House Cat: Inspirational Interiors and the Elegant Felines Who Call Them Home

by Paul Barbera

Fancy felines and the beautiful interiors in which they rule. This is not a book about cats. Nor is it a book on interiors. It is somewhere a look at how cats and interiors interact, and how cats become a fundamental part of one’s home. Really, it is about how a cat completely takes over their home. House Cat is a celebration of fifty-seven charismatic cats and the incredible spaces that they nonchalantly wander. From Grace Coddington’s famous felines in their cosmopolitan New York apartment all the way to the farmhouse cat who has no idea that his owner is the great Bunny Williams. Paul Barbera’s stunning photography transports you from a ninety-one-story-high penthouse above Billionaires' Row straight to a Mexican hacienda-inspired home complete with nine cats. It is the ultimate pairing of enviable abodes and the mischievous cats that call them home. 172 color illustrations

Genres: Nonfiction, Cats, Art, Photography, Adult

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 2024

Reviews

[MKF]

Homes of the rich and their cats many of which are designer cats. The author focuses more on the rooms and each photo has the cats but some of them the cat are easily lost in a few of them. There is a Q&A at the end of each section for the different cats but you don't learn a lot about them.

[Tanner]

If this doesn't motivate you not to rest until there are about 12 more tax brackets, congrats, you're in the .01%

[Carol]

What’s not to love?! Cats and the (stunning) homes they live in.

[Eva B.]

No rating because I didn't read anything about the houses, but I did enjoy the cat pictures.

[Elizabeth]

I enjoyed reading about the cats and goggling at rich people's interior design choices. (I wonder how the maids dust an industrial-sized metal tube slide?)

[Lizzy]

The cats are delightful but the Q&A sections are pretty repetitive and boring, and most of the interior design is hideous. Some of the pictures are beautiful or funny. Would have been more interesting to talk about how to balance beauty and pets— how do they keep the cats from destroying the furniture, where does the litter box go, where are the scratching posts etc. How to adapt the space to fit a cat’s needs. How to avoid letting the cat knock over your pricey Wedgewood antiques. Worth a quick flip through but the text is underwhelming and there was very little inspiration and too much “ugh AD/rich people design”

[Karen]

This book was a book of photographs of home interiors and cats. If you ask me, the cats got short-shifted. The author is suppose to be a professional photographer. Frankly, I can and have taken better photos. I don't even believe he has ever lived with a cat! I was very disappointed in this book.

[Mary Lynn]

Fun if you like cats and non-styled actual photos of upscale homes. Otherwise, not much here.

[Patricia Q]

When I saw this at the library I thought it would be cute to flip through. Not so much.
If you are looking for a cool photographic cat book check out Shop Cats of New York.

[Phobean]

The best part of this 240-page tome are the Q&As with the caretakers of the cats. It's a clever book idea, although admittedly the highly designed homes of wildly wealthy Northeastern homeowners did not super-interest me, nor was I a fan of much of the interior design (being more into modernism myself, not eclectic-baroque). My main question was: who would keep cats in these homes, one of which has NINE? Nine full-fur, tchotchke-shattering, rug-destroying, couch-scratching beasts? I mean, they are cute, and I'm a cat-fan myself, but WOW.

Some of my favorite Q&A responses:

Re: Pinot, a 16-year-old Persian - Lap cat or not? "If there were no other place in the world to sit, still not."

Re: Blondie - Lazy or Active? "Lazy, but Blondie does not walk, she only runs."

Re: Captain Reginald Henry, a 12-year-old Tabby - Dogs - Friend or Foe? "Has tallied three nose touches with the new dog."

Re: Monty and Punk, 1 year old Maine Coons - Old Soul or Kitten at Heart? "Kittens, literally, but no sign of it going away any time soon."

[Munchie]

2.5 but rounded down. It's a very bland read with very bland photos of rich people's homes Some are hardly shown while some homes get more spotlight than others. The appeal is supposed to be the cats in them, tho I wasn't expecting upscale homes with designer cats (mainly), no cat furniture (except for a couple) and human furniture that will either inspire you or make you question the owners mental state. Some older homes had a vintage feel while others just felt weird, like why have 13 rugs stacked on top of one another and 100 of the same books on your bookshelf (exaggerating but if you look at the section I'm referencing, you kind of have to ask yourself why). The Q&A was cute till I got repetitive real fast and had very simple answers. Pass on this book if you're a cat lover. Cat people (I said people vs owner here for a reason) would make their world around their cats, not themselves.

[Pat]

This is a beautiful architectural book filled with pictures of unbelievable homes and apartments located in New York, California and Connecticut. Best of all, it features the lucky cats that dwell in these mansions. It's kind of hard to swallow that these cats live in better surroundings than me, but I am comforted by the fact that these fancy felines also sit on the table and scratch up the furniture.

[Kamryn]

It’s exactly what it says on the tin, and for the most part it’s a delight. Without actually doing the math, I’d say that 90% of the homes/cats featured were on the east coast, with 60% of the total in the NYC area. For a book that focused on photographs, I wish it were more clear which cats were which in multi-pet households.
That all being said, I’m obsessed with Captain Reginald Henry, in both a “I want him and I want to be him” sense 😍

[Susan]

What’s not to love about a book that showcases beautiful homes and, most importantly, the felines that rule them? I read it on a rainy February Monday with one of my own cats snoring in my lap. The perfect book if you love cats and interior design.

[Molly]

A photography book of cats owned by wealthy people in their homes with Q&As about their personalities. I love the cat pictures. The homes are very aspirational. The Q&As are cute. A nice coffee table boom for cat lovers.

[Lindsay Taylor]

This was fun! I especially enjoyed the peek into Bunny Williams’ home, which felt more layered and actually lived in than most of the modernist/minimalist spaces featured in the book.

[Trish]

This is full of cute cats and beautiful houses.

[Denise]

Brief but witty text accompanies gorgeous photos.

[Sue]

An enjoyable coffee table book for cat lovers, but also those interested in stylish interiors.

[Kelly Jones]

All Cats Are Beautiful

[Chanel Chapters]

4.5

Cribs & cats = a good time.

https://www.youtube.com/@ChanelChapters

[Cathleen]

I am not one who seeks books on interior design, but I was won over by the unique frame (and maybe a bit by the aspirational spaces?) The real draw, however, is the personality profile page included for each feline, and the distinct whimsy, insight, and appreciation that paints the cat characters hold charms perfect for reading on a snow-day with one's own kitten snuggled into your lap.

[Liv]

This is the ultimate book in house decor/architecture and the only one you would need. That's because there is at least one cat on each page. Know what makes a Ming vase or $35,000 sofa look more attractive? A cat. As a lover of Architectural Digest, Veranda, and Dwell, it makes me think all of their pages could use more felines.

[Renegade Librarian Extraordinaire]

Thank goodness for Public Libraries!

This is a lovely, browsable book. Not something I'd purchase for myself, because I can't really see myself "re-reading" it, but fortunately I was able to check it out through my public library system and spent a pleasant afternoon browsing photos of cats co-existing with their environments. As far as Cat Photo Books go, this was a solid 3.5.

p.s. One should note that these photos are VERY staged. I share a home with two cats, and can attest to this. Had the photos been realistic, one would see cat toys strewn about, scratch marks in the furniture, askew rugs, and cat hair covering every surface. Likely even a few empty Chewy or Amazon boxes around to invite nesting cats. Oh... and those plants? Chewed to pieces (and hopefully of the non-toxic variety).

[𝕸𝖎𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖊𝖑 𝕮.]

I’ve picked up this book twice now; every picture is seriously fun and the cats make the already beautiful spaces come alive! There should be way more books just like this one!