more information right here.

How do two women on different sides of the world get caught up in the world of blogging? How do these two women put together an interior design blog when they’ve never heard each other’s voice or seen each other at their unflattering best? How did Kim and I meet and why oh why do we spend our spare time in the hunt for the ultimate room?

If I was a room I’d be this one from Tim Kolk’s amazing portfolio. It was all Flickr’s fault. That’s where we met. We had a mutual love, interior design. Actually we call it room porn and in Kim’s case it’s a serious chair fetish. I, on the other hand, am truly deeply madly in love with lamps. Not good for my carbon foot print or my small two bedroom apartment. I’m trained as an interior designer and Kim is a web developer. I live in Brisbane, Australia. Kim lives in Ottawa, Canada. We both have an unhealthy addiction to shelter magazines and to surfing the net. So here we are 8 months after launching Desire to Inspire and we still haven’t run out of designers, architects, stylists or photographers. What happens on the day we do? Eeeeck!! Haven’t thought about that yet.

No I’d be this one by Ken Falk Design

During our amazing journey through the blogosphere we have met so many wonderful people – fellow bloggers, our readers, interior designers, architects and stylists. When I say met it highlights the surreal world of blogging. We’ve never actually met anyone. (I have met Anna from Absolutely Beautiful Things. We both live in a city in a part of the world not known for blogging.) But even though these friendships are virtual they’re not in a way. We do what we do to share it with friends whether a handful or the thousands that click to our page each day. Our friends and family in the real world think we’re mad but we’re not. We have just found the perfect way to showcase the wonderful built environment around us and all the things that make us stop and take a second, closer look.

Kim thought she’d be this amazing room from the portfolio of Paul Costello. So what do we have in store for design*sponge readers? This week Kim and I are showcasing Canadian and Australian designers, stylists and companies. We have exclusive pictures to share and hopefully lots of things that will inspire. We’ve begged our contacts and scoured the net.

Or perhaps this one by Wary-Meyers. Too many words! We usually let the rooms and the amazing talent behind them hold all the attention and it won’t be any different this week. Don’t forget to drop by Desire to Inspire as well. We’re workaholics because it’s business as usual there.

i’m so thrilled to introduce you to the new design*sponge! i’ve been working all summer with the team at also design to update d*s in a way makes the site easier to navigate as well as a more accurate reflection of my current design aesthetic. i’m so thrilled with the results and hope you will be, too. i just wanted to thank jenny, julia and matt for all of their hard work on the site. thanks, guys!

the d*s sneak peek will be posted at 1:30 pm today but i wanted to give everyone a few hours to check out the new site and see how everything works. here are some details:

*categories: this was the biggest change on the site and required the most work. all 4,700 posts from the past 3 years have been put into several categories for more targeted browing. simply click on the “categories” button to your left and you can browse by furniture, lighting, ceramics, artwork and much, much more.

*new editors: stay tuned on wednesday and friday to meet the new members of the d*s team. there will be an incredibly talented husband and wife team posting a great modern DIY project every wednesday and one of my favorite bloggers writing about food in relation to our favorite indie designers. stay tuned!

*sneak peeks: sneak peeks have their own page that will be automatically updated each time a new sneak peek is posted. just click on “sneak peeks” on your left and you can browse all 60 homes.

*guides: guides have their own page now divided by city guides (stay tuned for the chicago guide on thursday!), product guides, gift guides and more. the letterpress guide is housed on the new site now so no there’s need to click back to the old version.

*event calendar: i’m so thrilled to have a place to list design related events like the biz lady meetups and design fairs. just click on the word “events” and you can browse by month. days written in red have a related event listed. (more after the jump below)
read more …

Company: Lunalux Letterpress
Website: Main site, Blog and Custom Work
Services Offered: ready-made and custom printing. Lunalux offers graphic design services as well. Minimum cost for a project is $250.
Location: Minneapolis, MN

d*s reader sam just sent this photo over after seeing jennifer’s colorful libary below. sam’s not sure where the photo came from (if anyone knows please let us know below so i can properly credit the mag or owner) but we’re both in awe of the sheer rainbow of color. this photo is from the home of flickr user chotda. [thanks, sam!]

inspired by the modern birdhouse we talked about a few months back, d*s reader courtney of two straight lines decided to create her own version, using eco (and bird) friendly materials. and to be honest, i like hers better! she used a found gourd that she painted with non-toxic paint and used little twigs as the perch. couldn’t be cuter if she tried. [thanks, courtney!]

my friend jennifer is obsessed with all things faux-wood. give her a good bark print and she’s in heaven. she picked up a few of these little stitched nuggets from small stump the other day and now i have major nugget envy. they are so sweet and small- anything that fits perfectly in your palm has such a nice, comforting feel. you can pick up individual faux-wood nuggets right here for $16 each.