For the first time in the history of
homeownership our marriage history, Pat is 100% onboard with one of my home improvement ideas. This plan is still some ways away from coming to fruition due to some logistical issues, but when life permits
Boone is getting a new room!
For all you non-doglurvers, Boone's "room" is the nice name for his kennel. But Boone's new room won't be another kennel; it will be an actual corner of our house. Allow me to introduce you to:
The Dog Room
This idea has been really popular on Pinterest lately, and while I've long dreamed of a dog room in our forever home (complete with built-in kennels and dog bath), I never thought this could be a reality for this home. Then, I started seeing people who did small areas under their stairs. "Even I've got stairs!"
Here's a couple pictures of other people who have successful executed smallish dog areas in their homes under the stairs.
Image found on
Pinterest, original source missing
We're planning on using our hall closet, a deep closet (slightly larger than Boo's current kennel) under the upper portion of our stairs.
Our Hall Closet
We've only lived here for a matter of weeks and this has already become the black hole of our home. About the only useful thing this closet does is house our coats, but there's about 1,000 other ways we could store coats without taking an entire closet. The closet's less useful purposes include holding "to be returned" items and hiding Boone's Chuck-It. Out of sight, out of mind, amen.
The real reason Boone gets a new room is not because I'm trying to repurpose a coat closet. It's because Boone's current room is taking over an actual room in our house. This is:
Our Sitting Area
Official purpose is "breakfast nook" but I'm a firm believer in not needing a formal dining room, a eat-in bar in the kitchen,
and a breakfast nook. Our barstools at the kitchen counter more than fulfill the casual eating category. I don't know about y'all, but I'd much rather have more places to relax and less places to eat. Because in all honesty, I'm happy where ever food is involved.
The sitting area is currently home to all things Boone: his food dishes, toy box, bed, and kennel. And it takes up the whole flippin' room!
I have big plans for this area: two cozy chairs, a nice cluster of nesting tables, another jute rug. But there's not space for all that plus Boone's stuff. As much as I believe the animals live here too and need to be comfortable, I do not believe they need to be the sole user of vast amounts of valuable real estate.
The To Do List:
1. Create cover for water shut-off valve. Don't want the dog chewing on that.
2. Cover the CPI/Time Warner equipment in a visually pleasing manner.
3. Rehome coats. That includes bringing one of these bad boys into our lives.
4. Remove door and install baby gate in door frame.
5. Add some lighting.
6. Decorate!
What needs to happen first: more money. We'll need to purchase at least three large pieces of furniture to make this change worth while. The first is the hall tree to make the change possible. The second and third are the pieces to fill the sitting room in Boo's absence. I have no desire to move Boone into a small space to leave an area completely empty.
Unfortunately, there are a few other large purchase that out-rank Boone's room in importance:
1. Fence
2. Master Bedroom Furniture
3. Office Furniture
4. Entertainment Center, complete with larger TV
In the end, all this will be
sooo worth it. Not only will it allow us to phase out Boone's kennel (big win aesthetically), it will allow us to transition him to spending more time out in the house...alone (it breaks my heart when he's in his kennel all day). It may also allow us to use this kennel while potty training our future puppy. But more than anything, I'm looking forward to petting his head, even when he's "in his room."
