Hopefully you are now all singing this song.
Moving on.
It is always fun to see how one thing can set a series of events into motion. Like how having a dog can lead to needing a new piece of furniture. Now I know it’s not that unusual to think that a dog might necessitate a new piece of furniture. They chew on things, wallow on things, and generally destroy everything. But in my case, having two dogs is making me see the need for a bench at the end of our bed. And the chain of events goes a little something like this.
Two large dogs live in our house. Those two large dogs spend the day outside while we are at work. We have a large fenced back yard, and they are much happier out there than when they were cooped up in the house all day. But sometimes it rains during the day while we are gone. There is enough roof overhang to keep them dry. But my two knuckleheads LOVE getting out in the rain. They love running around in it, rolling in the wet grass, and stomping through the lovely red Georgia clay. So when they come in after we get home and it’s been raining, they are a disaster. Those nights, they stay in the kitchen. {Thank God for baby gates, right?} But sometimes if it’s just been sprinkling, we’ll let them sleep in their normal spots in our bedroom. And while they don’t mind being wet and gross while they are outside, it seems as if they cannot stand to be even slightly damp once they set paw in the house. So as soon as they get up to our room, they try to rub their gross sweaty wet dog bodies dry on whatever they can find. The carpet, their dog beds, the pile of dirty towels that are about to be washed, and the end of our bed.
That last one, as you might imagine, drives me INSANE. It’s bad enough that I’m a sucker and let them sleep in our room with us smelling like sweaty dog, but for them to rub their dogginess all over our comforter is insult to injury. But they do it, as much as I try to stop it. Well, I got a new comforter for our bedroom. It’s so lovely and colorful.
I need to get matching pillow shams. And clean off my nightstand. Oy. But isn’t it pretty? You can see why I would not like dirty dogs rubbing their hairy butts all over the bottom of it. So I needed to come up with a solution besides not allowing the dogs in the bedroom. They’ve been in the kitchen at night for the past week because of all the rain we’ve had, and I kind of miss their big cold noses nudging me awake in the mornings. Plus my kitchen smells like wet dog and it’s hard to walk in there with those giant dog beds on the floor.
I’ve been talking about getting a bench or ottoman for the end of our bed for awhile. I like the way it looks and the boys would enjoy sitting on it to watch a show or movie when we have movie nights. The problem I am running into is that the benches I like that are affordable are not wide enough for our bed, and the ones that are wide enough are really expensive. I need it to be almost as wide as the king-size bed to prevent the dogs from rubbing their sides on my new comforter. Those are a nice chunk of cheddar.
So what does any blogger worth her salt in this age do? Why, she scours Pinterest for a DIY bench! So that’s exactly what I am doing lately, and I’ve found several attractive options. Most of them involve modifying a piece of furniture that is intended for something else. Specifically, bookcases. More specifically, the Expedit bookcase from IKEA.
{This was uploaded straight to Pinterest from a snapshot someone took at IKEA. If it’s yours or you know who this photo belongs to originally, please let me know and I will give proper credit!}
The Expedit bookcase looks to be the perfect width for our king-size bed. Our bed is a little higher than that, so I will probably add some legs or casters for a couple more inches in height, and I’ll add an upholstered cushion to the top to make it comfortable for little bums. The storage option is an added bonus. I can add bins and put my yarn or shoes inside, or use it for smaller items of clothing or overflow during seasonal wardrobe switchovers.
Another option I like is the Besta TV unit. Again, it is the perfect width, has some storage space, and already has legs for added height.
I don’t know what’s up with that random extra leg. Hm. But it looks like a good option for my purposes. I would make a cushion for the top with a plywood base and drill it into the surface for comfort, or perhaps just use brackets to connect the base onto the back of the bench to keep it from slipping around. I’ve seen a few other options on the interwebs, but these two are the frontrunners. And fortunately for me, there is an IKEA about a mile from my office.
So there you have it. That’s how living with two dogs leads to new furniture construction. Have you ever “hacked” a piece of furniture to make it serve another purpose than intended? Zac has repurposed several items for use in his garage shop area, but this will be our first time doing this for a piece of furniture that is supposed to look nice and like it belongs there. I’m nervous, so wish me luck!
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