Decorating in itself is a pretty hard task that is going to eat up a considerable chunk of your time, without adding the fact that you need to make it pet-friendly. The purpose of making it pet-friendly is so both you and your animal companions can enjoy living there. There are certain things you must refrain from using in your interior design simply because they would probably get destroyed by pets. Not having to choose between their house and their pets, many people look up solutions for how they can design their home. Even if you keep your pet in the backyard, making your home pet-friendly isn’t just about backyard design. If you’re interested in how you can make your interior design appropriate for your mischievous kitty or overly excited dog, check out the rest of this article.
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Rug over carpet
If you’re going to live peacefully alongside your pet, you need to ditch the idea of having carpet early on. Carpets are generally doomed in a house where a pet plays. The alternative that you are looking for is a rug. Rugs are easier to clean and you can throw them out when that’s no longer an option. To make sure you don’t spend a lot of money on a rug you’re going to eventually throw out (which would defeat the purpose of not getting a carpet) make sure you only buy very cheap rugs. A cheap rug doesn’t have to be an ugly or inefficient rug. Putting a little effort into it will help you find some beautiful and inexpensive rugs that you won’t mind your dog tearing through over time.
Bare floors
You also have the option of going for bare floors which means that you ditch carpets and rugs completely. This can be a very effective and fail-proof way of making sure that your pet won’t destroy whatever you lay on the floor. However, you need to ensure that you use materials which a dog or cat won’t scratch into oblivion. If you go for hardwood floors, you should be prepared for a ton of scratches over time which you will have to live with. There are other handsome materials you can use instead like concrete or even brick. There are some nice, polished designs for floors using these materials, and they are scratch resistant, as well as stain resistant.
Steer away from fragile items
Maybe you’ve seen a certain fragile item which would look beautiful in the living room. If you also have a pet, get it out of your head, because you can’t have both for a very long time. No matter how much of a “good boy” your dog is, or how friendly your cat is, animals have something built in their DNA that dictates they will break fragile things. It doesn’t take a lot for a pet to swat or bump things off the table or counter. Therefore, go for solid, hard to break décor items.