For some reason, I became interested in interior design.  I have been told I have a talent for it and have been asked to do some outside projects.  I have done one outside project so far and am thinking about doing some more of this part-time.

I have several pets.  They are great but they are somewhat messy (dogs shed, birds drop food, etc.).  To cut down on the mess in the rest of the house, I decided to limit my pets to my family room and the basement.  This is not bad since these two areas are about 1,800 square ft.  Now the pets have their own area of the house and I never have to lock them up.

My latest project was my family room.  The problem was that this room would get messy quickly.  The carpet took a beating.  In addition, I found the white walls too stark.  Below is how I decorated the room originally.  Nice but not pet friendly:

To combat the problem with keeping the carpet clean, I had new wood floors installed.  Now fur, food, etc. wipes right up.  For the walls, I found an excellent earth tone.  I added an area rug and decorated in an African tribal motif.  By the time this was done, the room was so classy, I did not want to have my bird cages there.  So, the birds now have a custom aviary in their own room (maybe I’ll post pics of that later).  They visit the family room all the time but sleep in the aviary.