If we could build the perfect room from scratch, what would it look like? What features would it contain? Let’s have ourselves a little daydream…

The vast majority of my clients are pet-owners (of the dog and cat variety). And, lately, the dogs are outweighing the cats by a landslide, which isn’t bad news for my severe cat allergy.

These dogs are doted upon, utterly adored, and generally considered to be four-legged children. Anyone with a heart can understand such canine adoration. But the crates that go along with the furry friends? Those are the bane of my clients’ existences. Anyone with working eyeballs can understand such boxed-metal and plastic resentment.

Pet crates are as unattractive as they are cumbersome. They’re the animal-cage equivalent of wearing a black tie gown that reveals a horribly tacky and completely regrettable tattoo. Or, maybe not like that at all, really. Suffice it to say that a standard issue pet crate does not usually succeed at elevating the feel of a space, but of injecting a veterinary office, fleas-and-ticks-vibe.

But the pets aren’t going anywhere, thankfully. In most cases, or at least for a period of time, this means the need for a crate is set to remain, as well.

Those dogs that don’t require a crate will still usually be given a bed. And while the design of such cushions has evolved to a most-visually pleasing way, they still yet to be relieved of their giant, smushed floor donuts status; constantly underfoot, often threatening to trip and kill an innocent family member thanks to their banana-peel effect on wood floors.

But what if we’ve been getting the whole dog-crate-bed-thing wrong? What if those hideous boxes didn’t have to speak louder than the animals they’re meant to contain? What if those soft surfaces didn’t have to occupy such a vast amount of floor space? What if they could, be some serious design ingenuity, be swallowed up into the form of the house, becoming discreet, entirely non-offensive, and, dare I say it, charming entities?

Image credits: Hierarchy Architecture & Design, Murphy & Co. Design,  Brooks & Falotico, 2B.Group via Contemporist, BHG, Betsy Bassett Interiors, Southern Living via Decorpad, Pineapple House Interior Design