Fido-Friendly: 4 Homes Designed for Pet-Friendly Perfection

One of the best perks of home building and remodeling is customization. For pet owners, it’s an opportunity to make furry friends feel right at home. Take a look at these pet-friendly homes and borrow their inspirational design solutions for your pets.

Fauna Plus Design’s Genius Solutions

Magazine owner David Beart turned to a Japanese firm that knows how to take design to the dogs. Fauna Plus Design specializes in creating a seamless transition between pet and human necessities. Beart’s home is still under construction, but lead architect Keiji Hirose has designed dozens of homes around dogs. He takes wasted space or existing elements and redesigns them for pet use.
He uses:

• Built-in beds: Tuck dog and cat beds away under built-in seating or even the ends of kitchen counters.
• Indoor-outdoor crating: Instead of a chain-link kennel, build a nook into the side of your home that leads into the backyard.

The de Wolf’s Harmonious, Mixed Pet Home

When Oregan architect Richard de Wolf adopted an Afghan hound more than a decade ago, he had no idea that his new-found adoration for pets would start impacting his work. When he remodeled his family’s farm house, he kept their pets in mind.

The de Wolf home was designed for both dogs and cats. They installed large, low windows so that their windhounds could peer outside, added a paw washing station at their rear entry and below-counter storage for cat litter and dog food. Even their flooring and doors were planned around pets.

• Matte finishes: Using an all-natural, matte finish on your hardwood floors will hide scratches and pet hair better than a gloss.
• Litter box station: Add a cabinet that both conceals your litter box and creates storage space for litter.
• Dutch doors: Dutch doors open at both the top and bottom. On nice days, the top can be opened to let air in while keeping pets inside with the closed lower door.

Naoko Horibe’s Pet Salon

Naoko Horibe’s inexpensive but ingenious house is more than just pet-friendly. Horibe runs a pet salon right out of her 700-square foot mini home in Usa, Japan.

Horibe’s home is split in two. Her salon entrance is a large door similar to a barn door on one end of the building, and the entrance to her home is on another. She used concrete, plywood and fabric dividers to keep costs down without sacrificing utility.

• Concrete flooring: Concrete flooring makes cleaning up pet spaces or mudrooms much easier. While Hirobe went utilitarian, you can get it stained and stamped to punch things up.
• Waist-high tubs: Dog washing is much easier when you plan for it ahead of time. Add a waist-high tub with a washing wand.

Asahi Kasei’s Cat Paradise

Cat-lover Asahi Kasei turned to Plus-Nyan, Japan’s ultimate source for pet-friendly homes, to transform his family abode into a feline paradise.

The Kasei home was designed to be fun for cats but visually pleasing to humans. They transformed classic cat must-haves, like litter boxes and climbing areas, into an art form. Every door has a cat door installed, climbing shelves are built into corners and cat walks frame out the ceiling. They even have a fully enclosed, outdoor area designed for cats.

• Climbing shelves: Ditch the cat trees in favor of corner-mounted shelves
• Cat walks: If you like open beams, have your cat climbing shelves lead up to exposed beams for more exercise.
• Outdoor safety: Build a “catio,” outdoor walkways and platforms for felines protected by top-to-bottom fencing.