dog house made from furniture DIY

How to Build a Dog House Made from Furniture DIY for Your Dog on a Budget

It is not difficult how to build a dog house made from furniture DIY. With regular materials and some DIY tools, you can already construct a small house and several pieces of furniture, such as a wooden dog bed, dog couch, dog bowl, etc.

DIY a pet house

DIY a pet house

In this article, we share with you our pet-friendly home designs. You can learn our step-by-step guide to building a lovely outdoor house for your beloved puppy. Scroll down to read!

Build a Dog House Made from Furniture DIY on a Budget 

1. Materials Needed

  • 2-inch x 4-inch x 8-feet pressure-treated lumber boards: x3
  • 4-feet x 8-feet x ¾-inch pressure-treated plywood: x2
  • 2-inch x 2-inch x 8-feet regular lumber boards: x18
  • 1-inch x 3-inch x 8-feet regular lumber boards: x8
  • 1-inch x 4-inch x 8-feet regular lumber boards: x2
  • 1-inch x 6-inch x 8-feet regular lumber boards: x2
  • ½-inch x 4-feet x 8-feet Sheathings: x4
  • 1-¼-inch deck screws: x1 box
  • 2-½-inch deck screws: x2 boxes
  • 3-inch deck screws: x1 box
  • 7/8-inch roofing nails: x1 box
  • 2-inch 18-gauge pneumatic finish nails: x1 box
  • 5/16-inch eye bolts: x2
  • 16-inch Steel chain plated with ZinC: x1
  • ⅛-inch Quick Links plated with ZinC: x2
  • Adhesive for construction: x3 tubes
  • Silicone caulk: x3 tubes
  • Roll felt paper: x1
  • Bundle roofing shingles: many
  • 20-square-feet artificial glass: x1
  • 4-½-inch x 10-feet drip edges: x3
  • Piano cabinet hinge: x1
  • Exterior paint stain: x1

2. Tools Needed

You will build the dog-friendly house using the following pieces of equipment:

  • Jigsaw: x1
  • Circular saw: x1
  • Impact Driver: x1
  • Driver bits: many
  • Drill: x1
  • Drill bits: many
  • Hammer: x1
  • Brad nailer: x1
  • Pliers: many
  • Pry bar: x1
  • Measuring tape: x1
  • Utility knife: x1
  • Combo square: x1
  • Speed square: x1
  • Face clamp: x1
  • Caulk gun: x1
  • Staple gun: x1
  • Pocket hole jig: x1
  • Paintbrushes: x1
  • Protection glasses for safety: x1
  • Ear protection equipment: x1
  • Mask for dust prevention: x1
  • Pencil or pen: x1 or x2

3. How to Make (Step by Step)

Here are our dog-friendly house plans. Follow them to build a beautiful dog-friendly home for your lovely pet.

Step 1: Make Plans

You cannot jump into the building before making plans. Plans help you summarize all the essential considerations so that you can build the dog house correctly.

Plan before you go

Plan before you go

As you make plans, here are the questions you need to answer:

  1. What pet-friendly bedroom ideas come in your mind?
  2. How to build a dog bed and dog house that match your idea?
  3. How to make your home pet friendly so that your dog will feel comfortable staying in it?

Keep in mind that your pet-friendly ideas don’t have to be complicated. In this DIY project, you only need to build a simple house that offers comfort and safety for your dog. We sum up the things that you should consider below:

There should be a distance between the house floor and the ground. As you place the dog house outdoors, water may enter it on rainy days.

The house should be large enough to fit the body size of your dog. The room needs to be wide so that your dog can lie, turn around, or sit inside without touching its body to the walls.

You should add some decorations, toys, food, and pillows (everything that makes your dog happy) to the house.

We will teach you our dog-friendly house designs for an average size from the next steps. You may reduce the house size if your puppy is small or increase the measurement if the pet is big.

Step 2: Frame The House Base

You will start by framing the base. Trim the 2-inch x 4-inch x 8-feet pressure-treated lumber boards into 2 frames that are 23 x 45 inches wide and 23 x 48 inches wide. Use the 3-inch deck screws to combine them together.

Step 3: Sheath The House Base

Trim the pressure-treated plywood to the size of 46 x 48 inches. Use 2-inch deck screws to combine them with the frame you have made in the previous step.

Step 4: Build The Left And Right Wall Framing

You continue by cutting the 2-inch x 2-inch x 8-feet regular lumber boards to the size of 29.125 x 36 x 33 x 36.25 inches. Combine them using the 2-½-inch deck screws. The result is the frame of a wall. You repeat the step for the wall on the other side.

Step 5: Build The Front And Back Wall Framings

You use the 2-inch x 2-inch x 8-feet regular lumber boards and 2-½-inch screws for both front and back wall frames.

Create a firm frame

Create a firm frame

The back wall should have a dimension of 29 x 41 x 32 inches. The outside frame of the front wall has a size of 41 x 33 inches. Leave a space of 15 inches on the underneath line (41 inches) to build the entrance. The door dimension is about 24.5 x 15 inches.

Step 6: Combine All The Framing Walls

You use 2-½-inch screws to attack all the framing walls together. Put the walls on the base and fasten them. It is ok for the base to extend beyond the walls and back for about 1 inch.

Step 7: Build The Roof Framing And Attach It To The Sides And Back

Trim the 2-inch x 2-inch x 8-feet regular lumber boards and use 2-½-inch screws to combine all boards together, forming the roof frame. Attach it to the sides and the back frames using 2-½-inch screws. The roof frame overhangs about 12 inches at the front.

Step 8: Install the Siding

You can use the ½-inch plywood to create the siding. Stabilize it using the 1-¼-inch screws.

Step 9: Install The Roof

Trim the ¾-inch plywood into 49.5 x 46.5 inches to create the roof. Add it to the roof frame, letting about ¾-inch of overhanging space on all sides. Construct a drip edge around the roof perimeter. You can use felt paper and shingles.

Step 10: Attach the Trim

You cut the 1-inch x 3-inch x 8-feet regular lumber boards to create the trims. The size of the trim is:

  • Back trim: 33.5 x 41 inches
  • Side trim: 29.75 x 33.5 x 37 inches
  • Ground trim on the side: 48 x 3.5 x 47.5 inches
  • Front trim: 40.5 x 36 x 19.75 x 1.75 inches
  • Door trim: 24.5 x 19 x inches
  • Stick the trims to the house using the adhesive and Bad Brad nailer.
4. Measurements

The dog house made from furniture DIY is completed! We summarize the measurements of all sides:

  • Back: 33.5 x 41 x 45 inches
  • Front: 48 x 47.5 x 36 inches
  • Side: 48 x 29.75 x 33.5 x 44 inches
  • Door: 27 x 19 inches

These measurements are only for reference. When building the homemade dog cot, you may adjust the size of the boards to fit your pet’s size. The thickness of the boards, trims, and frames may also add to or reduce the dimensions. After the project, you can measure the house one more time to get the correct result.

dog house made from furniture DIY

Dog house made from furniture DIY

Last Words

The 10 steps are for a basic dog house. Follow them, and you can already create a comfortable home for your puppy to have fun outdoors.

With the remaining materials and tools, you may build some other furniture or equipment to make the house more attractive and friendly. There are a lot of dog decorating ideas we can share with you. Make sure that you follow our website to not miss any new posts.

That’s the end of our article. Many thanks for reading!

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