Because a beautiful home and a happy cat should never have to be mutually exclusive.

There is something uniquely exciting about receiving the keys to your first BTO.

After months, or years, of waiting, the floor plan finally becomes real. You start imagining slow Sunday mornings, dinners with friends, warm lighting in the living room and the little details that will make the space feel unmistakably yours.

For many young Singaporean couples, there is another member of the household to consider.

The cat.

Perhaps you already have one waiting at home. Perhaps getting a cat is part of the life you imagine once the renovation is complete.

Either way, designing a home for a cat does not mean filling your carefully considered interior with oversized cat trees, brightly coloured toys, a litter box that takes your guests by surprise, and an unused cat bed that is left around the corner collecting dust.

Quite the opposite.

A cat-friendly home can be calm, considered and beautiful.

The secret is to stop thinking of your cat's belongings as pet products and start thinking of them as part of the home.

Here are five ways to do exactly that.

1. Design around your cat, rather than adding for your cat

The easiest way for pet products to become visual clutter is to introduce them separately, one at a time.

Today, a bed appears beside the sofa.

Then a scratching post finds its way into the corner.

Next, food bowls sit beside the kitchen.

Every other day, you find toys accumulating beneath the coffee table.

Individually, none of these things seem particularly problematic. Together, they can make a carefully designed home feel fragmented.

Instead, consider your cat's needs while planning the space itself.

Create intentional zones.

A resting zone might sit beside the sofa or near a window, giving your cat somewhere comfortable to retreat while remaining close to the household.

An activity zone could incorporate a scratcher, climbing shelf or elevated perch. A toy basket can be placed in this zone for easy reach and housekeeping too.

A feeding zone can be positioned near the kitchen or dining area, with materials and colours that complement the surrounding space.

And a litter zone should be planned for privacy, ventilation and ease of cleaning—definitely away from the feeding zone.

The idea is simple:

Don't ask where you can fit your cat's things.
Ask where they naturally belong.

This is particularly important in a BTO, where every square metre matters.

Good pet design is not about adding more.

It is about making better use of the space you already have.

2. Choose pet furniture with the same design language as your home

Your cat doesn't know whether your home is Scandinavian, Japandi or Modern.

But you do.

And if you've spent months choosing your flooring, carpentry, laminate, lighting and furniture, there is no reason the pieces your cat uses every day should feel completely disconnected from them.

Think about your home as a visual language.

For a Scandinavian interior

Consider:
Light oak · Cream · Oat · Linen · Bouclé · Natural fibres

Soft textures and warm neutrals create a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. It makes it easy for a pet bed or blanket to sit naturally alongside your sofa, allowing your soft-tempered Persian or Ragdoll to lie around freely.

For Japandi or Muji-Inspired vibe

Consider:
Natural wood · Mushroom · Stone · Walnut · Linen · Muted earth tones

The emphasis is on restraint and organic materials, allowing cat furniture to feel almost architectural. Your companion, like a British Shorthair or Burmese, would love the calm vibes of furniture that blends with the interior.

For a Modern home

Consider:
Polished Stone · Matte Metal · Smooth Leather · Dark Wood

Here, a dark-coloured scratcher or feeding station can become an intentional design element that fits into the room, giving off a sophisticated and luxurious vibe, just like your Bengal, Siberian or Maine Coon.

The principle is straightforward:

Your cat's furniture doesn't need to match your sofa exactly. It simply needs to belong to the same world.

A beautiful cat bed should look at home in your living room even when your cat isn't sleeping in it—or look like it isn't even there.

3. Look up! Your walls are part of your cat's playground

For humans, a small BTO can feel limited by its floor area.

For cats, the same room can offer an entirely different landscape.

Cats naturally enjoy climbing, observing and occupying elevated spaces. This makes your walls an opportunity to create additional territory without sacrificing precious floor space.

A simple sequence of wall-mounted platforms can create a vertical route across a room:

Sofa → Shelf → Perch → Window

Suddenly, an otherwise unused wall becomes part of your cat's environment.

And done thoughtfully, it doesn't need to look like a traditional cat playground.

A series of warm timber shelves can complement your carpentry. A minimal platform can echo the lines of your existing furniture. A window perch can give your cat a favourite place to spend an afternoon watching the world outside.

For homeowners planning their renovation, this is worth considering early. If you know you want wall-mounted cat furniture, discuss the intended locations and installation requirements with your interior designer or contractor before the renovation is completed.

If you are already an existing homeowner, fret not. Instead of fanciful, bulky cat towers your cats probably won't use (mine doesn't), consider cat towers that fit your interior and can become an open display shelf if they go unused.

Think vertically.

Your BTO may have limited floor space.

Your cat doesn't have to.

4. Give the litter box a considered home

There is one part of living with a cat that no amount of beautiful styling can completely romanticise.

The litter box.

But while it may not be the most glamorous part of your interior, it can still be thoughtfully integrated into it.

The temptation is often to simply hide it. Behind a cabinet, inside a storage area—somewhere no guest will notice. But concealment should never come at the expense of your cat's comfort or your ability to clean the space properly.

A well-designed litter zone should balance:

Privacy · Ventilation · Accessibility · Hygiene · Ease of cleaning

And how about aesthetics?

Depending on your BTO layout, this might mean creating a discreet area within a utility space, bathroom, service yard or purpose-designed piece of furniture.

If you are incorporating the litter box into cabinetry, make sure the space remains adequately ventilated and that you can easily access it for regular cleaning.

Most importantly, design for the cat first.

A beautifully concealed litter box is not a successful design solution if your cat refuses to use it.

The goal isn't to hide the litter box at all costs.

It is to create a place where both you and your cat are comfortable with it being.

5. Style your cat's essentials as you would the rest of your home

Perhaps the biggest difference between a pet-friendly home and a beautifully integrated pet home comes down to one thing:

Coordination.

Instead of purchasing every pet product independently, think in collections.

Imagine a warm Scandinavian living room.

A soft cream cat bed sits beside the sofa. A light-oak scratcher echoes the timber of the coffee table. A linen blanket introduces another layer of texture. A woven basket keeps toys neatly contained.

Near the dining area, a simple oak feeding stand holds matte ceramic bowls.

Nothing screams "pet corner".

Yet everything has been chosen with the cat in mind.

How does this look?

This is the idea behind pet × interior.

Your cat's bed doesn't need to look like something that belongs in a pet shop.

Your feeding station doesn't need to clash with your dining area.

Your scratcher doesn't need to be hidden when guests arrive.

When considered as part of the interior, pet essentials can become beautiful objects in their own right.

Designing for the cat you have—or the cat you may have

If you're already a cat parent, you probably know your cat has opinions.

Very strong opinions.

They will decide which cushion is theirs, which window is worth sitting beside, which box is more interesting than the expensive bed you bought, and which corner of the house mysteriously becomes their favourite.

So don't try to design every detail around an imagined perfect cat.

Instead, create a flexible home that allows their personality to emerge.

For couples who haven't welcomed a cat yet, this can be even easier.

You don't need to turn your BTO into a cat playground before bringing one home.

Instead, make a few thoughtful decisions during renovation:

• Leave suitable areas for future cat furniture.
• Consider where a litter zone could comfortably sit.
• Think about potential wall-mounted shelves or perches.
• Choose durable, easy-to-clean materials.
• Consider washable fabrics for frequently used furniture.
• Avoid creating difficult-to-clean gaps and inaccessible corners.
• Keep fragile décor away from areas where a curious cat is likely to explore.

These small decisions can make a significant difference later.

Because cat-friendly design doesn't mean designing your entire home around your cat.

It means designing a home where both humans and cats can live beautifully, with cohesively designed interior furniture that blends well together.

A home for them. A home for you.

The modern Singaporean home is changing.

Our pets are no longer an afterthought tucked away in a corner of the household. These fur babies sleep beside us, follow us from room to room and become part of our everyday rituals.

So perhaps our interiors should reflect that too.

We don't believe you should have to choose between a beautiful home and a happy pet, nor should your cat's belongings feel like something you need to hide whenever friends come over.

There is another possibility.

A home where the pet bed complements the sofa, where the feeding station looks like a belonging appliance beside the dining table, where a scratcher looks like a piece of decoration and where a cat tower sits comfortably as a piece of decorated furniture.

Function and beauty can coexist.

A home designed for the people who live there—and the little ones who live alongside them.

This is the philosophy behind KIJU 栖居.

We believe pet products should not simply be designed for pets. They should be designed for the way people and pets live together.

Because they are part of the home, and they deserve to belong there.

Designed for them. Made for your home.

KIJU 栖居
Pet living, considered.