Member-only story
My Cats Are My Interior-Design Consultants
They let me know how they want things.
We can’t have nice things — our cats won’t let us.
We’ll never be featured in “Home Beautiful” or “Architectural Digest,” unless they have sections entirely devoted to fur-covered furniture or how to pass off vomit stains as art-installations.
I live in a Craftsman-style house that has a fireplace, a built-in breakfront, and crown molding that separates the walls from the ceilings.
Sounds pretty, right?
In the right hands, it would be.
But that’s not us.
We have four cats who don’t care about things like cleanliness, order, or holding back until you can get to the bathroom.
All the beautiful features of our home have been co-opted by our cats.
Nearly all our chairs and couches have blankets on them in an attempt to hide where they’ve been clawed to pieces, stained, or broken.
We’ve learned the hard way that every surface needs to be available for the cat — if it’s not cat-friendly; our cats will make it so.
Our cats have regularly slept in the chimney, in the sofa, and at an uncomfortable angle on some books.
