Decorating rooms that accommodate pets and people can be a challenge. Alright not everyone would bring their cow into their house, but a pig, yes. People and pets are part of the family and they need to be considered. Anyone that owns an animal protects them and gives them freedoms in their living spaces.
Have you ever been to someone else’s home and felt that they needed to handle their animals better? Or have had a guest that brought their pets to your house and felt the same? Like really??!!? Don’t they understand that not everyone feels the same as they do? The key to living harmoniously with our four-legged friends is to consider their needs but work within our spaces. If we give them an area that they know is theirs they are more likely to respect your space and wishes.
Being an owner of many pets and animals I appreciate those that have four legs, but being a decorator I can understand how some people feel that they should not be taking over the house. I had a client once that really wanted privacy in her city condo, but refused to decorate in fear that her cats would claw apart any window treatment she put in. To me there is a limit, animals are pets and we do not need to surrender our places to them. We can arrange our spaces and homes to accommodate animals with the objective to make our living and those that visit enjoyable.
Incorporate a living space for the animals in your home
As in all good design consider what the space is used for, is it a kitchen, family room or wasted space that you cannot do much with. Accommodating a pet bed, tank, litter box, food bowls can all be a challenge. The key is to chose a space that you don’t mind the pet living in, but also realize the pet does not need to overcome the space.
When remodeling our kitchen there were some requirements that had to be met by everyone in our house. We needed to include our two dogs and fish into the scheme of things. One requirement was we needed an area for our two labs so they were not underfoot when we cooked.
So how did we arrange our kitchen to accommodate everyone?
What our needs were:
Arranged the kitchen for easy flow, keeping in mind how the kitchen needed to function.
We chose to keep the work area at one end of the kitchen and the “living” to the other.
What our pets needs were:
The dogs wanted to be part of all the action, along with a space to escape if they needed it.
When planning a space consider your needs first. You can have it all, people and pets in your living spaces.
We had two bookcases near our fireplace. Where the cabinet used to be. We removed the doors, opened the space and added a dog crate with a bed. Now they have a place to call there own. I have seen great ideas on Pinterest whereby the space under a stairwell is utilized, under a bench, or create a TV stand with a pet bed underneath. There are many solutions to ensure your pets are happy, and your space looks beautiful
Send me your ideas that you have created or worked out to accommodate your four-legged friends!
