7 Home Design Solutions for Pets

You just moved into a new place with your pet and you’re wondering what your options are to make it more functional for both of you? Here are 7 design solutions to give your pet a place to meet their needs while also meeting your needs to have a beautiful, functional home.

1. Cabinetry for Food Bowls and Food Storage

Pets’ food bowls almost always look like an afterthought. They’re often located against a wall in or near the kitchen where all aesthetics of a cleanly designed room come to a halting stop. They can also trip up the unsuspecting midnight snacker with a chime to wake the house.

The solution is cabinetry that integrate pet bowls to give them their place and hide them. These solutions can be built in while doing a kitchen or can be in freestanding furniture pieces. Ideal solutions include a place for food, treats and toys.

Inset bowls in a new kitchen provide a feeding area not underfoot and makes clear your pet is a family member.

These drawers provide everything needed and for feeding and then tuck away. Cabinet on the right is commercially available.

2. The Litter Box

Our cats’ waste functions are best unseen and best away from food. Solution one for litter boxes is the bathroom. If you’re doing a bathroom renovation, a cubby created specifically for a litter box is a nice addition. After all, it is what bathrooms are used for. Key is having the room for it, which is why a specifically designed cubby is nice. More than that, running water is right there for cleanup.

Customized space in your bathroom provides the perfect solution for a litter box

If a bathroom renovation isn’t in your future, stand-alone litter box furniture options are almost endless. An enclosure that blends with your decor can be stylish, discreetly hide a litter box, and serve other functions like seating.

Litter box enclosures can match any décor for a discreet solution in any room. (Photo: Grinnell Eco Litter Box Enclosure, via Wayfair)

3. Doggy Doors and Dog Gates

Has your dog ever had stomach trouble and needed you to open the door at 3 AM? Answer: Doggy doors. They’re great when you can’t be there every moment to give your pet access to the outdoors.

Doors can be created to match the style of your house. A radio dog collar can let your dog in and out while keeping your home secure. High Tech Pet Power Pet Eglass comes in at about 600 dollars (https://bit.ly/3gMxHjX). This keeps other critters from finding their way in.

Other doors feature weather seals to keep your house from being drafty or wet during driving rain.

Door and trim match the client’s house door. Door on the right opens and closes automatically when the door is approached with a radio collar. This provides security and is perfect when your dog needs access outside in the middle of the night.

Integrated doggy gates are perfect to protect rooms in your home where your dogs aren’t allowed, such as a formal dining room or when visitors require it. Gates can be simple, stylish, or built-in as pocket doors so they can entirely disappear from view. Be prepared for a big price tag on the latter if it’s not part of a home renovation.

The gate on the left fits the décor of the house and slips into the wall to disappear entirely. The gate on the right is stylish and easily added or removed from a doorway. Both can double a child protection.

4. Dog Beds and Enclosures

Dogs love enclosed spaces just as their forefathers enjoyed a den. And while you might want to place a dog bed centrally so you can watch your dog rest, your best friend might prefer being under the table. Homes can provide many opportunities to create a space that give your dog its own turf, and some of these use a space that would fit no other purpose. They can also be strategically located near outside access so your dog can rest peacefully while keeping an eye on the place.

This designed nook perfectly integrates into the home with matching trim, dog bed and even has its own art. (Photo: Rick Mattson Photography, via Houzz)

Here a cabinet provides a comfortable dog bed. A nearby cleaning area helps us clean our best friends after a walk before entering the rest of the house. The cabinets are a perfect location for leashes and toys before leaving the residence and the tile floor makes for easy cleanup.

5. Climbing Furniture

Cats have been climbing things to get a bead on trouble since before their domestication in Egypt. A well-designed system of shelves can get them off the ground easily to a safe height where they can comfortably relax away from whatever is happening below.

There are also store-bought options which look like minimalist art features, or bookshelf options that can serve a dual purpose.

A well-designed cat playground can double as attractive décor in your home. (Photo: Luna wall mounted cat shelves from MYZOO)

6. Pet-Friendly Fabrics

Pets can put your upholstery and rugs at risk for snags, scratches, stains, and fur collection. If you’re purchasing or upholstering, some fabrics resist these and should be at the top of your list, including: Leather, canvas, denim, outdoor fabrics, and synthetic fibers. Check the internet if in doubt. There are also fabrics to avoid: chenille, velvet, wool, linen, silk, and tweed.

If you have your furnishing already, Scotchgard can also be applied to make fabrics more resistant to staining.

Leather can show wear from scratches but these often become part of their beauty – “the patina of use.” Leather resists serious damage.

7. Pet Friendly Plants.

If you’re like me, you might have never considered that plants can be toxic for your pets if ingested. But plant toxicity results in about 10,000 cases of illness a year. Fortunately, most pets survive. House plants account for just over 5% of all pet poisonings (still comfortably behind brownies and chocolate sources at 8 percent, and human prescriptions at 17% — so lock that medication away!)

For dogs, the solution is easy. Unsafe plants can live on tabletops or shelves that are out of reach, but this won’t work for cats.

Common plants that are toxic are: aloe vera, baby’s breath, and daffodils.

A few beautiful options that won’t be harmful: blue echeveria, bamboo, and button fern.

There are many more, which can be found on the ASPCA database (https://www.aspca.org/news/announcing-top-pet-toxins-2016)

These are some of the unsafe plants to be avoided. Check the ASPCA for more details. https://www.aspcapetinsurance.com/resources/plants-poisonous-to-cats/

For more help with designing for your pet and other interior design needs in Chicago, reach out to us at Habitar Design, recently named Chicago’s best interior designer.

We welcome your comments. You can also see the full video of Chicago based interior designers Hannah Lewek and McKenzie Cain moderated by Jaclyn Jensen, where their design approach for pets is discussed in more depth.

Written by Jaclyn Jensen, a Chicago-based actress and skilled interview moderator and Mitchell Newman, the principal of Habitar Design, an outstanding interior design company in Chicago.