apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I don't rearrange for my cat, but I do make sure that chairs and such that she can climb on the back of are not near places where I don't want her. Like on top of my desk shelves, or on the tv stand, etc.

Laura
http://www.grafxnerd.net

I always make room for my cat's possessions but I think furniture selection is dictated more by my cats than furniture placement. My cats will play regardless of where I put the furniture and they will find a way to get on top of my bookcases with or without help from me.

we rearranged the kitchen and living room this weekend, and one of the major considerations was giving the cats a better way to get to the windows without knocking breakable things off the shelves.

I am guilty of this. I have three huge 84" windows in my livingroom that my cat loves to look out of. I purposely put my sofa infront of the windows when I saw how much she enjoyed lying on the back and sleeping in the sun or gazing out the window. A happy carefree pet makes for a scratch-free sofa- or atleast in my house it does!

I do not arrange my furniture with my cat in mind. I've found that cats are skilled at finding comfortable napping/lounging spots on their own (and usually places I would not have come up with on my own). And I've always been fortunate enough to live in apartments with windowsills that were wide enough to accommodate a cat (or two).

Yes, I arrange the furniture for them and I choose furniture and window treatments to thwart them, they are ever present in my decorating choices! If I don't arrange the furniture to give them a way to look out, they will scramble rudely over me and guests, so it's easier to plan for their behavior patterns than expect them to plan for mine. It all works happily in the end except, of course, for the furball dust bunnies.

I have a nice seating arrangement in my living room. However, I decided to remove one of my prized mid-c pieces so that my two chihuahuas had a little more space to run around unobstructed in our small house.

We have to make sure not to put anything breakable in front of our large window. The dogs jump up on the back of the couch to see out when they hear a noise. They would trample anything in their way!

http://www.makemineeclectic.wordpress.com

We moved our couch so the dog could see out the window. It was another good furniture arrangement option and it stopped him from getting on the couch to see out.

I have a rabbit who doesn't stay in her cage (she is free roaming). So I am always cautious about arranging furniture so that no wires are exposed, that she can’t chew books and clothes that are important to me. Basically anything on the floor is going to be tasted, so yes, I arrange my furniture for her.

I wanted my desk against the window, but I knew that the cats would spend most of the day standing on the computer if I put it there. So, I put a credenza under the window and pulled the desk back several feet - it's a little odd, but it mostly keeps them off the things they shouldn't stand on...

Absolutely- I can't put any shorter piece of furniture near my bookshelves or canopy bed (which are off-limits to the cat). I also have to put a extra chair at my desk so that she can "feel included" in my activities without prancing around on my keyboard. Actually, we put an extra chair at the table for dinner time too... our Tildy sure is spoiled.

http://shockthebourgeois.blogspot.com/

I've definitely kept my kitties in mind when arranging furniture (making sure there's at least a chair or bench for them to peer out from) but what I'm seriously guilty of is holding on to grungy, ratty pieces of furniture purely because they're my cats' favorites (the reason they became grungy and ratty in the first place).

I arrange sofas and chairs so that the cats can sit/lie on the back and look outside. I also arrange furniture so that cats are not given easy access to places I don't want them to go.

No, but fortunately we don't have to. We have a long windowseat in front of some big windows in our living room and the cat loves to lay up there and sunbathe. The dog usually prefers the rug by the french door in the back if he wants sun, but he'll get comfy anywhere.

When I had a cat, I purposefully didn't block or cover windows to allow for kitty's viewing pleasure, and I always held onto at least a couple plastic milk crates because they were my cat's favorite scratching post. Yes, my cat's favorite item of "furniture" to dig her claws into was a milk crate - she rocked!

We moved our couch so that it wasn't in the direct path of our dogs as they run down the stairs and out to the backyard. Our German Shepherd/Beagle mix, Kajol, (height of a GSD, energy level of a Beagle) had a bad tendency of jumping over the couch and onto the coffee table (or occasionally clearing both) in her rush to scare squirrels away from our yard. Also, the new set-up makes it harder for Panda, our Alaskan Malamute, to sneak up behind us and lick our necks/ears.

We have a bench for a window seat in the kitchen that has also been taken over by Kajol. We didn't put it there for her, but she sure does love sitting there watching the neighborhood go by (while kicking off the cushions).

There's really only one window in my tiny apartment that is low enough for the cat to look out of. Most of the other windows are right about eye level for me. So yes, when I was rearranging my bedroom I moved her favorite chair in front of it. She loves this spot.

Yeah, of course...I think if you have pets you love, you definitely rearrange so it accommodates all of you.

Yes. We have a scaredy cat even though nothing bad has ever happened to her. After years of trying to soothe her I've just given in to her personality. I make sure to arrange the furniture so there is a circular path around most pieces so she can run around to the other side when she feels the need. And the added advantage is it helps me keep pieces away from the walls!

I do. i have a cat that loves to sleep curled up in the curtain sheers. I'm moving, so now I have to position the bed against the wall near the window, and buy long enough sheers so he can snuggle in and feel at home.

My furniture arrangements are totally for human approval, but the cats and rabbits definitely influence everything about their environment. Pets are family members, too, so I see nothing to be "guilty" of when catering to their needs. We have convenient litter boxes, numerous beds and baskets, rabbit-safe wiring, etc. Cats are permitted on all surfaces they are able to reach (and those who think any surfaces are REALLY "off limits" to cats are fooling themselves!) New furniture must pass the pet friendly test or we don't buy it. I don't actually have to manke many compromises on decor to work with the animals in the house. Some people wonder a bit at the cherrywood indoor gate we have leading into the library and the upper floor, but bunnies are not allowed to nibble on books or the wiring in the office, so when they are on the loose in the house, that's how we give them the amount of freedom they can be trusted with.

ohhh these were so sweet to read!!...amy01 and Rolen the Great...when moving, it becomes natural to place just the right chair or just the right cat 'looking out window' table..I always promised my pets..'new windows..new views'..to get them excited....ahhaha (me...)

I have to make sure my bedroom window curtains are open so my dog can lay in bed and look outside....if she gets bored, things get ruined!

i've never put a coffee table in front of my sofa because it's my dogs' favorite spot to be dogs, ie nap. instead, i've got 3 phillippe starck prince aha stools that are a great modular solution and a breeze to move into action when i have guests. i'd say i pretty much always consider them before i make a furniture buy.

Most definately do I rearrange furniture for my Kitty. She has to have access to my son's bed so we put a dresser at the foot of the bed so she can jump up there and then jump on his bed. My son keeps that dresser top empty so she can jump up whenever she wants to. Her kitty tower is in front of the patio doors and her scratching post is in the hallway. Her favorite thing is to scratch her nails when we come home.

I tried to move the litterbox out of the living room - won't ever do that again. Now, I simply replace litter every other day. An ottoman in front keeps the dogs out of the box.

I also had to move an old glass library cabinet from a perfectly logical pass-through area in the kitchen to a safer corner; the dog slapped her toys underneath and then entertained herself by digging them out.

In the impossible extra room upstairs (nothing fits due to low eaves and weird door placement), I've thrown the cat tower in front of the only window.

Half and half. I do make sure to put the cat tree in front of a window, even though it's...well, a cat tree - huge and ugly. But I'm guilty now of making adaptations to my apartment itself for my cats, i.e. enclosing the balcony and installing a cat door, so they can go out there and I don't have to worry about them. Also, I don't have white furniture (black cats) and would never buy leather furniture because I know they would rip it to shreds. Otherwise, I mostly do what I want because my cats will do whatever they want, too!

Our pets are definitely considered in the decorating process, if only for the fact that they are completely neurotic and crazy. There must be ample hidey-holes for the cats to avoid the dog, the cats' things must be protected/cut off so that the dog doesn't eat anything of theirs...oy.

I actually had a 1.5 hour long chat with my cat's vet one day, during which I had to draw out the layout of my apt in order to figure out the potential stressors for my most anxiety-ridden, neurotic cat. We had to rearrange two bookcases and a chair in order to accommodate my crazy cat.

I had to rearrange my furniture, because my two cats were using the chairs as a launching pad towards each other during one of their marathon chases. Up one, down the other; up one, down the other; for hours. I had to put them some place that they were not in proximity to each other.

I moved my couch in a previous apartment because of my dog, who wasn't allowed on the couch (big dog). He really didn't get on it, except to look out the front window and bark whenever anyone came to the door, or on the porch, etc. I realized I could keep fighting that battle, or just move the couch. Problem solved. Also, although the motivation for moving the couch was to keep the dog off it, the new location for the couch along a different wall was a MUCH better place for it after all.

MSPdesign - sounds like we had the same problem/solution!

We do arranged our furniture in such a way that our cats can easily look out the window. We also leave the spare room as a "cats room" full of toys, baskets, blankets, and things our cats like.

We used to have a loveseat by a window until the dogs started scrambling up on the back of it to see out. After several yelps and tumbles behind the sofa (and terrible scratches to the leather), we became more thoughtful about furniture placement and pets!

wise move getting a couch to match the cat (or vice versa?)

Yes I do - my cat just recently found out she can jump from my table, to my Ikea Malm tall jewelry dresser and onto my book shelves and she's been toppling stuff over ever since.

I'm not home all day to clap and get her to stay away so it's come to my attention that the furniture needs to be rearranged (at least the table needs to be farther away from the dresser) so that this cannot happen anymore.

Of course this just means she'll find another way up but if it buys me a few months so be it! :P

(fyi: my kitten is just turning a year old this week. She's pretty good with most things...but she is "esploring")

Our dog has her own daybed right under a big window that faces the sidewalk. The daybed's position also gives her a great view of anyone entering the house through the front or back.

She feels like queen of the manor and we feel well-guarded.

I just got an added bonus out of rearranging for the pets - we just changed the kitchen layout to take better advantage of the windows - the dog likes to be able to see the squirrels - but in doing so we had to compromise by placing the fridge so that it narrows the path to the pantry. No big deal for us people, but apparently the shy cat who likes to hide in the pantry thought it was a big deal. This 7 year old cat has now decided that life in the kitchen is not so scary after all, and has given up being a recluse! Who would have guessed!

I am happy to read all of these and the kindness for your critters. I have a glass coffee that is pushed more to the left so when my dog jumps off the sofa he has a fair amount of space to land on the rug and won't hurt himself. Due to hardwood floors I have positioned my rugs so he has a place to land. I had to get a patterned rug in my bedrooms so he can see where to jump. I have refrained from getting a higher bed or platform bed and keeping a low bed so the jump of the bed is very minimal. You have to make big adjustments for senior dogs especially with short legs.

I have my sofa near a window so my cat can always have a bird's eye view. On the bigger window sills I even have cushions I made for her to lay on. I want her to be comfortable in the areas I want her to be so she doesn't jump on my desk. I've had a desk scratched up from her constant jumping, giving her a comfortable place to nap keeps her away from my desk. Oddly enough, my Emilia looks a lot like that lounging cat.