How To Choose Pet-Friendly Furniture

*This post was made possible by the generous support of Article, and features gifted product for testing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Kittens are tough, guys! As you may know, we adopted two rescue kittens over the summer when we unexpectedly had to say goodbye to our two older kitties. I remember thinking to myself, “Oh, kittens are going to be so much fun!” Boy, did I underestimate the work that goes into raising kittens. I haven’t had a kitten since college many, many years ago, so I guess I had forgotten how hard it is to keep them out of plants, away from breakables, and off delicate furniture. We’ve actually had to sell quite a few of our old plants and pieces of furniture because I could tell that they weren’t pet-friendly, so we’re now in the process of replacing those lost items with more kitten-safe options that our pets can enjoy without my anxiety going through the roof.

The most recent addition to our pet-friendly furniture collection is a new sectional from Article. This is their Sven sectional in the color “Pacific Blue.” I had really been craving more color in our sunroom anyway, so swapping out our old light gray couch for this rich dark blue velvet one was a very happy forced circumstance. Aside from the color, though, there’s so much more to love about this couch, especially when it comes to pet-friendliness.

If you’ve been following along for any length of time, you know that we’ve had lots of couches over the years. I’m a pretty seasoned couch owner, and have tried them all, it feels like. As far as pet-friendly couches go, I have come to realize that leather just isn’t the best option for us and our clawed fur babies. You can see below how destroyed our vintage leather couch is now that it has lived with us through seven pets. It’s covered in claw marks, which is fine from a sentimental perspective (I remember how much our Luna girl loved this couch before she passed away…), but from a practicality side of things, it’s a no-go for us.

Happily, velvet has proven to be the perfect solution for us and our pets. I’ve done lots of research on this particular type of fabric, and have heard rumors that cats detest the feel of it under their claws. I think it has something to do with the tight weave of velvet that won’t really allow sharp claws to get a good grip on the fabric. Either way, so far our kittens haven’t even attempted to scratch our new velvet couch, which has me breathing a big sigh of relief.

Another reason we went with velvet is the fact that the light-reflecting surface helps camouflage pet hair—even lighter fur from our Flame Point Siamese and light-colored rescue dog. Our black cat’s fur is virtually invisible against the dark blue color of this couch, so I find myself having to vacuum it only occasionally. That said, I did want to mention that I have vacuumed it with our handheld Dyson, and it cleans up like a dream. I was worried that velvet would hold on to fur and dust, but it gives it right up to the vacuum without any struggle.

Did you also spot our lovely new Article throw pillows? I wanted to make sure that our couch fit well within the room design, especially alongside our leather couch that we’ll never get rid of, so I chose Article’s light cream Daska Pillow and their earth-toned plaid Lewis Pillow to help draw those colors over to the new couch. Yes in case you’re wondering, Article’s décor game is just as good as their furniture. How cute are these accessories? The shade of rusty brown in the Lewis Pillow is almost a perfect match to our leather couch, which helps make the seating arrangement look a little more drawn together and cohesive.

What do you think of our new pet-friendly couch? Have you found yourself needing to find a replacement sofa that your kittens or puppy won’t ruin? Maybe consider this one! Like everything in my home from Article, it has been a dream so far and completely lives up to all my experiences with Article’s pieces—high quality, beautiful modern pieces at a great price that I know we’ll have and love for years. I’m giddy to have it added to our collection now. Even the delivery driver (who was so friendly, by the way!) remarked on what a fabulous color it is. This couch has brought peace of mind, yes, but it also just looks so darn good in our home. It was meant to be, I think. Shop the sectional this way, and don’t miss out on the other colors it comes in—the green was definitely a close contender for us.