Pet-forward furniture on trend
Mid-century modern comes to home decor for Spot and Fluffy, and the humans they live with
For discerning pet owners who treat their cats and dogs like family - in some cases, better than family designers are creating stylish, even glamorous, furniture.
You can stretch out with Buddy on matching, tufted, Chesterfield-style Wayfair Archie & Oscar sofas. His is a $650 miniaturized version of yours in faux-leather, with similar nailhead trim and turned legs.
And witness the new Crystal Clear Lotus Cat Tower, by the Refined Feline, with three platforms and a hideaway cubby, all at lined in white faux fur for about $6,600.
Over the past five years, pet furniture has grown in sophistication and durability, says Phil Cooper, a global pet industry expert. The trend has blossomed with regional pet stores and local pet boutiques offering more personalized service, plus the rise of fancy pet product websites, he says.
“Making pet furniture is very interesting because you have a customer who is human and the user who is a pet,” Jackson Cunningham, founder of Vancouver-based Tuft + Paw, says. “You have to make sure it works for the user, but the decisionmaker is human. We want to make pieces that owners take joy in seeing their cats use.” Space-saving furniture: Ikea’s Scandinavian-style clean lines and affordable prices extended to pet furnishings with the introduction of its Lurvig line in 2017.
For example, the Lurvig cat house, $13.99, is a cosy cube fitted with a cushion that slides into the Kallax shelf unit. There’s also a selection of Lurvig dog beds for $59.
No room for a separate dog bed for your schnauzer? Try the Abigail Murphy Classic Dog Bed by New Age Pet. The bed folds up when not in use and has a memory-foam mattress with a machine-washable cover.
Mini human furniture: Last year, Wayfair launched the Archie & Oscar line of pet furnishings with nearly 1,000 pieces, including a grey rattan domed cat lounger and a white Chippendale-style dog gate made of chew-resistant wood.
“We conceptualized a lot of the product to look like human furniture,” Wayfair spokesperson Julie Cassetina says. “Our pets have tested our sofas and armchairs, and we know they enjoy them, so we scaled them down to size.”
Double-duty furniture: Owners like furniture that serves both them and the pet, King says. At New Age Pet, the Sundown Nightstand Pet Bed, available in espresso, antique white and Nantucket grey, lets your dog sleep beside you on his own little cushion, and you can keep your bedside lamp on the same piece of furniture. Joss & Main’s 60-inch Henrietta Cat Tree, about $270, provides a jumping area and hideaway for your cat and a faux tree for your living room.
Some companies are creating discreet accent furniture that hides the lowly litter box. The Rifiuti by Tuft + Paw, about $800, is made of birch plywood with horizontal stripes and tapered legs; the company website says it references “midcentury modern furniture and classic retro radio designs.” High design for stylish
owners: For those turned off by ugly wire crates in the kitchen, B&B Kustom Kennels offers sophisticated solid wood kennels in seven finishes, starting at about $1,000, to fit a Pekingese or a Great Dane.