DESIGN DONE RIGHT
CREATURE FEATURES Pets can add so much to your life. They get you off the couch, keep that blood pressure down (unless they’re tearing up your favorite shoes) and make you feel loved when they greet you at the door. So what can you do for your pet in return? We have a few ideas.
Feline high-rise
Although Ward is a specialty contractor, this masterpiece was designed for
cleaning and Plexiglass windows. A
a cat. The 36-by-39-inch structure was
heating pad is available for cold nights.
supposed to be for Ace, who was starting
The cat house sits 3 feet off the ground,
to have accidents in the house.
so when the hydrangea blooms, it looks
But when they moved from Little Italy to south of Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquari-
STORY MARJIE DUCEY PHOTOGRAPHY KAYLA WOLF
S
backyard. It has a hinged roof for easy
like landscaping. Buddy hasn’t totally given up his
um, Ace disappeared. Family lore is, he
wandering ways, so the house occasion-
visited the zoo and was eaten.
ally is available for second cat Sodie or
Buddy, a stray the family adopted,
other strays who happen by. This spring,
took over the house while Ward worked
Ward will add solar lighting and perhaps
His Victorian workman’s cabin has a
on the final details. It was a good escape
a staircase.
copper roof, cedar floors and balustrades
from Ward and wife Callyann Casteel’s
and porch spindles turned on his lathe.
three rambunctious sons.
ean Ward jokes that he spared no expense.
“There were no plans,” he said. “I just looked around the neighborhood.”
Last year, the house was placed in the middle of a hydrangea bush in the
They hope it’s just the cats that like the new digs. “We think raccoons are going to get in it,” he says. inspiredlivingomaha.com
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