Design Cafe: Designing for Pets.

Monday 12 February 2018

Designing for Pets.

Pets are considered as the perfect companion, well that is other than the significant other and the kids. People love pets because they bring life to a home. From dogs, to cats to other various animals, pets are considered as members of the family. Most times, people acquire pets for companionship, however sometimes, pets are recommended by healthcare specialists for disability assistance or to help with psychological issues. Different theories have been published on pets and emotional well being, some of which are contradicting. All in all, pets trigger ones emotions; the need to provide love and care for another. Different pets have different needs and therefore when designing homes for people with pets, it is necessary to provide comfortable places for them in the home. Pets are like young kids in some ways; they need special design elements for their comfort and for the owner’s ease in taking care of them.

FLOOR AND WALL FINISHES

Homes with pets require a lot of cleaning and tidying up. Pets do not care for their surrounding neither, do they help with the cleaning up after. Some are purely indoor pets, however others love spending time outdoors enjoying the sun and fresh air. With this in mind, one needs to consider floor and wall finishes that are easy to clean, do not show dust easily, do not scratch/chip when furniture is moved around and that do not damage easily with water. Marble and porcelain floors are highly advised as they come in very many finishes that can easily match any style of the home and are relatively easy to clean. Precast concrete floor finish has newly been adopted as an internal floor finish and is mostly implemented in industrial designs. However, lately this finish is being significantly used in contemporary and urban designs. These finishes however are cold. Therefore, one needs to provide rugs and cushions that are comfortable for the pet to sleep on.

LAYOUT/ ACCESS

Pets love free open spaces that they can effortlessly run around and play. When designing for pets, one needs to first think about access in and out of the home. Pet doors are quite common in the US and Europe, however in some areas, this is considered unsafe. Large corridors would be good for the big sized pets such and the greyhound dogs. Open plan house layouts are good because pets love companionship and therefore prefer to be in the same room as the owner at all times. Access in and out of different spaces needs to be thought about as pets do not stay in one place. Pets need to have a consistent feeding, bathing and pooping area. This way it is easy to train them to use these facilities. It also makes it easy to clean the home. The laundry room in my opinion is the best place for this. This is because, one can custom make a shower tray for bathing and due to availability of water around, one can easy clean any spilled food and water.

FURNITURE/FABRICS

Pets should have designated furniture in the home. Bean bags, beds and seats are quite common and can be bought in furniture shops or can easily be made as DIY items by crafty people. Pets ordinarily use furniture around the house such as couches, ottomans and even beds before training. Therefore, one needs consider using fabrics that are water/stain resistant, easy to clean, mold and mildew resistant, soil resistant and one that does not collect fur. The fabrics if washable also need to be those that have double rub counts and are not affected by detergent due to the heavy cleaning. This way, one does not have to make covers for all the furniture and is easy to tidy up the home.