One of the best benefits for home building and remodeling is customization. For pet owners, it is an opportunity to make furry friends feel at home. Take a look at these pet-friendly homes and borrow their inspirational design solutions for your pets.
Fauna Plus Designs Genius Solutions
Magazine owner David Beart turned to a Japanese company that knows how to design dogs. Fauna Plus Design specializes in creating a seamless transition between pets and human needs. Beart's home is still under construction, but chief architect Keiji Hirose has designed dozens of houses around dogs. He takes wasted space or existing elements and redesigns them for pets.
He uses:
- Built-in beds: Tuck dog and cat beds away under built-in seating or even the ends of kitchen benches.
- Indoor-outdoor drawers: Instead of a chain link kennel, build a hole in the side of your home that leads into the garden.
The Wolf's harmonious, mixed pets
When Oregan architect Richard de Wolf adopted an Afghan dog more than a decade ago, he had no idea that his newfound pet worship would begin to affect his work. As he remodeled the family farm, he kept his pets in mind.
The Wolf home was designed for both dogs and cats. They installed large, low windows so that their greyhounds could peek outside, added a washing station for paws at their rear entrance and under the sink for cat litter and dog food. Even their floors and doors were planned around pets.
- Matte finish: If you use an all-natural, matte finish on the wooden floor, you hide scratches and pet hair better than a gloss.
- Litterbox Station: Add a cabinet that both hides your junk box and creates storage space for junk.
- Dutch doors: Dutch doors open at the top and bottom. On pleasant days, the top can be opened to let in air while keeping pets with the closed lower door.
Naoko Horibe's pet salon
Naoko Horibe's cheap but brilliant house is more than just pet friendly. Horibe runs a pet salon directly from its 700 square meter small home in the United States, Japan. Horibe's home is divided into two. Her lounge entrance is a large door that resembles a barn at one end of the building, and the entrance to her home is in another. She used concrete, plywood and fabric dividers to keep costs down without sacrificing the benefits.
- Concrete flooring: Concrete flooring makes cleaning of pet rooms or mud rooms much easier. While Hirobe went utilitarian, you can get it colored and stamped to beat things.
- Waist high bath: Dog washing is much easier when you plan for it in advance. Add a bathtub to the waist with a wash rod.
Asahi Kasei's cat paradise
Cat lover Asahi Kasei turned to Plus-Nyan, Japan's ultimate pet-friendly home source, to turn her family into a cat paradise. The Kasei home was designed to be fun for cats but visually comfortable for people. They transformed classic cat must-haves, like garbage boxes and climbing areas, into an art form. Each door has a cat door installed, climbing shelves are built into corners and cats go out into the roof. They even have a fully enclosed outdoor area designed for cats.
- Climbing shelves: Dig the cat trees in favor of corner mounted shelves
- Cat walks: If you like open beams, have your cat climb shelves to exposed beams for more exercise.
- Outdoor security: Build a "catio", outdoor passageways and platforms for curtains protected by top-to-bottom fences.
