Dogs and Design – the Gunther Project
AKA Designing for Frella
I can’t remember the last time I had a design client that did not have a pet. Actually, there is one young couple right now who doesn’t have a pet yet, but who have directed me to design with their future Doberman puppy in mind. I have designed pet showers, pet baths, and pet feeding stations. In many of my kitchens, I have added a dog food pullout. It looks much like a garbage pullout with a lid, and it is a handy place to keep the dog food bag, bowls, treats, and meds. Several of my own dogs have been Houidinis at opening “pet-proof” food containers, and thankfully these dog food cabinet inserts negate that issue entirely.
Of course, all of you have trained your pets not to go on the furniture. But for the rest of us (Fred is on my built-ins as I write this), let’s revisit performance fabrics for a minute. Performance can mean two things: durability (it won’t pill or wear over a long period) or stain resistance. A good stain-resistant fabric can be wiped clean when Fred jumps on it with his muddy paws or when Sharon spills red wine on it. Some are better than others. You can order a yard or less, and try out the fabric by rubbing it with wine or avocados or whatever you like, before you commit to an entire sofa in that fabric. My entire house is covered in cream colored Scalamandre Hopsack, which I find to be wonderfully Fred proof.
I thought there was no cure for the “Fred rips up everything the moment I leave my house” dilemma. Then I met my clever client who used an invisible fence… INSIDE. Genius! There are a couple of tiny flags around her sofa, and her two gigantic, exuberant labs have fence collars, so they stay off the furniture. She gets to choose where they go and where they don’t. I am so in, especially during tick season.
And then of course, there are the issues that come with pets in construction. At the beginning of my design career, I worked for a design-build firm and walked in my first day on the job to hear the project manager yelling, “What do you mean, you lost the dog???” There will always be doors left open by a well meaning tradesperson, as well as nails on the floor and even holes in the subfloor that could mean your pet falls through to the floor below.
The best advice I can give is, do not ever let your pet in the construction zone. When we knocked down the back of my house, Robert my contractor built walls of plastic secured by 2 x 4s. Nothing could get through, not even construction dust… or Fred. A construction site, even a small one, is no place for a pet. My client Ruth dropped her small dog at camp every day for eight months. If you are happy to pay for performance fabrics, dog showers and the like, consider pet proofing a construction zone to be an important part of your budget also. Then when its all done, you and your pets can cuddle on your performance fabric sofa in pure contentment.
