The Design Rules You Can Learn From Cats
Dog lovers have already delighted in the recent Houzz story on colour schemes to complement your canine – now enjoy interiors tips from cats
Cats are so much more than fluffy friends, house companions or furry hot-water bottles – they can also be masters of a design trick or two. Not convinced? Just check out these handsome moggies exercising some serious interiors expertise.
Anchor your scheme with black
Solid black works hard when used to hold a busy scheme together, as this snoozing kitty clearly understands. Add a few inky touches to a colourful, heavily patterned room and it’ll create cohesion, and visually tie everything up tidily. Now you just have to make sure your core accessory stays put…
Solid black works hard when used to hold a busy scheme together, as this snoozing kitty clearly understands. Add a few inky touches to a colourful, heavily patterned room and it’ll create cohesion, and visually tie everything up tidily. Now you just have to make sure your core accessory stays put…
Work shabby chic – with restraint
The enduringly popular interiors fashion – mismatched accessories, distressed paintwork, soft shades – can go either of two ways. If the cute, pretty-pretty way is just not you, take a tip from this elegantly dishevelled Himalayan kitty and work the look with restraint by channelling Marilyn Monroe the morning after a cocktail soiree, still wearing the previous night’s outfit, hairdo and make-up.
Choose a muted backdrop to show off the sexy details – an elegant turned leg, a classic freestanding bath and a casually thrown-together collection of blooms – and you’ve mastered the art of chic with a shabby edge.
The enduringly popular interiors fashion – mismatched accessories, distressed paintwork, soft shades – can go either of two ways. If the cute, pretty-pretty way is just not you, take a tip from this elegantly dishevelled Himalayan kitty and work the look with restraint by channelling Marilyn Monroe the morning after a cocktail soiree, still wearing the previous night’s outfit, hairdo and make-up.
Choose a muted backdrop to show off the sexy details – an elegant turned leg, a classic freestanding bath and a casually thrown-together collection of blooms – and you’ve mastered the art of chic with a shabby edge.
Make the most of negative space
Bold prints on a large scale can be hard to pull off. It takes confidence – something you can see this artfully patterned monochrome puss has in bundles. He also has the white – or negative – space rule of design down to a T: don’t overcrowd your focal points. Instead, let them sing by setting them against a plain, pale background, where they’ll have space to breathe.
Find more ideas for decorating with geometrics in your home
Bold prints on a large scale can be hard to pull off. It takes confidence – something you can see this artfully patterned monochrome puss has in bundles. He also has the white – or negative – space rule of design down to a T: don’t overcrowd your focal points. Instead, let them sing by setting them against a plain, pale background, where they’ll have space to breathe.
Find more ideas for decorating with geometrics in your home
Keep things neutral
This tabby chap clearly knows the insider’s design trick for preventing a neutral scheme from fading into the background: texture. And the pared-back palette in this Scandi-style kitchen is a riot of different finishes. But the painted brickwork, cool marble, glossy parquet and rustic wooden drawer fronts definitely need some softness in the mix. And Mr T, design geek that he is, is dutifully resisting that squirrel in the garden until the owners can find a fake fur cushion to put in his spot.
This tabby chap clearly knows the insider’s design trick for preventing a neutral scheme from fading into the background: texture. And the pared-back palette in this Scandi-style kitchen is a riot of different finishes. But the painted brickwork, cool marble, glossy parquet and rustic wooden drawer fronts definitely need some softness in the mix. And Mr T, design geek that he is, is dutifully resisting that squirrel in the garden until the owners can find a fake fur cushion to put in his spot.
Introduce some jungle fever
When introducing exotic animal prints into a scheme, there’s nothing like the real thing. But big game hunting is so passé, and sometimes faux just won’t cut it – it can be a fine line between a synthetic leopard print throw and Pat Butcher. A trio of Bengal cats is the obvious solution: let them enjoy prowling on acres of neutral textiles for maximum impact (just keep them off your taxidermy – feathers can be such a pain to clean up).
When introducing exotic animal prints into a scheme, there’s nothing like the real thing. But big game hunting is so passé, and sometimes faux just won’t cut it – it can be a fine line between a synthetic leopard print throw and Pat Butcher. A trio of Bengal cats is the obvious solution: let them enjoy prowling on acres of neutral textiles for maximum impact (just keep them off your taxidermy – feathers can be such a pain to clean up).
Don’t do minimalism by halves
When opting for a pure, minimal scheme, it’s important to exercise discipline. And the owners of this ultra-modern building know that falling for a tabby or tortoiseshell would simply clutter up the clean lines of this spartan space. Instead, they’ve chosen a perfectly pure white puss, a cat colour as rare as a truly minimal interior. A perfectly pure match, don’t you think?
When opting for a pure, minimal scheme, it’s important to exercise discipline. And the owners of this ultra-modern building know that falling for a tabby or tortoiseshell would simply clutter up the clean lines of this spartan space. Instead, they’ve chosen a perfectly pure white puss, a cat colour as rare as a truly minimal interior. A perfectly pure match, don’t you think?
Keep guests entertained
Spending thousands on an integrated TV and mounting it stylishly into your guest bedroom wall… only to discover the only channel you can tune into is National Geographic. Your guests won’t be impressed… Get an expert in.
Discover the secrets of a home that’s cool for cats
Spending thousands on an integrated TV and mounting it stylishly into your guest bedroom wall… only to discover the only channel you can tune into is National Geographic. Your guests won’t be impressed… Get an expert in.
Discover the secrets of a home that’s cool for cats
Pair tonally similar shades
This proud Persian understands why she looks so great in this eclectic bedroom: her blue-grey ears are a perfect tonal match for the duck-egg hue of the headboard and chest of drawers. Keeping different colours in the same scheme close in terms of value (that’s the technical term for how light or dark a shade is) is an accepted trick for creating a visually calming combination. Perfect, as Kitty knows, for encouraging a soothing sleep.
This proud Persian understands why she looks so great in this eclectic bedroom: her blue-grey ears are a perfect tonal match for the duck-egg hue of the headboard and chest of drawers. Keeping different colours in the same scheme close in terms of value (that’s the technical term for how light or dark a shade is) is an accepted trick for creating a visually calming combination. Perfect, as Kitty knows, for encouraging a soothing sleep.
Channel the power of an echo
Repetition is another design basic nearly always at the heart of any successful interior. Here, this moodily hued feline has positioned himself carefully, so as to echo – and therefore to highlight – the sleek shape of the Tom Dixon pendants above the dining table. Cats just instinctively know about these things.
TELL US
How does your cat complement your décor – or do you have another house animal doing the job? Let us know in the Comments below.
Repetition is another design basic nearly always at the heart of any successful interior. Here, this moodily hued feline has positioned himself carefully, so as to echo – and therefore to highlight – the sleek shape of the Tom Dixon pendants above the dining table. Cats just instinctively know about these things.
TELL US
How does your cat complement your décor – or do you have another house animal doing the job? Let us know in the Comments below.
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Just as the children might have their own dinky dining or drawing table, so our fun-sized feline friends can be catered for with scaled-down design choices. Large doors for large humans, petite entrances for puss. Why not?
Discover colour schemes that complement your dog