04/25/2003

By LISA MARTIN / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Is your house going to the dogs?

Has the cat got your tongue in a tizzy, screeching about scratched up sofas and clawed cocktail tables?

A pet room could be the answer to your prayers.While they're hardly as common as playrooms for tots or gamerooms for teens, more and more North Texans are converting spaces in their homes into rooms for their dogs, cats and other animal friends.

And we're not talking second-class, afterthought status here. Custom furniture, individualized entrances, programmed televisions, animal-friendly floors–you may begin to wonder if your pets live better than you do.

"In Dallas, it's definitely a trend for people decorating more for their animals. They're like people's children, like a member of the family, and people are very willing to spend money on them," says Brooke Covin, owner of Haute Dogs & Fat Cats in Dallas.

Luxurious touches notwithstanding, the main appeal of such rooms is their practicality, says Deloris Petty, owner of Boutique Pet Shop on Garland Road, who reports that a growing number of her clients are dedicating rooms to their pets. "They're a place where you can confine your animals when you're not there and save the rest of the house from destruction in the process. It's also great to have a spot where you can keep all the pet supplies together. Most pets have a lot of stuff."

Remodeling and renovations for pets can be as simple as new wallpaper and window treatments. Extensive renovations, such as adding plumbing fixtures and tiling a shower, can up the ante significantly.

The most functional pet rooms include some kind of showering apparatus. "We tile them up to the ceiling and put big drains in the floor," says Dallas architect Patrick Ford of Rogers-Ford L.C., who has designed several such rooms. "They are purely functional, intended to make bathing a dog as easy as possible."

In time, the four cats of East Dallasites Jennifer Holmes and boyfriend Tim Alexander will undoubtedly come to associate their quarters with fine living. The beloved felines only recently moved into the home after renovations created a special place for them to call home.

Damon Winter / DMN Thumbelina finds a sunspot in the cat room she shares with three other cats and her owner, Jennifer Holmes of Dallas.

"We wanted a safe, wonderful space for the cats, so we screened in part of a 12-by-24-foot deck with access to our bedroom through French doors," says Ms. Holmes, a veterinary technician and pet sitter who also has four dogs (one of whom isn't terribly fond of cats). Just outside one of the porch windows is a bank of trees, to which the couple is luring birds by hanging perches and watering devices. "The cats can sit on the windowsills and watch the birds. It's like their TV."

The rest of the sunny space is decorated to befit the animals' leisurely lifestyle: plenty of foam couches and toys give the feel of a playroom.

When building her former home in Dallas, Nancy Riseman asked her husband, Bill, owner of Riseman Development Co., to construct a 7-by-9-foot pet room with a waist-level, doggie-sized bathtub. The result: She no longer had to stoop to bathe her poodles, Balla and Nikki.

"We also added a countertop to the room, where they would stand while I brushed them," Mrs. Riseman explains. "The dogs' crates, where they'd sleep, fit under the counter." Plus, the pooches enjoyed access to the outdoors via a doggie door.

In the couple's new North Dallas townhome, the Risemans converted a 4-by-12-foot space under the staircase into a dog run.

"We put interlocking rubber tiles on the floor so that it's easy on their feet and installed shelves for their supplies," she says. In both places, the dogs "have always associated their rooms with something very pleasurable."

Juliet and Lizbeth, the tiny papillons owned by Bobbie and Michael Minton of Fort Worth, associate their room with ... relief. On the advice of her veterinarian, Mrs. Minton potty trained the dogs. They use disposable floor pads in their own resin dog houses, which sit in a room the size of a small bedroom, just off the garage.

"When the vet first suggested litter-box training them I thought, 'What?' " says Mrs. Minton. "But it's been wonderful. They have allergies just like humans, so it's made them much healthier not to have to go outside."

The Mintons installed easy-care vinyl tile on the floor and a ceiling fan overhead. There's a night light in the dogs' room, too, so the "girls" don't have to stumble around in the dark in the evening hours. To dress up the space, the couple papered the walls in a tropical bamboo motif and added a mural of a valley scene on a door.

Decorating for the animals' enjoyment is something many dog and cat lovers are increasingly taking to heart.

"I decorated a pet room in a model home a few months back and put a TV/VCR in the room that played 101 Dalmatians, for the dogs," Ms. Covin says.

Madison uses his private entrance at the Colleyville home of Ron and Kathi Sturgeon.

Ms. Covin's beds range from $300 to $1,500, including $1,000 cast-iron pet beds by local designer Jan Barboglio. She also carries English pine beds ("They have a more rustic, country-home feel to them") and a hand-carved Louis XIV-style bed covered in a floral fabric that features cocker spaniels in the motif.

"The beds can run all the way up to $1,500," Ms. Covin says. "The high-end pet market has really exploded in the last three years. Today, you can get everything from a miniature armoire to hold dog clothes to sofas in hand-selected fabrics that coordinate with the rest of your decor."

Adds Paula Hines, owner of the Houston-based Internet company, www.pawprintzpetboutique.com, which specializes in upscale pet accessories: "People want things that function well but look great, too. Whether it's in a pet room or in a living room, today people aren't satisfied with a rinky-dink pillow for their dog and cat. They want things that complement their home furnishings."

Many homeowners often feel a bit braver about the decor in a pet room than in the rest of the house. They allow themselves to indulge a whim – in the name of their canine or feline.

"They might really love to have walls that are painted a bright, vivid color but they won't do it for their own space," says Dallas interior designer Patricia Crocker, owner of The Patricia Group. "The personality of the owner really comes out with his pets. It's just like people with their children: They may be very conservative themselves, but they won't deny anything for their pets."

The most effective pet rooms, however, include certain items: a place for the animal to sleep; ample storage for food, grooming supplies, toys and leashes; and lighting.

"Any animal, whether it's a reptile or a bird or a cat or dog, will get depressed if they're in a dark, gloomy room all the time, just like any person would," says Ms. Petty of Pet Boutique. "You need to create an environment that's bright during the day and dark at night to help them know when it's time to sleep."

Ms. Petty favors pet rooms that have windows, so the creatures can gaze outside to stave off boredom. "I've even seen where some cat owners have put an aquarium in the room to entertain their animals," she says.

Cats usually need some kind of scratching post. After struggling to find good-looking models, Los Angeles furniture designer Elizabeth Paige Smith created the modular Kitty Pod ($350 at www.epsdesign.com or call 310-455-3078) out of laminated cardboard. "It looks like a piece of furniture, but it's sculpted with plenty of intimate spaces, which cats really appreciate," she explains. The unit also can conceal a litter box. "And the laminated cardboard is a surface that actually becomes more interesting and beautiful as it's distressed."

For that same reason, Ms. Smith recommends sisal rugs on the floors.

Dallas interior designer Cheryl Van Duyne says wool and nylon rugs work well, too, "because they're very cleanable." For furnishings in any room that a pet will occupy, she suggests using darker colors on upholstery. "You'll still have the fur issue, but it won't show stains as much."

For practicality, washable surfaces are a must. But today's high-tech microfibers (which may resemble luxurious suedes and velvets) mean you don't have to sacrifice high style for ease of maintenance.

But whatever the decor, the concept of pet rooms has arrived.

"It's just such a wonderful thing to have in the house," says Ms. Hines, who has dedicated a room in her home to her three puppies. "You think it's a luxury to have one until you do. Then it's a necessity."