Animal House Style: Designing a Home to Share with Your Pets

by Júlia Szabó

Book Overview

A stylish guide to interior design offers practical and innovative solutions for pet owners on how to create a home decor for maximum human and animal comfort and offers helpful tips on how to keep one's pet-friendly interiors looking their best. 40,000 first printing.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821227556
• ISBN13: 9780821227558
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Bulfinch Press
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.8" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Great Ideas!

I question whether some of the reviewers actually read the book or just looked at the pictures. And others seemed more interested in questioning the background of the author (which if they had read the book would have known that she writes the pets column in the NY post). Regardless of whether you would incorporate some of the designs into your own home or whether you feel they are out of your price range, there were plenty of good ideas and tips. The ones that I found most useful: 1. Discussion of fabrics for sofas that are easy to clean (because I, like the author, welcome my pets on my sofa) 2. Discussion of the different makers of scented sprays (specifically the tomato based spray) to help mask that pet odor that I've become oblivious to in my own home. 3. Hello, washable pillow covers. Cool ones are hard to come by so I was really excited to see the listings.

FOUR-PAWS UP!!!!!!

MEOW! The only decorating book I've ever read that treats animals as companions worthy of consideration when making design decisions. If you live with a couple of cool cats and want to recover your sofa, Szabo let's you in on some trade secrets. (Ultrasuede, for instance, is a sure way to discourage scratching.) Beautifully illustrated and intelligently written and reported, the book is filled with tons of useful tips and entertaining anecdotes. Thankfully, the writer always puts pets before possessions but teaches us how to create beautiful living spaces without sacrificing style. Truly enlightened perspective makes this a must read for any animal owner who cares about design and decoration.

It's About Time

Here's my take on some of the negitive comments made about this book - it may seem idealistic, but to me it's about raising the rep of "pet owner" to a new level, a higher standard. Working in an animal shelter as I do, I have seen what the author describes about abandoned animals and how easily they are discarded for frivolous reasons. I think a book like this is very needed not only to prove to people that owning a pet doen't mean being a dirty slob but it also reminds pet owners that they need to work out problems and try to think of creative solutions to issues they may encounter with their pets before they give up on a very special member of the family or resort to mutilating their animal (cat declawing). Not all of us can afford designer furniture, that's true, but I have enjoyed seeing the photos of these animals and their loving owners who are showing the world that Fluffy or Spot have just as much right to sit on that million dollar couch as they do. I have seen sloppy pet owners and I think we all need to be reminded that we have a responibility to keep things on a higher level for the health of the animal as well as the impression we give to others.Any book like this that promotes adoptiong animals from shelters and giving them good, loving, healthy and above all PERMANENT homes is truly invaluble.

A great gift for the pet lover

I adore this book and plan to give it to all the pet lovers on my christmas list. It is so respectful and not condescending to animals and their owners, who sometimes go to great lengths to make their pets happy and comfortable. Owning pets should be a way of life, and IS a way of life for anyone that does it seriously and well. This book shows how people have opened their homes and their hearts to their animals through beautiful, unforgettable pictures and profiles.

Gorgeous and fun!

This is a fabulous book to give as a birthday or holiday prezzie. I actually ordered five copies to keep in my present drawer. It's also a great wedding present or housewarmer for anyone who likes animals. Not only for pet lovers but for people with visual, creative, alert minds who are into the beauty of living well and designing well. It's offbeat enough to impress the recipient because it's a somewhat original concept. Too many coffee table gift books are formulaic. This one is not. The pictures of good-looking people in their great-looking pads are inspiring and FUN.