I realize living in a house with nine cats is probably not easy for “He” and “She” in some respects. Every decision made has to take us cats into account. “Will it be safe for the cats?”; “will the cats enjoy it?”; “will the cats tear it up?”; “will the cats eat it and cost a fortune at the vet, or worse yet, be beyond saving?”; and, one of the biggest considerations: “will cat hair come off it easily?” When they purchased new furniture a few years ago, She really had her heart set on a hot little red microfiber sofa, but She settled for leather. Between the leather sofa and two leather chairs (each known as a chair and a half), the living room could have easily started looking like a bachelor pad. So, to soften the look, they bought this sweet upholstered paisley printed chair and ottoman.
It’s beautiful, however, it is literally a cat hair magnet. And, where do you think two of our favorite places are to take naps? You guessed it! On the cat hair magnets!
Once She realized this was an issue, She started covering the chair with towels - tacky, but I know others of you with pets will understand. Fortunately, we don’t get a lot of drop-in company, so there is always time to take them off and tidy up before guests arrive. However, She didn’t think the towels provided enough coverage. Her solution was to buy a large roll of clear plastic (like that used for drop cloths while painting), and using clear packing tape, she made a slipcover, of sorts, for the chair. Of course, this worked well to protect the chair, but did not make it too enticing for cat naps. Back on, the towels went. The plastic-covered, towel-laden chair - good for cat naps, not good for decor.
After a while, the look of the plastic on the chair got old, so She decided to buy a proper slipcover, thinking this would be an aesthetic and practical solution to her dilemma.
After much searching on the Internet, She felt like She had found the solution. Two slipcovers available from Wal-mart, a pretty red one that would be the perfect accent color for the room, and a sage green one that would blend nicely. The idea is to be able to change them out and always have a nice clean one ready. They are both machine washable (of paramount importance), and appear to be the right fit for the chair. After some confusion and a longer wait than usual, She found that the red slip cover has been discontinued. Of course, that was the one She wanted the most!
Upon receiving the sage green slipcover, She proceded to put it on the chair . Alley helped to interpret the instructions.
It actually fit pretty well, and, with a light pressing and a little more smoothing, is a grand improvement over the plastic. However, she did feel the red one would have looked so much better.
Sadly, after getting it on the chair and seeing that it looked nice, She wanted to protect it, too, so back on went the towels. I guess living with nine cats will always mean throwing in the towels.
Blossom
