{"id":441693,"date":"2010-03-18T00:08:46","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T04:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a94c79b2970b"},"modified":"2010-03-18T00:02:20","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T04:02:20","slug":"chalet-themed-cat-house-easy-wipe-pet-placemats-are-stylish-and-functional-a-rare-combination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/441693","title":{"rendered":"Chalet-themed cat house, easy-wipe pet placemats are stylish and functional (a rare combination)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kitty house\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c630a53ef01310fb2c2eb970c \" src=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c630a53ef01310fb2c2eb970c-600wi\" style=\"WIDTH: 600px\"><\/img><\/p>\n<p>Pet products, as a general rule, are manufactured with function, rather than an aesthetically pleasing form, in mind. (As evidence, may we present <a href=\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/4115Q97UxgL._SL500_.jpg\">the most absurdly large cat climbing tree<\/a> we&#8217;ve ever seen? No? How about the environmentally friendly <a href=\"http:\/\/millerpet.com\/\">underground doghouse that&#8217;s cooled with geothermal energy<\/a>, then? We&#8217;re all for green living, of course, but even we must note that this product is strange-looking.) <\/p>\n<p>Then there are those occasions when they miss the mark completely, violating all rules of form <em>and<\/em> function. (We&#8217;re looking at<em> you<\/em>, unknown person who filed the patent for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avenuek9.com\/2009\/09\/28\/when-dog-inventions-go-terribly-wrong\/\">the wearable dog house<\/a>. And <em>you<\/em>, makers of <a href=\"http:\/\/seen.mainetoday.com\/gallery_photos\/2009\/09\/04\/356\/8793_sasquatch_358.jpg\">the dog bed that looks like a giant Croc shoe<\/a>. And especially <em>you<\/em>, company behind the garish <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gopetdesign.com\/eiCrate_22kgold.html\">22.5-karat gold-plated crate<\/a> that retails for $11,000.)<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately for dogs and cats with a sense of style &#8212; and owners who don&#8217;t feel inclined to spend thousands of dollars on things like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/offbeat\/2007-07-06-kitty-doghouse_N.htm\">crystal-encrusted Hello Kitty-themed dog beds<\/a> &#8212; there are stylish and reasonably-priced pet products out there as well. Our colleagues at The Times&#8217; home and garden blog, <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/home_blog\/\">L.A. at Home<\/a>, recently spotlighted a few such items. <\/p>\n<p>The first, the Canadian Cabin for cats (above), is constructed from cardboard and requires no tools for assembly. Its creators, Montreal-based industrial designers Marie-Pier Guilman and Maud Beauchamp, based their kitty cabin creation on a Canadian hunting chalet. It comes complete with a dangling toy and a cardboard carpet for scratching &#8212; and its back wall even has paw-sized holes! The Canadian Cabin retails for $30. <\/p>\n<p>The second, a line of stylish placemats for pets made from basket-weave vinyl flooring, comes from designer Sandy Chilewich. The mats come in chestnut, lemon, mango, lime and platinum &#8212; each with a cute dog-shaped cutout in the center &#8212; and retail for $35. The best part: Since they&#8217;re made of vinyl, they&#8217;re easy to wipe down if <a href=\"http:\/\/phoenixdogphotography.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/IMG_7969.jpg\">your Newfoundland<\/a> slobbers kibble-laced saliva all over them!<\/p>\n<p><strong>See more of <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/home_blog\/2010\/03\/canadian-cabin-cardboard-cathouse-by-loyal-luxe.html\">the Canadian Cabin<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/home_blog\/2010\/03\/chilewich-introduces-new-basketweave-pet-mats-for-spring-.html\">Chilewich placemats<\/a> at L.A. at Home. (But perusing this blog can be pretty addictive, so don&#8217;t say we didn&#8217;t warn you.)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Lindsay Barnett<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo: The Canadian Cabin. Credit: Loyal Luxe<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pet products, as a general rule, are manufactured with function, rather than an aesthetically pleasing form, in mind. (As evidence, may we present the most absurdly large cat climbing tree we&#8217;ve ever seen? No? How about the environmentally friendly underground doghouse that&#8217;s cooled with geothermal energy, then? We&#8217;re all for green living, of course, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-441693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}