I must say that having been on the continent for nearly 11 years now (!) where fitted carpet is still something of a rarity, I don't think I'd ever want to have one again.
One of the houses we lived in before the dogs had carpet just on the stairs and landings and I must have spent three hours cleaning all the cat hair off it when we moved out (despite regular vacuumings in the two years we lived there).
With three dogs and a garden essentially made of mud and sand, I dread to think how awful a carpet would be to live with now. (we have ceramic stone effect tiles on the ground floor, not our choice but too much faff to change them, with underfloor heating, and laminate that also wasn't our choice on the first and second floors. If we were to change either we'd just go for nicer versions of each - real stone maybe on the ground floor).
When we got Pablo and Lenin we were living on the Herengracht in Amsterdam in a house with some lovely 17th century Russian pine floorboards (according to the landlord). Unfortunately they were a bit soft in places (old woodworm damage I think) and the kittens created holes in them by scratching. I patched it up with plastic wood and hoped the landlord wouldn't mind too much - it was in a corner somewhere. He was more annoyed about them having accidentally scratched the cheap Ikea leather sofa he'd put in the place.
I'd never thought about real wood being soft enough for cat claws to do any damage! Dog claws I could imagine adding some patina, for sure.
I suppose leather seemed like a good hard wearing option for furniture in a rental house... Not great against needley claws, though.
The first place we rented out here had custard coloured microsuede sofas! One of the first things I did was make slip covers for them. Even without a cat there's no way they would have stayed pristine for long.
The flat 'Nny and I lived in when I was a student had a long hallway with polished floorboards, and I put several those little round IKEA rugs along it. Most nights as I was going to bed I'd hear the pittapat of little kitten feet then a big swoosh and wake up to find all the little rugs in a pile at against the wall at the far end of the hall after he'd surfed them down there.
This was before all phones had built in video cameras, sadly, or I'm sure he'd have become an Internet sensation.
All the cat people out there know that cats love boxes, so go on then and lets see you feline friend. Boxes optional This is the cat appreciation thread along with Miaow, Purr, Yawn!
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Kitten or cat pic where the cat loving people
Nov 2020