I have long been planning to get rid of the large doughnut dog beds we have and replace them with something more “visually appealing” and washable (a huge obstacle for my allergies).  I considered a bean bag style bed since both of our dogs love to snuggle into the corners of the doughnut, but the ones I found online were pretty pricey and I couldn’t find a bean bag the right size in a decent price range locally.  And as I’ve mentioned before I don’t sew, so making my own was out of the question.

Then I stumbled upon this idea on Pinterest and was sold.  I showed it to the hubs, who also liked it and whipped up a ‘trial’ run version to see if our dogs would even use it before we went whole hog and replaced all their beds.  That was about 4 months ago.  We’ve been so busy with work and all the other new house projects that we haven’t finished the idea.  But that hasn’t stopped us from putting it to use in the meantime.  At first I just put the doughnut bed inside the frame, which was built about the same size to make the transition easier.

Soon after we moved into the new house I spotted some dog bed pads with removable, washable covers on sale at Fred Meyers so I snagged three.  Body pillows were also on a BOGO FREE sale, so I got two of those to act as the back part of the bed.  Although the body pillow fit snugly enough across the back to stay upright the pad was about 2 inches shorter than the width of the frame.  The hubs claimed that was an easy fix, as he’d just take the frame apart and cut it down to size.  That was about two months ago and it hasn’t happened yet.  Like I said, we’ve been a tad bit busy.

I added some extra outdoor pillows I had stashed away.  I’ve found the mildew and stain resistance of outdoor fabrics work best for us since there is always drool, hair or dirt waiting to find our furniture.  And when it does I can just pop it in the washer.  Although the dogs loved the extra pillows and would often ‘arrange’ them to rest their head on, the pattern on them didn’t really work for me – which is why I’d stashed them away to begin with.  Luckily, I snagged some cute chevron fabric on a super sale at Joanns and knew it would look perfect on the dog bed.  Only 1 problem.  I don’t sew.

But then a light bulb went off  over my head and I decided to offer a trade in an online crafting group I had just joined.  You sew me some pillow covers and I’ll make you something from my Etsy shop.  I didn’t have any bites for a couple of days, but then out of the blue someone messaged me and said they could do it.  I made arrangements to meet her and bring the materials to show her what I wanted.  In exchange she wanted a family name platter, so I got all the details I needed to fulfill my end of the bargain.  About a week later we made arrangements to meet again and trade.  Here’s the result!

I didn’t take a before pic, but I can promise you they look SOOOO much better than they did before!  We still have to resize the frame, get it painted and finish up the extra foam we plan to put under the dog bed pad, but for now the kiddos seem to appreciate having their pillows back.

Oh yeah, they’re pampered alright.  Especially when you realize that most of the time they still sleep on the couch with their heads rested on the throw pillows there! But that’s how things roll in this doggie-friendly house!