How an Interior Designer Can Help You Prepare Your Home for a Pet Cat
If you are planning on adopting a pet cat, you should prepare your home to protect both your new pet and your possessions and to ensure a smooth transition. Cats are small, very mobile, and likely to explore any area they can manage to squeeze into, so you must consider everything in all areas of your home and at all heights when preparing for cats.
An interior designer who has experience taking pet compatibility into account when designing homes can help you prepare for cat ownership. Here are a few areas where an expert can offer advice:
Furniture
You'll need to figure out which pieces of your current furniture can be kept and which pieces you need to replace or alter to make them better suited for being around cats. For example, any objects that include a loosely woven or looped-thread fabric will be at risk of being snagged by cat claws. You'll either need to put over furniture using these fabrics or replace the object with something more appropriate. Microfiber and polyester fabrics, on the other hand, tend to be durable options, so you can keep anything made of these without worrying.
Another consideration is that cats will climb and jump onto and off of your furniture. For instance, your cat might use the top of a couch to jump onto a bookshelf or display case. Tall, unanchored pieces may need to be secured to avoid your cat accidentally knocking them over. An interior designer can change the furniture layout in each room to preserve furniture stability and minimize the chances for accidents to occur.
Decorations
Cats in your home may put some of your decorations at risk. Ceramic and glass are fragile and may break when knocked to the ground, so you'll need to keep any such objects away from your cats. A smart strategy is to use closed display cases to store figurines and other small breakable objects. Some elements of decorations, such as strings, cords, garlands, and the like, may inspire your new pet to want to play with them or even possibly consume them, so you'll also need to take your new pet's safety into account. Prioritize hiring an interior designer with experience with cats to put together safe and attractive decorative displays in your home.
Cat Accessories
When you bring home cats, you may plan on introducing cat-related furniture, such as scratchers and trees. You'll also need to set up food bowls, water bowls, and litter boxes. An interior designer, like Lindsey Murillo Interiors, can find unobtrusive and ideal places to put all these things to accommodate your family and your new cats.