apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

At least you are making the choice to collect (or not). It becomes difficult when kind meaning friends and family assume that because you have a pet that you would now like to be given things with images of pets on them. No more, please!

I'm sliding down a similarly slippery slope with rooster decor. I have no advice for how to stop.

Trust me, the danger isn't from you buying dog stuff, it's going to be from other people buying it for you. I have rabbits and people give me tacky rabbit junk all the time. I have a small corner of the closet devoted to rabbit junk before it makes its way to goodwill.

Just don't commission an artist to create an oil painting of your dog to hang over your fireplace. Please. Don't. One or 2 items seem ok. Or devoting a 1/2 bath to your kitsch. Do beware of the friends & relatives giving you that crap that you don't want or need.

i think that you are already doomed. once friends and relatives see the decorative doggies, you will start receiving additions to your "collection".

Keep no more than 3 doggie items, and if you ever buy another, then one at home has to go.

We don't call our place "The Dog House" for nothing. But here's the question, is dog "art" the same as dog tchotchke? I see dog art in the finest shelter porn mags from around the world, so that makes it okay, right? http://stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/02/the-dog-house/

One way to avoid this trap is to adopt mutts. I rarely see a dog item that so reminds me of my mixed-breeds that I have to have it.

I'm guilty of collecting, but I have added Deers, Owls and Birds to make it less obvious...wink!

If you are happy everytime you see your collection that's all that matters...and indeed the eyes of Arlo are the same as the little doggie statue!!

adorable!!

We did it with pugs. Sigh. There is a LOT of pug stuff out there. I second the advice to limit it to one small room - we made it a 1/2 bath as well. And, of course, to only get stuff that you really, really love.

When I was in college I gave my mother a small stoneware owl (it seemed like a good idea at the time), because it was cute. People started giving her owls, much to her dismay. So my brother and I started giving her the tackiest owl we could find for one of her Christmas presents, every year. It was a running joke for years.

Arlo is darling.

I'd rather have a portrait of my pooch hanging in my home than a poster of a politician.

It once got out that I like frogs. Heaven help me if I get another frog doodad.

Oh, I had to go through a little decor detox when family & friends started overloading me with bunny stuff. At some point you just have to put your foot down & say "stop giving me all that crap!"

1. Limit yourself to a finite number (maybe five items total.)
2. If you fall in love with a new one, an old one must go. Pick the one that you love the least or that fits your decor least.
3. Donate any extras to a vet or animal shelter for THEIR decor! (You will feel virtuous and they may find it amusing, or sell it to raise funds for their enterprise!)

Obviously, these cute dog-themed items make you happy. Why stifle that? Enjoy the items you (or others) bring into your home until you don't enjoy them anymore. Then just stop.

Once people discovered how much I LOATHED snowmen, I started getting crap related to that. I told them all, I'm just going to give it away, but they won't stop. It seriously pisses me off. I need to move in better circles, I guess.

How many do you already have? Two? Stop there! Really. Stop!

Well said, Seaside!