep (he was a poodle we found on the street, he was severely traumatized but we believe that through our love he got better). Ringo always had moshe with him and when he was gone he got a little weird and "depressed" so we brought him gorby, and they love each other so much it is too cute for words.
- Sue (Costa Rica)

This is Anita, my mom's cat. Her name is Ana Maria and she's from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. - Edward

Samantha enjoying her couch without a blanket under her for a change! - Stacey (Collingwood, Ontario)

I know that the furniture in the picture is not really design! But i really like the picture and would like to share it with everyone! - Nadia (Paraguay) 

This is Gus. -  Todd (Bloomington, MN)

Our window ledge is sat on by many people in our house and so we consider it a piece of furniture. So here is Sami thinking she is a cat and walking on the ledge. - Bruce (Blue Mountains, Ontario)

Each year, about the time when all the spring flowers are blooming, I wish for my own little garden where I would grow garden roses, hydrangeas and lavender. Of course, I’ve spent my entire adult life in an apartment, so the thought that I could actually grow anything is pretty far fetched. Perhaps an easier way to satisfy my flower fix would be bringing more floral patterns into my apartment. So I combed our sneak peek archives for some floral inspiration. I think I’m going the way of the floral bedsheets. If I can’t grow roses, at least I can sleep with them. — Amy Azzarito

*By the way, if you want to indulge in a garden fantasy from the safety of an armchair or beach towel, check out From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden, a great summer read.

Image above: Fantastic vintage wallpaper in Elisabeth Dunker’s Swedish home

Image above: Matt & Kelly Allison’s home in a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The oil painting was done by a family friend and once hung in Matt’s grandparents’ home.

Image above: This huge oil painting was intended for the living room, but it was too big to take up the stairs in Sarah Hvass’ Copenhagen home. Now it lives in the kitchen where the family enjoys it every day.

See more flowers in homes after the jump . . .

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Interior designer Merav Sade loves her work: transforming a space so it’s functional for her clients, choosing colors and fabrics and shopping for just the right vintage touches. She’s a mother to two teenagers — daughter Hagar is 16 and son Eitan is 13 — and also participates in an online architecture and design forum in Israel. So when it came time to become her own client, Merav knew she had to create something that would work for her busy family. The house is in a small city just outside of Tel Aviv in Israel. Merav spent three months renovating before the family moved in at the beginning of 2012. She loves Frank Gehry’s assertion that “Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness,” and tried to create a home that felt comfortable and welcoming, not perfect. Thank you, Merav, and a big thank you to Sivan Askayo for the lovely photographs! — Amy Azzarito

Image above: The master bedroom is located in the upper level. When I bought the apartment, there were only steep stairs with an exit to the roof terrace. It was actually a dream for me to have a bedroom with a roof terrace and a small garden adjacent. I bought the old wooden doors and replaced the old glass with vintage green glass, and the tiles between the bedroom and the terrace are 100 years old. I got them at the last minute, and they fit perfectly. The terrace is tiled with a travertine stone, and above the bed I put some self-portraits I took for one of the projects I did in a photography class.

Image above: I think the living room space really illustrates the laid-back character of my family. The old couch just gets more comfortable with age, and my kids love to sprawl out on it. The 20-year-old coffee table has seen better days, but we love to eat in the living room and put our legs up when we’re sitting on the sofa. I had my two favorite armchairs reupholstered. The blue flower vase I got in Brighton, England, and the two old shoetrees were found in an old shoemaker shop in Tel Aviv. When my grandmother came on a boat to Israel from Russia, she brought some of her furniture, and the dresser was one of the pieces that made the trip. It is quite a treasured piece.

See more a Merav Sade’s home in Tel Aviv, Israel, after the jump . . .

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The Danes, so incredibly good at designing.

via dwell.

When I spotted these videos from Japanese artist Masanobu Hiraoka I was completely and utterly taken. What a beautiful display of art and music, so sensitive and colorful, deep yet light… What talent! Take a look at them please and see what you think..

What I find so inspiring about Masanobu is that this all comes completely natural and he learns on his own… He hasn’t attended college showing that oftentimes our passion and talent needs no formal education but simply a will to follow through with our heart’s desires.Sometimes we get stuck thinking we have to go back to school to pursue what we want so there is something on “paper” but not always…

A little more about his background can be found at Je Regarde, a French studio who reps his work, “Masanobu graduated from Momoyama high school (general education) in 2006. He then started to work but could not give up his dream : being an animator. He started to learn animation by himself and is a completely self-educated artist. He now lives and works in Tokyo as a free-lance animator in advertising or music video for clients such as UNIQLO. Next to this, he creates his own animations based on metamorphosis and strange or impossible motions he sets up in an unlikely reality.”

How do these videos make you feel? What do they mean to you? 

Related posts:

1. Artist Tim Sebright
2. Artist Leslie Oschmann & Swarm Home
3. Artist Ana Montiel

Welcome to the first Shopgirl Visits column. My name is Jillian Leiboff, and I’m a photographer based in Sydney Australia. For the past 8 years I’ve been working part time as a photographer and whilst I started out shooting weddings, 3 years ago I started shooting shops and food for my blog.

I thought Holly’s readers might be interested in seeing some of the shops I shot, so in June 2009 I reached out to her and she liked what she saw. After that, I started randomly submitting my images to decor8 with my first recap being of the delightful Donna Hay store in Sydney. Holly has held a longtime love affair and fascination with Australian art & design but like most of you, isn’t able to hop on a plane whenever she wants to go see it for herself. Showing it on decor8 is the next best thing and that’s what I can do since I’m based down here though like love to travel so you may see the random post pop up from my travels abroad. You may remember seeing some of my images of the iconic Parisian store Merci on decor8, for instance. If not, I’ll list at the end of this post all of the stores that I’ve photographed which have appeared on decor8 in the past so you can catch up! Please take a look!

A few months ago I was delighted when Holly asked if I’d like to write a monthly column for decor8 called Shopgirl Visits. I was so excited I immediately began making a list of all the places I wanted to share with you. Each month I’ll be showing you shops (and the occasional artist studio, market and cafe where things can be purchased) that appeal to me and I hope to you. I’m always happy to get feedback so your suggestions are welcome.

For the first Shopgirl Visits column I’ve chosen the Sydney store, Koskela. Koskela is owned by Russel Koskela and Sasha Titchkosky and their company designs and produces some of the beautiful furniture you see here. Koskela’s motto is, “Follow your heart, trust your judgment, do it with joy”. It governs how they run their business and the types of people they work with and represent.

Koskela is one of the few stores in Australia that focuses on Australian designed and made products with a hand crafted element. Koskela stocks a collection of Australian made furniture, home wares, books and artwork for both adults and children. They recently moved from their premises in Surry Hills into a brand new showroom in Rosebery. As well as the showroom, the building is home to Kitchen by Mike, probably the most popular eatery in Sydney – you can see and learn more about Kitchen By Mike in the video below…

The shop is housed in a former canning factory and it’s a huge light-filled space where many of the original warehouse features have been left intact. Koskela also has a gallery space and a workshop where people can learn new skills or crafts. Some of the best of Australian design is represented here and I particularly loved the children’s area. I was sorely tempted by some of the cute lights on display and was trying to think of a compelling reason to take one home with me.

“Follow your heart, trust your judgment, do it with joy”

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning than having breakfast at Kitchen by Mike followed by a browse through Koskela. You can find Koskela at 1/85 Dunning Avenue Rosebery, Sydney. See you all again next month and don’t forget to check out all of my shop posts on decor8 listed below! – Jillian

Donna Hay General Store, Black & Spiro, Bison, ici et la, Empire Vintage, Studio of Ceramicist Samantha Robinson, Anthropologie (London), Merci (Paris), Albion (London), Miljo, The Finders Keepers Market, Cotton Love Home, davidmetnicole, Mud Australia and Astier de Villatte (Paris).

(photos: jillian leiboff with store permission)

Related posts:

1. Shop Tour: davidmetnicole in Sydney
2. Cloth (Sydney)
3. Kitchen Makeover in Sydney

When summer comes, I love rolling up the heavy winter wool rugs and swapping them out for something softer and lighter. These patterned rugs are handmade by Lydia Trott using 100% reclaimed fabrics. Each small rug is machine washable and would be perfect to use in a bathroom, kitchen or entryway. I really love the patterns Lydia managed to create while still keeping a soft, worn color palette. You can check out the full reversible, 2 x 3 foot collection of rugs and shop online right here. xo, grace

I am an unabashed supporter of Kickstarter. It has introduced me to some of my favorite projects and continues allowing independent makers to fund their dreams, big and small. In the world of small (in terms of size) dreams, this awesome stamp ring from Michelle Romo at Crowded Teeth is a new favorite of mine. This project doesn’t need to be over thought — it’s an adorable ring with interchangeable stamps that you can use to leave notes on anything. I’ve never met a cute stamp I didn’t like, so this one is definitely going on my funding list. If you want to read more about the ring, click here to check it out. xo, grace

*PS: I’m recording two radio shows today, so I’m ending a little early this afternoon (12pm instead of 1pm). Starting tomorrow, I’ll be sharing our pictures and posts from this year’s ICFF and National Stationery Show.

as it’s probably been pretty hard to miss, i’m still in the wonderful city that is new york. i’m sorry for the lack of non-new york related posts, but the good news is i have some amazing shops to share and a super stylish home tour coming up later this week.

it’s anna of door sixteen’s beautiful home in newburgh, new york. lisa, jenna and i spent the weekend there, being so well cared for — with delicious food and somehow even better company, so i’m excited to show you the home anna and her sweet husband evan so graciously shared with us. it’s a good tour, trust me. it’s a great one. in the meantime, here’s a look at my very colorful sunday in [new york] city.

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It has got to be some sort of blogger rite of passage to have anything tech-related tied to your brand or website. And for the very lovely Joy Cho of Oh Joy!, that moment has come. Joy was invited to collaborate with Microsoft on an artist series of wireless mice that are designed for easy use while traveling. Each arc touch mouse has one of Joy’s gold and silver patterns on it and would look pretty adorable next to any computer. I sadly don’t use a mouse at work, but Amy does, so I may have to convince her that we need one of these for the office. If you use a mouse and want to upgrade to something both comfy and cute, click here to check out and shop Joy’s new mouse online. xo, grace

Cute cute cute cute and squeaky cute! It's retro and colour and giggles and fun. Melki is a Polish furniture line. Redesigned chairs from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Smaka Design is a graphics firm while Melki and Smaka are Anita, Dorota and Łukasz. Nitka is the sewing cafe where visual identification, production (prints, website and internet store) and, of course, the furniture by Melki and Smaka all came together.

Very happy and proud to share our 2nd Face-to-face: a designer's profile today with Mae Engelgeer from Studio Mae. Marjon and Sandra visited Mae at her ground floor apartment of a house in 'de Pijp', a wonderful neighborhood in Amsterdam two weeks ago to talk with her about her textile label Studio Mae, inspiration, the way she combines work with family life and what it is like to start your own business. 

Would you like to see all the beautiful images and the complete interview then click here for the special Designer's Profile page. 

Photography: Marjon Hoogervorst 

There is wild cats in the forest, several. He knows it too.

This is where I sit. Talking to you.

In there. Talking to my self.

Canadian Cabin or a Native American Teepee for the cat? Ha.

You know you’ve hit a few problems when you are brushing your teeth in the mirror and suddenly you start to resent the time it’s taking.  You start doing deals in your head about how to shortcut the whole process, i.e. can I do the front and just whiz over the back, spending more time on them later. VERY BAD, who do I think I am, the President of the United States? He has every right to resent the time it takes to teeth brush, but me, ridiculous get a grip!

All of us are pooped we spent the whole weekend digging up rocks huge rocks and planting. There were a few scares, Maud and Mungo escaped, and my world very nearly ended but we found them. Graham had left the door open by accident, neighbours were kindly helping us hump 3 massive trees through the downstairs window out into the garden and we were all congratulating ourselves drinking beer in the garden when I thought it was oddly quiet. Out they had popped down the street and had zoomed into a neighbours garden, Mungo was hanging out in the front garden sniffing, but Maud had zoomed through the front door and up the stairs in the house (she is such a nosy parker). So at one point we had Mung’s but couldn’t find Maud, stress, stress, stress. Anyways so exhausted by their adventure were they that within 5 minutes they were flat on their backs fast asleep with legs in the air. As was I, funnily little family that we are!

Down to business, today I thought we should talk about hallways and transitional areas, areas that we pass through and are often times neglected.   Places that are transitional, poky, plain old awkward  I think deserve as much respect as say a living room.  Take hallways for instance. The minute you put that key in the door you want to be tantalised and surprised and you want your spirits to lift. For example I have a big white hand sticking out from the wall (2 actually) one holds handbags the other a big bloom of wisteria. On a console sits a bulldog, a big bunch of blooms, a candle and a massive book. A few pieces of art line the walls and an ostrich table hangs out on a little landing above. A little granny esq rug skims the floor and wham bam done. On a teeny tiny landing I have a rug, a little yellow chair, a moose and painting above. Simple as that, it doesn’t take much but by turning a boring old landing into a super cool little hang out zone is so much fun,   every time I come up the stairs to go into the bathroom I smile. Now I’ve come full circle back to bathrooms, oh dear wondering if I can possibly not wash the hair, splash a bit of water onto the face and get on with the day,  don’t get me started!

How simple is this. It really doesn’t take much to take transitional spaces to a whole other level.

Love love love this idea, scraps of rugs skimming stair treads. Pattern, texture, colour you don’t need anything else.

I say this  all the time, but the more things you add to a space the more interesting it becomes.

Happy Monday