S/o small pets

[PunkyBoo]

So all of you that have/had small pets, where do you keep them? I'm sort of maybe starting to consider possibly getting DS2 something furry-ish to help with his therapy (I think I'm leaning toward guinea pigs) but I'm struggling to figure out where we would put the cage. I would want them to be somewhere they can be part of the family/social and not out of sight-out of mind. But the need for space, appropriate placement (I assume not right next to a sliding glass door that gets very hot in the summer), not in the dining room (that kinda grosses me out -but I admit I'm really sensitive to yuck), but downstairs we have an open-ish floor plan. I don't know if I want critters to be the first thing you see coming into our house. We'd have room upstairs in the big play room which is where DS2 spends free time but then they'd be all alone up there a majority of the time, plus having food/water going upstairs and poop/mess traveling downstairs, and that room is carpeted...
Our friends had their kids' pets in their bedrooms so DS1's best friend's bedroom smelled horribly (bearded dragons) but he was completely nose blind to it- I really don't want pets in the bedrooms.
So where are your small pets?
ETA- if you don't mind, please post photos of the cage setup- I don't know if they should be in the floor, on a table, by a window... Etc. Photos would help me visualize what might work here.

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