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When it comes to remodeling, creating a special place for your pets is often at the top of the list.
From tucked-away feeding stations to cat lofts and catios (cat patios), your fur babies have never had it so good.
Kelly Ladwig, a real estate agent in Nashville, says this was the case for her and her wife, Suzie Stolarz, who have three dogs and two cats. In 2023, they had an 8-by-9-foot playhouse built for them. The price tag came in at $12,000, but the playhouse is absolutely priceless for the couple.
Pets-thetic vibes
“I called up my friend Derek Walker from (custom woodworking company) Walker & Wood and asked him if he’d like to help me out with the project,” Ladwig explains. “I think he thought we were crazy, but he jumped right in. We designed the loft to look like a house, with sliding doors and everything. The main floor is an area for dog beds. The upper part of the loft is an elevated space for the cats. It includes a catio where they can look out through the window into the backyard.”
Ladwig and Stolarz also added custom litter boxes in their laundry room, which has cat-shaped entryways and is conveniently located near the bathroom for easy cleanup. They also installed a dog shower in a back mud room and a watering station in the kitchen.
“When you have five animals, they drink a lot of water,” Ladwig says. “So, I thought why not just recess a bar sink into the ground and build a cabinet around it? Our builder, Carbine & Associates, figured how to run plumbing and we were off to the races. Honestly, we kind of held our breath the first time wondering if they would even use it. But they do, and surprisingly they use it together. It’s one of those things that makes us happy every day.”
Mutt rooms
Interior designers Chelsea Skye Netter and Evan Millárd say that for dog owners, mudrooms are a common request. They designed one recently with a farm-sink station, a dog-wash station and a dog treat/feeding station. The result? A beautiful mudroom that is elevated yet practical.
They incorporated a pot filler for refilling dog bowls without bending or splashing, a prep faucet for smaller cleanups and a hand shower kit for easy and mess-free pet bathing.
Fancy feline spaces
The key with dog décor is for it to fit in with your existing décor and for it to give your pup a special place of comfort. And the same goes for cats. Mary Tan, owner of Whisker Media, a marketing agency for pet businesses, wanted to give her foster kittens a fun play area and resting space in her office, so she hired Kate Benjamin of the cat online magazine Hauspanther to design it. “I just remodeled an empty bedroom and turned it into a kitten room. The idea of the room is that it’s also a background for my video calls. My clients love it when they see the cats running around in the background.”
Hayley Williams, founder of the cat design resource Cat Therapy, also created a cat-friendly office space. Because she spends 80 percent of her time in this room, so do her cats. She included scratchers and lounging areas, and installed shelves on all the walls so the cats can enjoy the whole room without ever having to touch the ground. “My home features a blend of midcentury and vintage décor,” she explains in her blog. “And I wanted the wall furniture for the cats to seamlessly blend in, so it’s not immediately obvious that they are designed for the cats.” The shelves she had installed are sturdy — made of real wood and with cats in mind.
