DOG FOR THE LOVE OF DOG
Designer pet decor keeps pace with modern esthetics
Awash in pale woods and modernist furnishings, Kate Makinson’s airy home is the epitome of stylish urban living.
Which is why when it came to shopping for pet furniture, Makinson, a PR professional and design enthusiast, wasn’t about to take a turn into Uglyville.
“I’m big on living in a beautiful space and enjoying my surroundings, so when Blondie came into my life last year, I wanted her belongings to match my decor,” Makinson says.
She’s referring to her fawn-furred French bulldog named after the platinum-haired singer. Like her human counterpart, Blondie has her own Instagram page, hashtag: blondie the bullpig.
As opposed to a sloppy, salivas-oaked blob of a bed, Blondie gets her beauty sleep in a striped, toddler-sized teepee tucked in the corner of the living room. She dines out of a tasteful cream-coloured bowl that rests on a chevron-printed mat.
She also has a striped bed that makes her look particularly camouflage-y when she’s sporting her matching tee.
“I leave her food container out, which is a nice black-and-white tin, because it looks cute in the marble kitchen,” Makinson says.
It’s by Pipolli out of Florida, her go-to for gorgeous streamlined pieces (Blondie’s teepee is from there).
She also likes Toronto locals such as the Dog Bowl or Hound Collection, whose designer, Samantha Armstrong, sells fancy leatherwear for dogs.
If all of this sounds like too much, Makinson feels otherwise.
“I don’t have kids. I’m 36 years old and it’s like Blondie is my baby,” she says. “This is what I happily spend my money on.”
She’s not alone. About $3.39 billion annually is spent on our fourlegged friends and the like.
While ownership of cats and dogs has gone up about one to two per cent annually in Canada in the past few years, the pet food and products category has grown by 3.3 per cent from 2015 to 2016, according to market research firm Euromonitor.
Recent estimates by Euromonitor place the number of specialist pet stores at more than 2,000 in 2015.
Pets are integral members of our families, says Fred Silber, president of Clifton, N.J.-based Enchanted Home Pet. Silber made human-sized sofas for 35 years before adding pet pieces to the mix four years ago.
These aren’t basic pet beds, but 44 elaborately constructed, furniture-grade mini sofas with nailhead detailing, button tufting, solid legs and pockets for toy storage (on a human sofa you’d find a remote control, here a stuffed squirrel).
“There are no toxins, which you find in cheaper goods,” Silber says. “Ours have no tris in them and the wood is formaldehyde-free. They’re also elevated for a draftfree experience.”
Silber has put serious thought into the design of the beds.
“You’ve got the snuggler, the stretcher and the leaner,” he says, referring to how dogs sleep. If your dog is a snuggler who coils into a ball, a curved bed that supports him all around is best.
But it’s a different story if you perch on your haunches like a sphinx — which is the case with Harry Styles and Ronaldo, a pair of hot shot-looking rag-doll cats who live the high life in Grimsby, Ont.
Owners Sabrina Farrace and Oliver Shaw aren’t messing around.
“The cats eat out of crystal bowls,” Farrace says. “And they have cream-coloured cave beds and trees that co-ordinate with the living room furniture.”
Dallas Noftall and her partner Chris Butt live in Oakville, Ont., in beautiful chaos, as Noftall describes it. They, too, have stylish digs for their menagerie of pets: a senior golden retriever named Keeper; Disco, an “immature and hilarious” black Bouvier-lab-cross, and two tuxedo cats, Romeo and Ms. Kitty.
Ms. Kitty, the diva of the house, has the lion’s share of the loot, Noftall says.
“She’s got a leopard chaise, a plush velvet nesting bed and a three-tier layer out at the front I reupholstered myself to match with my front foyer.”
Six dog beds are also spread out across the three-storey house.
“People actually comment on the animal beds more than on our furniture,” Noftall says.
The premiumization of pets doesn’t end at small accessories. Teanna Lindsay is the co-owner of Woofstock, the largest festival for dogs in North America this May 27-28 at Toronto’s Woodbine Park.
In tandem with “the increase in dog ownership,” Lindsay says she’s seen “a lot of cool home industries pop up as well.”
Ruckus Dog specializes in breedspecific pieces. A vintage-looking plaque for collars and leashes is emblazoned with a basset hound. Or dachshund lovers might get a kick out of the “My wiener is epic” art piece.
Calgary-based The Stell Mill, which builds beautiful custom homes all over Ontario and Alberta, takes it up a notch. Part of its business is devoted to animals.
“They’ll retrofit homes to create ramps for senior dogs, do custom kitchens with built-in dog bowls and pullout cupboards and dog baths in mud rooms. So you don’t have to track your muddy dog through the house,” Lindsay says. “People are really going far to accommodate their pets.”