Our beloved canines aren’t just pets; they’re family members, plain and simple. We want the best for them, from the right food to ample playtime, as well as a space to call their own. That’s why a dog room is a must. This is your pooch’s private enclave, as well as your designated spot to clean, pamper, and answer to their four-pawed needs.
While many dog rooms double as bathing and mud rooms, others contain cabinet and shelving units for all your dog’s storage needs, with additional feeding stations provided as well. Beds, baths, doggy doors, and allotted play spaces provide personalized familiarity for your doggo, while keeping the mess out of your greater living area. You can even add a dog fence to keep your dog contained in one space. With every mode of decor available, from swank black & white motifs to colorful patterns and schemes, your pooch can enjoy the signature lifestyle to which they’ve surely become accustomed.
The unending love and loyalty of one’s canine counterpart deserves a heartfelt thanks in return. These personally crafted dog room ideas let your furry family member know he’s appreciated, and that you’ve got his back–and in style, no less.
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1. Dog Room Ideas Creating a Comfortable Space
If you’re fortunate enough to have an entire room that you can dedicate to your dog, these next ideas are for you. Having room to keep your pup safe and entertained while also storing all of its items inside is priceless.
While storing all of your dog’s items in their room is an option, you need to consider your dog’s personality. If they’re destructive, you need to figure out how to safely store their toys, food, and other items without them being able to get a hold of them. If your doggo is left alone in their dog room for any period of time, they may start making some bad decisions.
Hooks and shelves are excellent for keeping items off of the ground and out of baskets. Most dogs love chewing on baskets, so keep that in mind before you go decorating your new room with hundreds of dollars in wicker. Also, airtight dog food containers are great for keeping their food fresh, but dogs don’t need to smell the kibble to know it’s inside. Keep them off of the floor as well.
2. Utilizing Under-Stair Areas
If you have an area under your stairs that you can use for a dog kennel, it can be one of the most efficient uses of space in your home. Instead of having a random dog kennel hidden in a room somewhere, you can use that forgotten haven for your pup’s new palace and keep your home streamlined and sleek.
The framework members that your stairs sit on are referred to as stringers. They’re strong and due to their design, leave a lot of room underneath for storage, closets, or a dog kennel. The first thing you need to do is determine if the space under your stairs is safe enough for your dog to spend their downtime in. Then, once you’ve evaluated if it’s large enough, you can set your plan into action.
Get creative with the doorway to the dog house. This is the part of the kennel that you and your guests will look at and if it’s unattractive, it’s going to wear on you quickly. Focus on custom, friendly, whimsical touches to give your dog’s space a personal touch that makes it feel like home. Make sure to include a good dog bed as well for those long mid-day naps they’ll undoubtedly be taking in their new pad.
3. Pampering Your Pup
We love dogs. The issue is dogs love mud a lot and dislike baths even more, and even a below-average-sized dog can be a hassle to get to cooperate in your bathroom tub. What you really need is a shower dedicated solely to the purpose of canine cleaning. What does a dog shower look like, you ask? We’ll let the next few images do the talking for us.
If you aren’t running out to the big box store to purchase materials for your dog shower already, we’ll go over why they’re so awesome and why you could use one in your home.
The most obvious feature all of the showers below have are tall walls to help contain your dirty dog. Not only do these walls assist in restraining them from getting out, but they’ll also help to minimize the mess when they decide they’ve had enough and start shaking the water and soap off everywhere. Add to this the fact that you can put in a shower nozzle meant specifically for dogs, and you’ll have a fully-functional shower.
Also, maybe most important of all, you can incorporate a hook like the one your groomer uses to secure your dog’s leash too, making it a little easier to keep them in place safely. You’ll be free to shampoo and scrub while they are being held in place hands-free.
4. Cozy Retreats
Does your home have a weird little space that’s too small for furniture, but too big to hide with a houseplant? Consider using that space to create the perfect dog nook for your best friend. They’ll be happy to have their own space and you won’t have to hide that out-of-place nook anymore.
The really great thing about using an awkward, unattractive space for a dog room is that your dog truly does not care what it looks like. All they want is a bed, a place for their favorite toys, and a little peace and quiet for a puppy-power nap. While you’ve been struggling to come up with ideas for this strangely laid-out corner or nook, they’ve been waiting for you to offer it up to them the whole time.
If you need to keep your dog in a nook when you leave, there are plenty of portable gates on the market that will do a good job of keeping them in place. Many are just overpriced baby gates, so if your dog’s not a bonafide escape artist, you may be able to save some money by visiting the baby section at your local department store.
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5. Stylish Integration
If you’ve got a smaller dog and you like the idea of incorporating his kennel into the rest of your home’s design, you might want to think about converting a standard cabinet into the ideal built-in kennel. As long as you allow for plenty of ventilation, you can turn a cabinet into a kennel without detracting from your home’s aesthetic at all.
There are a few ways that you can accomplish this look. Certain cabinets come with frame-and-panel doors. The center panels of these doors float inside a groove, so if you remove the panel, you’ll have an open frame that’s perfect for securing some mesh inside of. By using a material like chicken fencing, you’ll allow all the air movement necessary to make sure your pup breathes easy.
You also have the option of building a completely custom door yourself. If you design it well, you can build a strong door that matches the decor and will do a better job of keeping Fido confined when you’re out of the house. We do suggest that you find a crate liner that matches the cabinet well so accidents don’t damage your new cabinet crate over time.
6. Seamlessly Blending Comfort
Built-in dog beds are a great way to provide a comfy bed for your dogs while also allowing you to pack them away when your guests come over. Some of these dog bed ideas work on a Murphy bed principle, as you’ll see in some of the images below. They’re an extremely effective and attractive way to provide a cozy spot for your dog.
Built-in dog beds look amazing when they’re designed and executed properly. You’ll want the bed to be big enough for your dogs, but not so big that its housing looks out of place. Adding a countertop over the top of your dog’s bed is also a great way to hide it and make it look like it belongs there.
If you like the Murphy bed idea, the following video shows how easily you can turn a regular cabinet or chest of drawers into a Murphy bed to hide your dog’s bed and gear in plain sight. The video shows a fairly straightforward procedure that will leave you with an attractive option for your dog room, but you could also use the idea in your living room, or even at your office for “Bring Your Dog to Work Day.”
7. Beyond the Ordinary
Now that we’ve covered built-in beds and Murphy dog beds, let’s explore some of the other options for dolling up your dog’s room or space. The dog bed is one of the most important elements to keeping your pup happy, so why not go the extra mile and purchase or create a dog bed that makes a statement?
As you can see, your dog’s bed is where you can really go over the top and treat them like the royalty they are. There are a number of really premium options available, including Posturepedic, memory foam, and other high-end materials and touches.
If you really want to take your dog’s bed to the next level, you have got to build an awesome, custom bed frame that they’ll use for years. There are a ton of ways to build one, but our favorite is by using scrap or pallet wood and creating a simple design. The weathered wood will look awesome and you can design the bed to fit your home’s aesthetic perfectly.
8. Versatile Spaces
We started this article by discussing a room dedicated to your dog and its stuff. Not everyone has that type of flexibility. They may have to double the use of their pup’s space with another function in their home. Popular rooms to assign double-duty to are mudrooms and laundry rooms. If you have extra space in either of these rooms, it makes a great spot to place built-in or cabinet kennels as we discussed earlier.
Using your extra space for your pup’s abode is a smart way to pull double duty. The easiest way to make this work for you is by simply putting your dog’s kennel or crate in the mudroom, but we think you can do better than that. Maximize your dog’s relaxation by adding comfortable touches like built-in beds and your pup’s favorite toys.
If you’re able to pull this off in your laundry room, add one of the dog showers that we mentioned earlier. There’s no better room for one and they serve several unrelated purposes. If you have an excessively soiled dog bed, it can be scrubbed and rinsed before you throw it in the washer. It’s convenient and will help to keep big messes contained in one room.
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