Tips for Decorating and Selling a Home with Pets
In my house there are two rather demanding cats, and a goofy dog- Alley the food motivated fat cat that constantly moans that she needs milk or canned cat food, Monster the attention motivated cat that thinks chewing expensive Mac power cords is a good pass time, and Izzie the dog that thinks sleeping in front of the heater is a good hobby.
In addition to my indoor pets I have chickens and ducks living outside, enjoying their privileged lives eating freeze dried worms and organic produce. As an animal lover, I couldn’t imagine not having something pawing at my face multiple times a day, but those animals can be a challenge when trying to maintain a clean home and even more so when getting it ready to sell. Here are some tips for decorating and selling a home with pets.
Litter Box
There are three problems that arise from having a litter box in the house:
1. That lovely smell of feces and urine
2. Unsightly and ugly
3. Bits of litter mess on the floor.
The Solutions:
Get Good Cat Litter:
Getting a good cat litter is paramount to reducing the litter box smell. Fresh step crystals cat litter is my personal favorite--- it sucks out moisture and neutralizes odor pretty quickly.
Litter box furniture:
Housing your litter box in a cute litter box cover will keep the smell in, instead of filling your home. The litter box cover will also help keep the cat litter inside the box rather than all over your carpet. You can find some great box furniture on Wayfair, or Etsy if you like more custom furniture.
Keep it clean:
I clean out my litter boxes multiple times a day to not only keep the smell down, but keep the cats happy. If you see a full toilet do you use it or flush it first? Cats are clean creatures, they appreciate the same level of cleanliness in their litter boxes.
Pet Toy Storage
Squeaky toys, bones, and balls on the floor not only pose the same hazards to your feet as a bucket of spilled legos, they make for a bloody messy home. You can tidy these up in baskets and place them at the base shelf on a bookshelf, or neatly stored in a corner.
Smells
Pets have accidents and those accidents can make for a smelly and stained carpet. Using an odor neutralizing cleaning will remove the pet stains.
