Doggie Couture

Alex and I have two dogs: Beans, our three-year-old black and tan mini-dachshund and Rocks, the rather newly adopted year and a half year old Rhodesian Ridgeback/lab mix. Strange combo, we know. Alex bought Beans for me almost three years ago as a Christmas present and we adopted Rocks when he was six months old from an animal shelter. They are very sweet and, really, they are our children since we don't have any yet. Beans was my first dog ever, and when we got her, she was so cute and small that I really wanted to buy her all kinds of cute things. And buy, I did. She has a rain coat, a pink fur coat, a tee-shirt from a very famous restaurant on Martha's Vineyard, The Black Dog (my family is from Massachusetts), fancy collars and the cutest dog bowl I have ever seen. Now, you might think that almost $80 is a lot to spend on a dog bowl (which it is), but it is literally one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

This brings me to my topic: pet home fashion. Just because you have pets, doesn't mean that your house has to look like it. There are all kinds of cute and inexpensive alternatives to many pet items. You can get animal beds to match any decor and you can even color coordinate their dishes to your home's decor. Also, Ballard Designs has some wonderful pet food containers that are very appealing to the eye. You can hide your pet's food in something very attractive. Also, they have super cute bowls with harlequin designs in an actual stand so they don't make a huge mess on the floor.

There are so many items, I couldn't even list them here. But, I truly believe that you can have the best of all worlds and have pets, but keep your house from looking like a shelter. Pets like your couch, but their hair makes you nuts? How about putting an old blanket out and only letting them lay on when you give them permission? It is a little more work, but probably worth saving your couch. And, seriously, some pet items are so cute...you will have to buy them. Just take a look at the bowl up top, and yes, Beans does have this :)