Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

If you work from home and you have cats, you may have noticed they always want to “help” you with your work. You know, maybe they’ll lounge on this stack of papers, or swish a tail across that keyboard, or oops, was that your pencil?

You can’t blame the cats… they just want to be where you are. The closer the better!

But perhaps if you got them a cat bed that attaches right to your desk, they’d be content to lounge in it instead of on your work. Enter the Kitt-in Box.

This pet bed can attach to the side of your desk or be placed on top of it. There are felt pads to protect your desk from damage (as if your desk hasn’t already been damaged with claw marks), and inside rests a soft cushion for Spot to recline upon.

The Kitt-In Box can support a 20 pound cat or small dog.

From the Refined Feline.

Looking for a doghouse that’s cool for Fido in the summer and warm in the winter? Try one that installs underground and takes advantage of the earth’s insulation.

The DogEden doghouse is supposed to appeal to a dog’s natural instincts to build dens in the ground. It also features 20% recycled materials, a built-in tie out, and self-heating and cooling (according to the site, when it is a cold -2 F/-18 C outside, it’ll be a comfortable 48 F/ 9 C inside, and when it’s a hot 105 F/41 C outside, it’ll be a cool 72 F/22C inside).

The underground dog house comes with a life time warranty, and there is no assembly required (of course, you’ll have to dig a hole to put it in!).

The DogEden house costs $400 and looks to be fairly indestructible. Of course, I’d never convince my dogs to move outside–they’d much prefer to make use of the climate controlled people house.

If you’ve ever dreamed of logging onto the Internet and feeding your pet remotely while at work or on vacation, apparently you’re not the only one.

“Now you can keep an eye on them while away with the power of Ergo Pet Feeders and INSTEON home control technology. Our pet feeding & viewing kit allows you to both feed your pets & view them from a computer anywhere in the world. You can also automatically have images of your pets at feeding time emailed to you on at scheduled times.”

With a camera like this, you no longer have to worry about if your cats and dogs are destroying the house while you’re gone. Now you’ll know for sure that they’re destroying the house, and maybe you can anticipate their feisty moods and distract them by dropping a morsel of food into their bowl. Hey, it beats playing Minesweeper at work, right?

$300 at SmartHome:

Remote Pet Feeding & Viewing Camera Kit

If your dog or cat enjoys roaming outdoors, even in the cold of winter, you’ll want to make sure Fido or Spot has plenty of fresh water. When the temperatures drop below freezing, this can be troublesome since the water in their bowl can ice over. The solution?

A heated pet water bowl, of course!

The K&H Thermal Bowl plugs into your outdoor outlet to keep the water free of ice in temperatures as low as -20F. The electronics are all safely inside, so your pet won’t be in danger, and the bowl uses less energy than a 30 Watt lightbulb.

The heated pet water bowl is available in several colors with prices starting at $18:

K&H Thermal Bowl

Can you install a pet door in a sliding glass door? Without creating some tacky homemade workaround lodged next to the door? A tacky door that lets in cold air during the winter and isn’t all that secure?

If you’re willing to make it a permanent installation, yes you can get a sliding glass pet door that works well, is energy efficient, and doesn’t interfere with the family’s use of the door.

This model from A1 Sliding Doors can be integrated into your existing door. According to the company, “Sliding glass patio doors with built in pet doors make it easy to let your pet out and keep your house secure by utilizing your existing sliding door and lock.” It’s also supposed to be more energy efficient than non-integrated models.

While this company works out of California, you can likely find outfits in your neck of the woods that will come to your house and install a custom pet exit in your sliding glass door too.

Ever notice how cats like to perch on high objects?

Well, this cat bed is only a foot or so off the ground, but it’ll give your feline friend an elevated view of the house while he naps. And since the sides curve upward to fit his body, he’ll feel snug, secure, and warm in this bed.

The work of designer Jed Crystal, the podium cat bed is made from molded foam and features a Sherpa fleece-lined interior (sounds comfy to me). The powder-coated steel base should help this feline nap spot last for years to come.

$119 at Generate Design: Podium Bed

If your kitties have put “cat tree” on their Christmas lists, and you’re looking for something attractive enough that you won’t feel the need to throw a blanket over it when company shows up, then you may be a candidate for the Lotus, a “Refined Feline Luxury Cat Tree.”

The Lotus features a “Zen-like” organic design that “blends symmetry, functionality, and minimalism into a beautiful, ‘flowering’ cat tower.” The artistic cat tree has stepped shelves for climbing, a cushion platform for lounging, and sisal carpet for scratching. Let’s hope your cats prefer that carpet to the one on the floor or the lovely texture of your leather chairs.

Available in birch, cherry, or mahogany finishes, the fancy cat tree costs $289 from Costco.

I was browsing the pet bowl section of a big box pet store the other day, and their feeding dishes were on the bland side. If you want something cool and unique, try browsing at Etsy. They have quite a few artists offering hand-crafted options.

This elevated pet bowl holder has a fun beach-cottage style mosaic. It’s one of several colorful patterns available from Designer Dining.

“From cutting the wood base to sanding, painting, tiling and grouting all of our pet bowl feeders are hand made. We use two coats of sealer on the grout to allow easy clean up for those messy eaters.”

$46

My dogs are spoiled, but even I wouldn’t have thought to build them their own doggy deck and bone-shaped swimming pool. But somebody did.

The folks at Doggy Dream Homes have this picture in their gallery.

This company will custom-build any kind of dog house you wish (as they say, “the ultimate dog house for your pampered pet”). You can get all the flooring, siding, and roofing options you would on a custom-built home of your own. You can even get heating, cooling, and electrical systems installed (hey, you wouldn’t want Fido to sit in the cold and the dark, would you?). And, yes, it’s entirely possible to get a deck and a doggy wading pool to go along with that dog house.

Of course, at the end of the day, we all know the dogs want to be in your house sharing your furniture with you.

Congratulations, you’ve just spent the afternoon cleaning up dog droppings, and now your yard is looking good (and it’s safe to walk on again). But what are you supposed to do with that unappealing pile you’ve gathered?

Well, if you have a pet waste composter, the solution is right there.

Over time, even those nasty smelly droppings can be turned into useful fertilizer. But you can’t just throw Fido’s leavings in your regular composting bin. Dog waste often contains harmful bacteria (e coli, salmonella, giardias, etc.), and in a compost pile those pathogenic bacteria can mix with helpful bacteria and throw a wrench into the composting cycle. It’ll take longer to break down that yard and kitchen waste.

So, the answer is to pick up a separate pet waste composter, such as the “Deluxe Doggie Dooley” shown here.

You bury most of the pyramid-shaped container, so it’s largely out of sight in your yard. You then use a foot pedal to open the lid on top (no bending, stooping, or touching anything nasty required to make your dump), and you never actually need to empty the composter yourself.

The Doggie Dooley empties itself–the digested compost drains into the soil to fertilize your yard naturally.

$60 from Clean Air Gardening