Dog-friendly spaces are having a design moment. And the best ones have far more going for them than a place to rinse muddy paws.
The utility room, reconsidered
The dog wash has officially entered its design era. Once relegated to a utility corner, today’s pet spaces are getting the same thoughtful finishes, beautiful fixtures, and considered color palettes as the rest of the project. Frankly, it’s about time.
A well-designed mudroom can greet the family with a confident checkerboard floor. A grooming suite can feel like a boutique retreat. A multifamily dog wash can be as considered as the neighboring resident lounge. These rooms still have a job to do, of course. But function and good taste have never been mutually exclusive.
Start with the material, then make it memorable
For spaces that meet wet paws, splashes, and frequent cleaning, material selection matters. Porcelain is a natural place to start: durable, low in water absorption, and available in formats that make pattern feel intentional rather than ornamental. Details such as grout placement, transitions, drainage, and slip resistance should be evaluated for the specific installation, especially in wet areas.
Then comes the interesting part. A two-color floor brings order to a busy mudroom. A quiet tonal grid keeps a compact wash station calm. A deeper contrast can give a grooming salon the visual confidence of a hospitality space. Even a small wall can carry a little wit without sacrificing the architecture around it.
A little character goes a long way
Audrey Lane founders Jennifer Horning and Holli Van Cleave know something about designing for dog people: they are dog people. Their affection for their own pets helped shape Wag Society, an illustrated porcelain collection with 32 breeds and a coordinating field-tile palette. The intention was to capture the recognition and joy of spotting a familiar face, not to create a room that feels like a novelty shop.
As Jen described the spirit behind it, the collection is for spaces that want to bring in ‘that sense of joy you get when you interact with your pets.’ Sometimes that means a wall of pups. Sometimes it means one perfectly placed Boston Terrier amid a tailored pattern. Restraint can be playful, too.
For those with a favorite breed, single-breed orders and select color customizations offer another way to make the design personal, with minimum order quantities and extended lead times to plan for.
Beyond the home
Residential mudrooms and dog washes are only the beginning. Pet-friendly hospitality, multifamily amenity suites, veterinary practices, and grooming boutiques each have a different relationship with their four-legged visitors. The most successful designs respond to that context rather than applying the same motif everywhere.
A veterinary reception area might benefit from a welcoming, conversational feature wall. A dog-friendly hotel could use a subtle breed illustration as an unexpected detail. In a multifamily property, an elegant floor pattern can make a pet amenity feel like part of the building’s larger design language. Personality is most effective when it belongs to the space.
The checkerboard has range
One of the more surprising things about Wag Society is that the dogs are entirely optional. Its Society field-tile palette includes 14 coordinating colors, from soft whites and warm neutrals to cocoa, green, blue, and near-black. Used on their own, the 8-inch porcelain tiles lend themselves to checkerboards, stripes, plaids, and quietly graphic layouts.
Consider the difference between a soft ivory-and-sand checkerboard and a high-contrast pairing of deep blue and white. One feels relaxed and lived-in; the other crisp and architectural. A richer brown combination can bring a sense of heritage, while a tonal arrangement creates texture through rhythm rather than spectacle. The same format can take on an entirely different character through color and placement.
Holli has said she may be even more excited about the Society colors and the patterns they make possible than the pups themselves. It is easy to see why. This is a field-tile collection with a design story of its own, whether or not a dog ever enters the room.
Designed for the dogs. Considered for everyone.
The best pet-friendly interiors acknowledge their four-legged users without forgetting the people who live, work, or visit there. They are easy to maintain, comfortable to use, and visually connected to the larger project. They also leave room for something delightful.
Perhaps that is the new standard for a great dog wash: practical enough for muddy Tuesday afternoons, beautiful enough to photograph on a Sunday, and just playful enough to make someone smile.
Explore Wag Society and the Society field colors at audreylane.com/wag-society-dog-tile, or experiment with your own layout in the Wag Society Pattern Studio at customtool.audreylane.com/wag-society-pattern-studio/.
