Design Your Home With Pets in Mind - Use Your 5 Senses

Most of us would agree that we want homes that are stylish, clean, fragrant, and harmonious. When our Evaluation of the home using the 5 senses as a guide, helps make sure that the needs of all the household members are taken into consideration at the beginning of the design planning process. A thorough assessment about how you and your pets currently live together, determining what is working well, and what is less than ideal is made in order to optimize your new interior design.

One of the aspects of the assessment is an evaluation of the home from the perspective of the 5 senses for both the 2 legged and 4 legged family members.

Smell, Sight, Touch, Sound, and yes, even Taste

The questions that need to be asked and answered are:

Sight

How do I want my home to look?
This is the one sense that is more important to
the two legged family members. While your dog certainly could care less
whether your neighbor will ooh and aah over your new paint color or wallpaper,
there are considerations for the 4 legged members too. Both cats and dogs like
a sunny place to gaze out a window and watch the world. This has implications
for the types of window treatments that we recommend.

Smell

What do I want my home to smell like?
What type of cleaning products are being
used? Candles being burned? Air fresheners being sprayed?
Dogs and cats have a discrimination of smell that humans can only imagine. We
should not forget to consider this reality when answering the question.

Touch

What types of textures and materials feel good to us?
Chenille fabric feels warm and cozy to all of us, what are the pros and cons
of using this type of fabric when your household is composed of 2 and 4 legged
family members? What do we want our bare feet or paws to tread upon, and
what are the pros and cons of the different options in a home with 2 and 4
legged family members?

Sound

Are there noises that I want to highlight? Mask?
Don't forget, hearing is highly acute in dogs and cats.
There are soothing sounds that can be brought into your home that also can serve a dual function for the 4 legged family members. Don't forget the expression 'music soothes the savage beast'.

Taste

What items in your home can your pets 'eat'?
Cats are notorious for eating houseplants. The reason is that cats are hard-wired
to crave green grass. There are attractive solutions to provide a tasty treat for
your cats,without destruction of your houseplants.
Most dogs have a reputation for eating just about anything they can get their
teeth on. With that in mind, there are smart, attractive choices for how and
where to keep your garbage cans, laundry baskets and kitty litter boxes even if
you don't have the luxury of keeping them behind cabinet or closet doors.

A few facts about cats and dogs versus humans when it comes to the 5 senses:

Cats and dogs sense of smell is far superior to humans.

Cats have 19 million odor sensitive cells in their noses, dogs have 200 million and people only 5 million.

While dogs can smell better than cats, a cats sense of sound is better than a dogs.

You know how some dogs seem to be willing to eat almost anything, but cats are often referred to as finicky eaters?

Well that is because a cats sense of taste is keener than a dogs. This is one of senses that is actually stronger for people than for a cat or dog.