Melanie Demi loves to travel and see the world with her three dogs, but she also understands the importance of coming home to a comfortable space. A digital creator in the travel, lifestyle and pet area, Demi’s home, which she shares with her husband, Albert, two Great Danes and a little dachshund mix, is always busy.
Demi invited Dodo Digs and Isabel Klee of @simonsits in for a tour of her Bushwick, Brooklyn, apartment, proving you don’t have to compromise on the size of your pet to live in New York City.
The Dodo
When Demi first moved into the two-bedroom railroad apartment, the space felt too white and surgical.
To add personality, she decorated with colorful rugs, art on the walls and plants in every windowsill, taking the space from sterile to bright and cheery. Now Demi describes the vibe of her home as eclectic with “a splash of Great Dane slobber.”
The Dodo
Demi’s most significant investment in the apartment was a $5,000 couch spanning the entire length of the living room. Bought with her two Danes in mind, it’s waterproof, pet-proof, big enough for the family of five to sit on, and has white removable covers for easy washing. Behind the couch is a gallery wall devoted to art and knicknacks collected while on trips with her pups.
The Dodo
While the couch is oversized, the other furniture, such as the entry table and console, is narrow. “We needed to be really mindful of the pieces we were bringing in to make sure we still have room,” Demi told The Dodo. “And if [the dogs] get the zoomies, they’re not going to be knocking into the furniture.”
Now the space between the couch and other furniture is a perfect “two Danes deep.”
The Dodo
Walk through the living room and kitchen and you’ll come to the bedroom and the office — both of which lead to the backyard. The outdoor space is what first sold the couple on the apartment, giving the dogs space to run, play and sunbathe.
And the humans enjoy it just as much: “When the weather’s nice, we both love to come and work from out here,” Demi said. “I never thought that I’d be able to have a yard in New York City, but here we are!”
“It’s our little oasis,” she added.
The Dodo
At the end of each day, everyone piles into the king-sized bed to sleep. It may seem improbable that two adults and three dogs can all fit, but they make it work: “When [the Danes] actually go to sleep, they curl up into a little ball,” Demi said. “Sometimes I wake up and I’m like, ‘Oh, I did yoga at night!’ Because I’ll be in the weirdest position.”
Some other nonnegotiables for Demi that make life with dogs a bit easier are a washer-drier in unit, and using the Scandinavian sleep method, where each person in bed has their own duvet, giving them more freedom as they sleep and ensuring that no dog steals the covers.
With dogs, you can’t be too precious and sometimes just have to go with the flow. But as long as everyone’s comfortable, Demi says, the mess is worth it: “It really is about having a space that allows me to have my family with me, having a space where we all fit, where we’re comfortable. But also still having those pieces that make it us — the travel wall, color and also being OK that if the bed stays unmade, it stays unmade. We’re still living our best life and doing what we loved.”
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