How to Design a Living Room with Your Pet in Mind #NewYearNewRoom

As a pet parent, it can be challenging to find the right balance of decor and necessity. This challenge becomes increasingly difficult if you live in a small rental space (like us!). This is why I am so excited to be taking part in Wayfair’s New Year, New Room campaign. We moved into this place last year, and only recently had an opportunity to start decorating our home.

This campaign inspired me to reassess our living room’s functionality and redesign with Rooney in mind.

I don’t know about you, but Rooney has a dog bed in every room of our 800-square -foot townhouse, in addition to his crate, toys, grooming products, and outdoor necessities (Let’s be honest, Rooney has a lot of stuff :)). It is really important to us that we provide Rooney with everything he needs while also keeping our home clean and organized. Since we live in a small rental space, this means maximizing functionality without losing our style.

My husband and I have a very eclectic home decor style. I would describe it as cozy, yet urban. Although we both love being in nature and appreciate the use of wood in our style, we also love living in an urban area and tend to gravitate toward bold colors. To accommodate Rooney in our living room style we had to consider the following things:

1. Rooney’s own space. Every dog or cat should have their own designated space in your living room. This will encourage you to spend more time together, and can help protect some of your other furniture from being used by your pet. (For the record, Rooney has free reign at our house, but he loves to sleep in his crate).
2. Shedding: Rooney is a shedding machine, so this came up when we started to consider colors and fabrics.
3. Safety: While it may not seem like an issue, things like lamp wires and couch height can affect your pet’s safety.

So, with the above items in mind, we went to work thinking about the pieces we would like to update in our living room, and how we could accommodate Rooney’s needs:

Couch

The couch needs to be moderate to small in size due to the space we have available in our living room. However, it needs to be big enough to comfortably sit Rooney, Matt and myself. The second most important aspect of the couch is color. The current couch we have is brown. While it is the perfect fabric, I don’t love the color. Not only does it not match much of our other decor, but it also strongly contrasts Rooney’s fur which makes his shedding more obvious. This couch in their Stone color would work great for our small townhouse. Not only does it allow us to sit down and watch movies as a family, but it also multitasks as a hide-a-bed which is crucial since we don’t have a guest room.

Harvest Sleeper Sofa

Regular Price: From $572.90

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Rug

This is the one item that we already have but is central to the refresh of our living room. The walls in our living room are gray, and we don’t get a ton of natural light. Therefore, we needed something to brighten the room. The very first thing we purchased for our townhouse was this perfect rug from Wayfair. I choose this rug specifically to add color, hide stains and give Rooney space to run around with traction. When you are looking for a rug or carpet for your home, here is what you should keep in mind:

1. Does the carpet have any loops that might snag your pet’s nails?
2. Is the carpet going to be difficult to vacuum? This is a really important question if your pet sheds significantly.
3. What color will blend well with your pet’s hair and also hide any stains from the yard?

Sydney Geo Helix Navy Blue Area Rug

Regular Price: From $75.95

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Lighting

It may seem like there isn’t much to figure out regarding pets and lighting. However, there might be more to consider than you think.

1. Does your dog or cat become interested in wires? If so, you may want to consider only using permanent light fixtures so that you can avoid exposed wires. If you rent, you might want to consider cord covers.
2. Is your dog or cat likely to knock over floor lamps? If so, you may want to consider lighting that is mounted on the walls or ceiling.

Although we would love to design our living room with mounted lighting to avoid wire hazards, we have to be creative since we are renters. Therefore, we have created an excellent corner space to put a floor lamp that is out of Rooney’s way. I specifically chose this lamp because it isn’t complex. It doesn’t have a lot of different arms (increasing the chance it will get knocked over), nor does it have a tripod base that puts Rooney at risk of tripping over it.

Solstice 58 Floor Lamp

Regular Price: From $96.90

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Curtains

Initially, we never thought twice about curtains or drapes having anything to do with pets. However, if you have a dog that sheds and likes to hang out near the window, this changes everything. We used to have brown curtains downstairs, and the bottom 2 feet would be coated in Rooney’s hair all the time. Even if we washed them, they would only stay clean for a few days and then…BAM! More Rooney hair. So I currently have my heart set on these curtains in Yellow 🙂

I think the Yellow will be a great addition to the blue carpet and gray walls. Additionally, it should hide Rooney’s fur a bit better.

Weathermate Solid Cotton Grommet Top Curtain (Set of 2)

Regular Price: From $44.63

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Dual Purpose Furniture

EcoFLEX Pet Crate End Table

Regular Price: From $104.49

DISCLOSURE: I am also a Wayfair Homemaker Featured Blogger. I have been compensated in exchange for providing my opinion. However, My Kid Has Paws only discusses products I truly believe in and feel would be useful to my readers.