How to make a DIY pet bed

Hello, friends! Hope you're all having a great week so far! What an exciting Wednesday! Today I've partnered with nine other amazing DIY and decor bloggers to do The Great Crate Challenge! Each of us purchased the same exact crate from Michaels (you can find it here) and came up with a creative idea for repurposing the crates. I'm blown away by all of the amazing ideas everyone came  up with! You've got to check them out!!!

Wooden crates are great for DIY lovers! There are SO many options on what you can make with them! Plus, they are super affordable. Michaels often has 40% off coupons, so for around $8 you can craft your little heart out with this crate! Want to see some amazing crate project ideas? Just keep reading this post and you'll see what my super creative friends have come up with!

So, what did I decide to do with my crate? As you know, I'm a crazy cat lady. I love my fur babies and want them to have the best of the best, as any fur mom does. However, I do not want to sacrifice my decor for them! It's hard to find cute cat furniture, especially cat furniture that matches your decor, so I'm often trying to come up with my own designs to blend it in and make my cat lady tendencies less noticeable ;) So I decided to make a cat bed. It could work for a cat or small dog, or with a little more work, you could put several crates together for a medium sized animal. 

So let's get started, shall we? Here's how I made it...

Supplies:

• Wooden crate from Michaels
• Four wooden candle holders or small furniture legs
• Wood glue
• Wood stain (I used Minwax in "classic grey")
• Paint (I used Americana Decor's Chalky Finish)
• Permanent marker

How to make a pet bed out of a wooden crate:

I purchased my Michaels crate and of course wandered around picking up various things for other projects because how does someone enter Michaels without being inspired to craft more?! So stay tuned for more fun projects! :)

First, I knocked off the top two wood planks with a hammer. Then, I applied my stain to the crate and legs. I let the stain sit for about ten minutes before wiping off the excess.
I ended up using wooden candle holders as legs because I couldn't find small enough furniture legs. I used the candle holders upside down and they worked great! 

Next, I did some painting! I decided to try the "white wash" technique because I've never done it before, and I love trying new paint techniques! I used leftover paint from my recent wine cork crate storage project. The American Decor Chalky Finish paint is carried by Michaels in select colors! I'm loving this new line of chalk paint!
The color I used is a grey/beige called "primitive," so I guess this is actually more of a "grey wash" ;)
To white wash, mix 1/3 paint and 2/3 water. My mixture was pretty thin, so I was tempted to add more paint, but I'm glad I didn't! It still covered a lot of the wood texture as you can see in the photo below. With some trial and error, I ended up coating a whole side with my paint mixture, and then wiping away the paint gently with a paper towel in the direction of the wood grain. Worked great!

After completing my white wash, I used wood glue to add my legs. Follow the bottle directions and allow to dry the appropriate amount of time before moving your project.

I wanted the crate to fit into our French country/modern rustic decor. I speak absolutely zero French, so I used Google Translate to look up my cats' names in French!! Their names are Kitten (yes, really, Kitten) and Daisy which translated to "chaton" and "marguerite." The fluorish under the text is from a design by The Graphics Fairy.
I used my easy font transfer technique and permanent marker to transfer my design to the crate. See my transfer page for all the steps! The font I used here is called "volutes."  

I thought the letters should look faded to make the crate look older, so I brushed one more coat of white washing over the text. 

Last, I folded up a big fuzzy blanket, and put it the crate. Easy!  

Now I just need to catch one of them sleeping in it on camera!!! :)
Ready to check out the other incredible crate projects? See below!!!

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