12.15.2009

Doggy Door Re-Do

Here's another little handy dandy project I did this weekend--I slip covered the doggy door. Now before you go thinking I'm someone who likes to keep the couch under a clear vinyl cover, let me just say this is an upcycling project and not one for purely decorative purposes.

You see, that little door goes into the front foyer, which has a coat closet and 2 additional doors into the large rooms downstairs {the den and living room}. That little room doubles as a dog house for our furry little fellas, and they sure like it that way. Apparently they like the room so much they wore the plastic/rubber door out within a year of installing the dog door. We looked into a replacement door, but it would've been a) more plastic to wear out and throw away in a relatively short time, and b) cost almost as much as a whole new doggy door.

We discussed options, which included a hinged wooden replacement, and decided to install a fabric option. I took the old doggy door, which tore off right at the part where it attaches to the door, and made a fabric sleeve, slipped it in there, then added fabric reinforcement along the top, where the screws go through to attach the door to the frame. I used an extra 5 layers for the reinforcement to *hopefully* keep this door up for a while longer than the original part. If not, no worries--the cloth is cotton and I can just throw it into the compost and sew a new cover out of a stronger material.

So, whatd'ya think? Tacky or cute? Is it worth it to fork over another $40 to have a "normal" looking doggy door?

2 comments:

abby kelly said...

A little late to the party here but what if you added some grommets around the screw holes (?) for even more reinforcement?

Nice work!

Wolfie and the Sneak said...

Hey Abby--Thanks for stopping by! (I have a box in my studio right now with your name on it! Lite Brite sound familiar?? Yeesh, I'm so lame)

Grommets are a great idea. I'm going to add some rivets to keep the plastic from sinking down in the sleeve, so I think I'll add grommets at the same time. It's gonna be one tough doggie door!