CAROLINE CHEN /
Philadelphia Inquirer Dan Schneider's Shar-Pei, Enzo, is at home
in a cylindrical metal crate by Bowhaus, a company that
makes stylish pet "furniture."
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After
an evening watching MTV with his pup, Enzo, Dan Schneider can't
imagine putting the little guy to bed in a typical dog crate.
"It just wouldn't work," the young entrepreneur says. And he
doesn't mean that the adorable Shar-Pei couldn't get used to the
arrangement.
The crate would be out of place in Schneider's sleek living room,
where he has black leather seating, white carpeting, a
stainless-steel coffee table, and a flat-panel television (to say
nothing of whimsical bar stools and a baby T. rex replica).
So Schneider chose something a little hipper: Bowhaus'
cylindrical metal crate, whose styling makes it nice enough to
function as a side table ($540). A raised stainless-steel feeder on
balled feet (about $60) complements it, as do some cool toys
including one that looks like an X formed by two blue dog bones.
Designed by Karim Rashid, Dog Bone (about $18) also known as
Dxg Bxne because of its shape is even coveted by folks who don't
have dogs.
| Tips on making those
purr-chases
Here are some Web sites and stores where you can find
design-savvy bowls, "diners," place mats, toys and beds:
www.pawprintzpetboutique.com
www.pamperedpuppy.com/directory/products
www.quintessentialpet.com
Ikea: To see toys, cushions, towels and rattan cat
bed, visit
www.ikea-usa.com or Ikea store in San
Diego
Dogmopolitan (www.dogmopolitan.com)
Just Bepaws place mats, find dealers at (800)
843-5242
Wetnoz stainless bowls, available online at
www.wetnoz.com
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For
those who want to integrate their pet's gear into their decor,
choices are proliferating online and in specialty stores, many at
upscale prices, says Tierra Griffiths of the American Pet Products
Manufacturers Association.
Dog-sized sleeping quarters in Louis XVI style?
No problem, says Philadelphia interior designer Stephen Alessi,
who once scored an iron sleigh bed for a client's schnauzer.
At Anthropologie, where handsome dachshund-shaped "diners"
holding stainless bowls ($48) are displayed, pet products have been
sold for the last few years. But the array has doubled since 2003,
president Glen Senk says.
And at Ikea, a new line of 50 design-savvy, affordable pet items
has just debuted everything from toys you wouldn't mind leaving
out on the floor to towels with attractive pet designs and inviting
animal-inspired cushions.
Pet pampering
Some of this is about not having to hide a pet's unsightly stuff,
says Debbie Colclasure of Laid Back Enterprises, whose Just Bepaws
division puts out such trendy fun products as ceramic bowls that
resemble takeout containers (cat bowl, about $11) and place mats
depicting "people" place settings ($5).
And some of the thinking behind pet beds which can range from
pillows coordinated to a room's palette all the way to structured,
miniaturized sofas, benches and chaises built lower to the ground
may be about wanting to keep pets off the other furniture.
That's what inspired Lex Gable, whose slobbering bulldog, Dogmo,
is the poster boy for her Dogmopolitan line of "decadent decor for
the luxury dogstyle."
But really key is the desire to make pets comfortable, to treat
them like members of the family.
The numbers behind the $32.4 billion pet industry are persuasive:
Sixty-two percent of households have a pet these days, versus 56
percent in 1988, according to the pet-products association. That
includes 77.7 million cats and 65 million dogs.
Gable who describes her dog decor as real furniture, just
miniaturized, with designer upholstery fabrics recalls the heady
rise of her business.
Four years ago, when she first came out with pieces running about
$500, "people were confused and bewildered. They laughed and said it
was ridiculous. Then the business exploded," she says. It went from
grossing $30,000 at wholesale to a projected $600,000 this year.
Also a hit there are the sculptural stainless Wetnoz bowls.
Designed for dogs and cats, they have chic colored rubber handles
and feet.
"The high-end segment of the pet market is booming, and it's been
untapped," says Mark Kimbrough, who along with partner Pearce Jones
designed the line. Prices range from about $25 to $40 for the dishes
and bowls to $50 for a treat canister. Since they hit the market two
years ago, almost 30,000 have been sold.
What pets want
Research into pet preferences and behavior helped Ikea develop
its line, including the hourglass-shaped rattan cat bed.
"Cats are independent. They're night animals and need a different
way of sleeping (than dogs)," says spokeswoman Janice Simonsen.
"They like being up high to scope out a room and like a place to
hide."
The Pals cat platform bed (which doubles as a scratching post),
with pad, goes for $54.99.
Wetnoz's oval Meow Dish grew out of a cat focus group. Different
bowl shapes and designs were tested, and Wetnoz learned that some
cats don't like to put their heads into bowls that are narrow
because their whiskers are sensitive.
Thus, the shallow Meow Dish, also known as the
Anti-Whisker-Stress Dish, was born. Retail price: $25.
At Foster's Urban Homeware in Philadelphia, where customers are
known by their dogs' names, Wetnoz bowls some available in plastic
for $5 to $10 "have been huge," Ken Foster says.
A stainless set trimmed in green is a perfect fit in his own
kitchen, and is used by beagle Barney and brown tabby Ivy.
Do the pets appreciate all the color coordination?
"Not as much as I do."
