'Decor Goes to the Dogs'

For someone who has long been considered man’s best friend, it’s about time he had a say about the décor.

The New York Times recently ran a July 21 article centered on our furry friends and the rising popularity in pet-friendly design solutions and furnishings for the average ‘human home.’

Animal lovers, knowing that a happier pet is a well-behaved pet, are buying into the pet accessories. Others go as far as constructing their own feeding stations, with one pet owner transforming her old furniture into a place where her dog and cats can find their food (below middle).

As a former dog rescue volunteer – I used to foster dogs in my home until they were adopted – one of the many challenges I faced was keeping the house orderly. Whether it was spilt water bowls, the remains of a half-eaten teddy bear lying around, or puddles of dog pee, I had my hands full.

Decorator and pet owner Kristi Linauer, of Texas, said that her dog Boo would eat out of the cats’ bowls on the kitchen floor of their home. But moving the cats’ bowls to the kitchen counter posed another problem: kitty-litter encrusted cat paws padding across her counter (highly unsanitary).

Linauer took matters into her own hands, taking an old secretary desk and converting it into a feeding station. How’d she do it? By removing the hatched door, bottom drawers and shelf, Linauer created a top section for her cats and bottom section for her dog to eat, drink and be merry.

Basset-hound owner Toru Hirose turned to an architect to build cabinets (above) that would conceal his hound’s dog supplies and crate. Creating a wall-to-wall cabinet, the architect hid the dog crate and food dishes inside. Hirose’s hound, Marco, enters through an opening in the center.

“How you plan a house influences a dog’s behavior and spirit,” Hirose told The New York Times.

Couple Bill Hilgendorf and Maria Cristina Rueda, of New York, turned their Brooklyn apartment into an indoor cat playground with a bright yellow staircase (above) made from fiberboard that climbs over a doorway and above the stove to a set of kitchen cabinets. While adding an architectural element to the space, the stairs allow the couple’s cats to chase one another up and down the stairs.

Now you must ask yourself: “How can I think outside the litter box for my pets?” You’d be surprised what you might dig up.

-S. Gonzalez