If you’ve lived in as many small spaces as I have, you’re always looking for ways to save floor space. The oldest trick in the designer’s book for small spaces is to use vertical space and elements as much as possible to fool the eye into thinking the room is larger than it is. It is also practical, as it gives you more room to move around. Even if you’re not lacking space, any pet owner on the lookout for cool cat products would appreciate this beautiful hanging Square Cat Habitat by Buddha.
We have a very exciting giveaway this month! It’s Square Cat Habitat’s brand new product, the new Acacia cat tree, a smaller version of the Baobab. Both are beautiful sculptural forms that look amazing in a modern home. The original Baobab is five feet tall and the Acacia is three feet tall. It’s the perfect
And as we all know, most cats love to climb and manage to find their way to seemingly unreachable places — like on top of the kitchen cabinets or refrigerator. Maybe a hanging habitat will encourage your cat to stay away from the kitchen. And if there’s a cat owner on your gift list, I’m sure they will appreciate this for its stylish, green, space-saving qualities.
One of the newest companies making modern furniture specifically for cats is Portland, Oregon-based Square Cat Habitat. Not only do they seem passionate about creating beautifully designed pieces, but they are committed to reducing their impact on the environment by using earth-friendly materials whenever possible. So far they have incorporated sustainable bamboo plywood, water-based finishes, and recycled packaging materials into their products.
I just realized that I never posted the name of the winner of the November giveaway. It was Maria from Ã…hus, Sweden! Maria chose a pair of Itch scratchers in vertical amber bamboo finish with faux mohair inserts, one in orange and one in purple. Congratulations Maria and thanks to Square Cat Habitat for this
One of the newest companies making modern furniture specifically for cats is Portland, Oregon-based Square Cat Habitat. Not only do they seem passionate about creating beautifully designed pieces, but they are committed to reducing their impact on the environment by using earth-friendly materials whenever possible. So far they have incorporated sustainable bamboo plywood, water-based finishes,
For her part, Susan Logan, the editor of Cat Fancy magazine, appreciates any help the hip new furnishings provide in erasing the tired cat-lady image. “We’re not recluses,” Ms. Logan said. “A lot of us cat lovers take pride in our home and our clothes.”
“Nobody has a beige carpet-covered sofa or bookshelf, so why should your cat furniture look like that?” he said. “But at the same time, you want to make your cat happy.”
Mr. Feinkind’s Lotus Cat Tower ($294.99; 201-379-7697 or therefinedfeline.com) is clearly geared toward cat happiness; where some of these new creations could pass as minimalist sculpture, the Lotus’s tiers and varied surfaces encourage the full spectrum of activities: napping, scratching and perching.
Then again, she conceded that she still has some feeling for the old carpeted standby. “I grew up on a farm, and there are people with much more refined taste than I,” she said. “Sometimes you’re a cat person and everyone knows it.”
This is great! I love the simplicity. But, how sturdy is it. It’s for the cat with a slimmer figure, I guess. Great product.
These all look like great products, but wow! $70 for a shelf for my cat? I’m on a fixed income. Is there no reasonably priced alternative? I think I could figure the shelves out (wrap in carpet, staple), but the brackets are the real problem.
Kristin November 18th, 2008 at 8:36 am These pieces are beautifully designed! And too clever for words. The Baobab Cat Tree is awesome and I know my kitty would love the Buddha Wall Perch – the perfect escape from our little dog. I can picture her already laughing at him, sitting upon the best seat in the house…lol.
James December 13th, 2008 at 7:58 pm These all look like great products, but wow! $70 for a shelf for my cat? I’m on a fixed income. Is there no reasonably priced alternative? I think I could figure the shelves out (wrap in carpet, staple), but the brackets are the real problem.
YOU love your cat. Look at him, conked out, nose glistening, such an innocent. You know what you should do, and love takes you as far as the pet store. But love has limits, and here they are: the Kitty Condo; the Jungle Club House; Tree Mansion. You paw idly at the synthetic carpeting, the inevitably beige tiers. He’d be ecstatic. The gods of interior design would not.
Nine years ago, Ms. Smith made an effort to change things with her corrugated cardboard Kittypod (about $350; information: 310-392-8060 or kittypod.com). But in general, in an era when everything from cheese graters to soap dishes has gotten designy, cat furniture has been the forgotten basement rec room. As a result, thousands of beloved family members have gone without, and thousands more beloved homes have been marred by what Patrice Farameh, editor of the forthcoming coffee table book “Luxury for Cats,” calls “eyesores, pushed to the corner of the room.”
The pieces vary widely but all share a premise: When the cat’s away, the owner still has to look at this stuff. With many designers, the inspiration was personal.
Josh Feinkind founded the Refined Feline, a two-year-old cat-furniture company in New York City, after he and his roommate couldn’t find anything tasteful for their small apartment in Englewood, N.J.
Some of the designers, though, are not pet people. Susan Kralovec, the owner of Everyday Studio, a San Francisco pet products company founded in 2004, has no cat in her life, she said, just a respect for good lines.
OF course, a new cat product is only as good as the scampering it inspires. This reporter outfitted his home with a handful of the best looking and turned the review over to Bobby and Sam, both year-old tabbies.
In addition, for comparison’s sake, a used Armarkat A8001 ($169 new; armarkat.com) — the apotheosis of traditional cat trees, nearly seven feet tall — was procured on Craigslist from a San Francisco woman whose husband had banished the thing, and added to the mix a few days after the more stylish pieces had been broken in.
Modernism had been more or less embraced by the time the old Armarkat arrived. If Pounce suggests 1970s Frank Gehry, as Ms. Kralovec says, the Armarkat channels a subdivision — specifically, a subdivision covered in faux fur and fitted with fuzzy balls dangling on strings. Still, there’s no getting around it: the old cat tree may be the visual equivalent of oatmeal, but Bobby and Sam lapped it up.