Dear Claudia,

Help!  My dog’s furniture is taking over my house! We have a large dog crate for our adorable but stubborn yellow lab. The crate is kept in the kitchen eat in area.  We have tried to move the crate out of the kitchen to a less used part of the house but he keeps dragging it back with his teeth!  Our problem is that we have a huge blank chocolate brown wall where the cage sits that we have no idea how to decorate! Can you help?

Dana, Montgomery

***

Dear Dana,

Having a stubborn dog with a mind of its own I am used to. Living with a dog crate is nothing I know of. I will answer the decorating part of the question and leave the crate part to a dog expert. Obviously your dog knows where that cage should be. Of course he wants to be in the kitchen. That’s where the food is! It is the heart of the home so when he is in the cage he wants to be close to the heart. Let it be.

As far as what to do with the wall, you have many options. You can get a large piece of art work to balance with the size of the cage. Or you can create a gallery of smaller framed prints to fill up the wall. A large mirror would reflect whatever is on the opposite wall, in your case it would be kitchen cabinets. That said, I would suggest instead of having 1 large mirror you can have a bunch of framed mirrors in a variety of shapes and sizes scattered all over the wall. It’s a look I always admire when I see it. It’s light and reflective without being a reflective image of cabinets. An arrangement of mirrors looks great on a dark wall creating an interesting contrast.

Eileen Chanin owner of Calling All Dogs suggests a dog crate cover. Calling All Dogs is a web based local business that caters to the canines. And boy is there quite a selection of items for the dog lover. There may be a solution for even the most discerning doggy and owner.

“As dogs are more a part of the family, accessories become part of the décor. There are stylish solutions available from dog crate covers to dog crates that look like furniture. There are even bumper bed sides for comfort in the crate like a crib,” says Eileen.

Her most popular item is the raised diner dog bowl. “Dog bowls are out all the time and you want that area to look nice”, says Eileen. This sounds like a great solution to keeping the dog dining area clean especially when selling a home. I’ll be sure to suggest that to dog owners during staging consultations.

The dog crate covers and mats come in variety of colors and styles to suit any décor. Also available are wooden dog crate furniture that can be used as end tables. Crates have come a long way since my doggy debacle. There are also really fashionable dog beds on the site (www.callingalldogs.com).

If you want to go the custom route, James Bruyn of JBDesignworks”, the designer for Hudson Valley Kitchen Design, has worked with a client with two pure breed dogs they wanted to kennel.  The dogs were relatively well behaved but misbehaved when no one was home. Don’t we all know that one!

James describes the project: “Part of the overall remodel consisted of a good size laundry room.  We provided two cabinets that matched the cabinetry being utilized in the rest of the room. The cabinets were standard size for a kitchen application, but with a full door on them (no drawer).  This provided a kennel “size” of approximately 24″ wide x 24″ deep x 30″ high.  The standard door was replaced with a “frame-only” door with a locking mechanism, similar to what would normally be used for a wall cabinet with a glass door.”

“Instead of a glass insert in the door, stainless steel woven wire was used, similar to what is used for a traditional dog crate.   The bottom of the crate was then lined with a custom stainless pan for any mess that may happen.”

“Obviously if the dog is exceptionally large or unruly, this may not be a good solution.  But in this case it worked well.  And the beauty is people who have pets, always seem to have pets.  Meaning that the pet never “grows up” and moves out, and if the pet should pass, another usually follows so it is always used.”

Dana, between decorating the wall and the crate, instead of being a blank wall with a dog crate you can incorporate the crate as part of the décor so it looks less like a metal box in the room. We all know if the dog is happy, everyone is happy. And vice versa!

***

Have a decorating question? Send it to Claudia.

Claudia Jacobs is a decorator, professional stager, columnist, mom, friend & not in that order. Living life with joy & owner of Claudia Jacobs Designs in Goshen, NY. Voted 2011 RESA Professional Stager of the Year in the Northeast. Claudia can be seen each Tuesday on Hudson Valley Insider. Visit www.claudiajacobsdesigns.com or call 845-294-8993. Send questions and photos to info@claudiajacobsdesigns.com. Follow her on Facebook & Twitter.
 

 

No related posts.

Pages: 1 2