6 Home Upgrades Every Pet Owner Needs

Home upgrades can help a pet owner integrate their pets’ necessities with their interior design. Image: Intimate Living Interiors

Every pet owner knows how quickly four-legged creatures become a part of the family. If you’re a pet owner, you’ve probably even made some changes to your living space to accommodate them. And while setting up an eating area and throwing down a pet bed is a start, making your home pet-friendly has the potential to cramp your style. Fortunately, there is a way to seamlessly integrate a pet’s needs into your architecture and interior design. Check out these six home upgrades every pet owner needs.

Minimize the mess of bathing your pet with a pet shower. Image: Charybdis Developments

1. A pet shower

Taking your pet to the groomer is a hassle, but many of us choose to do it because it’s easier than trying to wrestle our pets at home. That is, unless you have the right setup. By adding an elevated shower space with a handheld showerhead, getting your pet cleaned up goes from nightmare chore to easy task. The ability to lean into the shower space makes your pet feel safer (and consequently easier to handle), but a half-height wall still protects you from their mess. Bonus: It keeps your floors dry, too.

If you want to minimize the wetness issue even further, put the shower in the mudroom or laundry room. Your damp but clean cat or dog can dry off in the space without exposing the rest of your home to moisture.

Pull-out pet bowls make it easy to hide feeding stations away. Image: Cabinets & Designs Incorporated

2. Pull-out bowls

Food and water bowls are a necessity and, oftentimes, an eyesore. We try to dress them up, buying the most attractive bowls and putting them into aesthetically-pleasing stands. Still, they don’t do much for your home’s decor. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could hide them away until they’re needed?

With a pull-out drawer, you can. Cleaning up for unexpected company just became that much easier.

Your pet door can blend into your architecture. Image: Feldman Architecture

3. Pet door

Okay, a pet door is in no way a novel home upgrade for pet owners. Most pet doors, however, come in the form of unsightly plastic flaps. It doesn’t have to be that way; today’s pet door options extend well beyond a cutout in your existing front door. Integrating your pet door into your house’s architecture takes it from eyesore to elegant home upgrade.

Give your pets a permanent safe space by building pet beds into your cabinets. Image: Soda Pop Design

4. Built-in pet beds

Are you sensing a theme? Building your pet’s necessities into your existing cabinetry makes everyone’s lives easier. You get to minimize the visual obtrusiveness of the items your pet needs for a comfortable life, and your pet gets a safe space they can rely on. Unlike a free-floating pet bed that could be relocated at a moment’s notice, a built-in pet bed will always be there for your pet if they are seeking refuge.

Keep your pet hydrated this summer with an outdoor water bowl. Image: Scot Eckley

5. Outdoor water bowl

Summer’s here. You’ll probably be spending more time outside, and your pet will undoubtedly want to join you. You can ensure they stay hydrated and add to your property’s hardscaping with a permanent water bowl. A well-designed, sturdy basin beneath a water spigot makes it simple to give your pet access to water all summer long.

Integrate your dog gate into your room design. Image: Mankato Home Tours

6. Built-in dog gate

You may have rooms in your home that are pet-friendly and others you want to protect from your furry family member. Many a dog owner has turned to the removable baby gate to separate spaces for their pets. While functional, it doesn’t contribute anything positive to your decor. Instead, opt for a built-in gate. You can customize the size and material to seamlessly integrate into the design of the rooms it separates.

More pet owner ideas

These home upgrades will get you started, but there’s a whole world out there for you to explore. From built-ins to pet furniture, there is a huge range of options to integrate our pets’ necessities into our interior design and architecture. You, your four-legged friend and your home’s style can live together in harmony.

What are some of your pets’ favorite home features? We’d love to hear all about it below.

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Kacie Goff via Freshome.com - Interior Design & Architecture Magazine http://bit.ly/2kyRIQA