Do-It-Yourself Dog Bed Project

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Have you been thinking about a do-it-yourself dog bed project? Below, you’ll find a dog bed we made several years ago. I certainly hope it helps inspire your creative juices.

We love our pets, and most of you can relate to going above and beyond to make sure our pets are safe and comfortable, especially when one of them is a senior citizen and can’t get around as well as they used to. Our pitbull Skittles is 13 years old and has hip problems. His favorite place to crash is on the couch or one of the kid’s beds, but we don’t want him on our furniture.  He also has bad hips and does not like being behind on the floor; it doesn’t matter if it is only 3 inches off the floor or if it’s off the floor.  He’s just getting older, and the only way to keep everyone happy while making sure he was comfortable was with this DIY dog bed project we finished a while back.

DIY Dog Bed + Rehab Project with Valspar® Furniture Paint

You’ll need the following tools:

• Safety glasses, not just regular glasses will work. They should impact resistant and can be found at any hardware store. Trust me you will appreciate them. You may also want to pick up some dust masks; people can’t breathe sawdust.
• At least a 12-foot tape measure
• 7 ¼” circular saw (skill saw)
• Jigsaw (optional) I used mine for shaped cuts
• Oscillating palm sander  (optional) makes sanding large areas a lot easier,
• Electric drill
• Handheld belt sander, to round off sharp corners and clean up shaped cuts.
• 2 Lint-Free Cloth

Materials:

• 2x 4’x4’x ¼” birch plywood
• 1x 4’x4’ birch plywood
• 2x 4”x4”x 6’ pine posts
• 2x: 2”x4”x8’ studs
• 1x bottle Elmer’s wood glue
• 1x box of 2 ½” deck screws (they won’t wiggle out)
• 1x box of 1” deck screws
• Valspar® Furniture Paint

Let’s get started on the DIY Doggie Bone Bed!

1.) Take your dog’s size into consideration, 2 feet wide by 4 feet long is the size I went with for pitbull Skittles.  You may want to do something larger or smaller based on your dog’s needs.

2.) 2×4: Measure 44” and cut two of these.  Next, cut two pieces of 2×4 to 24” long.

3.) On a flat surface, lay the four pieces you cut out on edge to make a rectangle. The two 44’ pieces will go between the two 24” pieces using the 2 ½” deck screws attach the four pieces a little wood glue on the ends of the 44” boards will help make the joint stronger Use two screws per corner to ensure joint strength.

4.) Next, cut two 6” long pieces of the 4×4 post; these will be the front legs of the bed. With the same 4×4, cut two pieces to 24”.

5.) Next, take one of the 4’x2’ plywood pieces, position one of the 6” long 4x4s at the corner of the plywood and trace the 4×4 Repeat this at all four corners; when cut out, this will allow the legs to pass through the bottom of the bed. After cutting the squares out of each corner, place this on the lower part of the 4’x2’ frame, which we assembled in the last step. Put a little bit of wood glue around the perimeter of the frame, set the plywood with the corners cut out, and align it with the frame. Using the 1” deck screws, secure the plywood to the frame. I used four screws evenly spaced on the long sides and three on the short sides. Flip over the box you just completed; the plywood side is the bottom; you want the 2x4s facing up.

6.) Now take the 4×4 pieces you cut earlier. The two short ones go up front, and the longer ones are for the back. With the two longer 4x4s, measure from the bottom up to 6” and make a well-visible line all the way across. You will use this to place the legs on the frame. Add some wood glue to the two sides of each leg that will contact the frame. The two short legs will mount to the frame flush (even) with the top edge of the frame. Use 4 2” deck screws per corner to attach the legs. Align the line on the two long legs with the top edge of the frame and attach with 4 2” deck screws. (NOTE: You may need to trim the corners of the plywood to get the legs to fit through; this can be easily done with a jigsaw.).

7.) To make the back, take your 4’x4’ plywood and set it behind the back legs. Use your creativity and your dog’s preferences. Skittles likes bones, so I traced the shape of a bone inside a heart. I free-handed a giant heart in the center of the plywood, and with my jigsaw, I cut out the outside edges of the heart. Next, I drew a bone in the center of the heart and drilled a 1/2” hole in the middle of the bone, then used my jigsaw to cut out the shape. Use the belt sander to clean up the shaped cuts you just made.

8.) Now you’re ready for the finish. You may want to start with coarse sandpaper to remove any blemishes or stampings from the wood.

NOTE: If you find any deep gouges or scratches, you can wet the area with water and let it soak in.  It will make the wood swell, and the scratch will disappear.  Allow to air dry and sand over the area. Next, move to a finer sandpaper to smooth out the wood and remove surface scratches that will show under stain or paint.

9.) I initially used English oil to stain the dog bed and later applied a clear lacquer, and I tried to love it, but after a long while I still hated the stain.  If you wish to stain it, just apply English oil using a clean, lint-free rag. Apply as many or a few coats as you like, and it dries relatively quickly. I then topped that with three coats of clear lacquer.  Let it cure for about 24 hours outside, somewhere dry and out of direct sunlight.  Before it was even dry, I wanted to kick myself for putting those three coats of clear lacquer on the dog bed because I immediately wanted to paint it.  Which is a lot of the reason I have put off sharing this DIY project with you—I wanted to paint it first!

If you end up hating the stain like we did, be sure to grab Valspar® Furniture Paint; I didn’t have to sand or prime anything.  I just picked up my paintbrush and applied two coats.  Valspar® Furniture Paint is extremely smooth and simple enough for even the novice DIYer.  For our doggie bed rehab project, we used three different colors of Valspar® Furniture Paint: Montana Moss to write Skittles name, Berrylicious for the posts, and Exotic Sea for the backboard.  I love the colors, especially the Berrylicious and Exotic Sea; they seem to complement one another nicely.

10.) Bring it inside and fill it with something soft for your puppy to sleep on, and watch your best friend enjoy his new bed.

DIY Dog Bed Rehab Project with Valspar® Furniture Paint

Thankfully, Valspar® Furniture Paint saved my project because I didn’t know that I could have handled the boring stain any longer.  I like to take advantage of colors when and where I can, and this doggie bed is one place I can have fun!

Doesn’t the paint look so much better?  It fits Skittles better now; even my sister-in-law made a remark about Skittles being one of the only dogs that can rock bright colors the way he does.  He has always sported bright colors.  In the winter, he has a bright pink shirt that he loves to wear.  It’s his lucky shirt, and when he wears it while we are running around, he almost always gets hooked on free food.  He likes the bright colors because of the attention that comes along with them, lol.  That’s my skittles!

My husband told me I should just buy Skittles a new bed I liked to save myself the trouble of painting it.  It’s only a dog bed, but did I know why to toss it when you can paint, repurpose, or restore it?  Did you know that every year, eight million tons of discarded furniture end up in landfills?  It’s often trashed due to minor blemishes like watermarks, scratches, and dings.  Yes, and Valspar has two specialty products that offer an economical and easy solution for bringing our furniture castaways back to life, like Skittles Doggie Bone Bed, Valspar® Furniture Paint, and Valspar® Cabinet Enamel.

Valspar® Furniture Paint made the Skittles Doggie Bone Bed bright, fun, and totally Skittles!  I’m even more excited to get rolling on my daughter’s DIY dresser makeover!  I finally found a dresser for her bedroom the other day, and I’m going to use Valspar® furniture paint on the dresser and Valspar® chalkboard spray paint on the drawers.  It’s going to be perfect for my 5-year-old, who has a hard time remembering what goes into which drawer.

Valspar® Furniture Paint is perfect for all your DIY projects, big and small.  It makes getting the job done easy and fun, especially because, depending on the material, there isn’t often any sanding or priming needed.  I enjoyed painting with Valspar® Furniture Paint because it goes on smooth and doesn’t leave behind brush marks.  Valspar® Furniture Paint is ultra-durable with an oil-enriched finish that protects from scuffs, stains, and spills.  Cleaning up furniture with Valspar® Furniture Paint is a breeze; just a little soap and water get the job done.

Once again, Valspar® delivers a superior product that not only helps give consumers like me that little extra confidence needed to pick up that paint brush and transform something you love rather than tossing it to the curb,. Valspar® not only wants to boost consumers’ confidence, they also want to inspire consumers to try that next rehab or mini-makeover project, so Valspar® has produced a series of “Rehab Project” videos available at Valspar.com.  The videos feature mini-makeovers that can be completed with the new Valspar® Furniture Paint and Valspar® Cabinet Enamel in as little as a weekend.  You can grab Valspar® Furniture Pant and Cabinet Enamel in hundreds of excellent Valspar color options for only $24.99 per quart at Lowe’s stores nationwide.

Next time you consider getting rid of a piece of furniture with a few scratches, dings, scuffs, or discoloration, consider the possibilities.  With only a few strokes of your paintbrush, you can transform trash into treasure.  If you need a little inspiration, don’t forget to visit Valspar® project ideas using their new furniture paint and cabinet enamel by visiting Valspar.com.

This is a sponsored post brought to you by our dear friends at Valspar.  All opinions are our own!