My younger sister has an energetic pitbull Elwood, not a mean bone in his body, that tends to get into trouble if he's left free while she is gone. She has a kennel for him that is huge and unsightly, but necessary. I thought it would be nice for the both of them if they had a kennel that could be hidden when not in use, and blend in with the rest of the furniture. Then i thought why not have its bed and cage seperately accessable. I thought of Murphy's Beds and how they fold up, and decided to make one for Elwood with an integrated cage. I don't have a shop or a large bank account, but i think it came out quite nicely. This is my creation and i would like to tell you how it's made, I think many people and thier dogs would appreciate having one in the house. It cost about $65 total, much cheaper than a store bought kennel of the same size.
Update- Its been several days since I completely finished this project and am happy to say that Elwood loves his new bed. He loves having his very own piece of furniture to lay on.
Update- Its been several days since I completely finished this project and am happy to say that Elwood loves his new bed. He loves having his very own piece of furniture to lay on.
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Signing UpStep 1: Materials And Tools You Will Need
Ok. As I said, I don't have a shop so don't feel like you will need one to to build this, its fairly simple and only a few power tools are necessary. Mostly what you will need is your creative mind.
- drill, cordless is nice but not necessary
- selection of drill bits for making pilot holes
- phillips head screwdriver
- table saw - if you don't have one a circular saw will work, at the very least a crosscut saw and lots of muscle
- a jigsaw
- yard stick and or tape measure
- T-square
- level
- 2 sets of pliers
- dykes (heavy gauge wire cutters)
- pencil and a sharpie
- compas
- sander and paper
Materials needed might be subject to change depending on the size of your dog. Ellwood is about 70lbs, enough said. It should also be said that I used Pine because, besides the fact that its cheap, it blends in with my sisters low cost furniture. If you have hardwood furniture you might want to spring for a better quality of wood, Oak isn't too, too expensive.
- 1"x12"x 4 feet
- 1"x 6"x 18 feet 3- 6 foot boards
- 1"x 2"x 24 feet 3- 8 foot boards
- 1 4x8 sheet of 5mm sub-flooring plywood. You can use thicker wood if you want but you won't need it, and it will only make your finished product really heavy.
- 1 4x8 sheet of remesh. Its a sheet of wire grid used to reinforce poured concrete. We'll use it for the cage. There are many other options for cage material at the hardware store. I liked the 6"x6" grid that this has, and it was only about $8.
- 2 - 1 1/2" lag bolts and nuts
- box of 1 1/2" woodscrews
- box of 3/4" woodscrews
- 8 L-brackets
- box of plastic "cable mount" brackets
- 2 hinges, any style
- drill, cordless is nice but not necessary
- selection of drill bits for making pilot holes
- phillips head screwdriver
- table saw - if you don't have one a circular saw will work, at the very least a crosscut saw and lots of muscle
- a jigsaw
- yard stick and or tape measure
- T-square
- level
- 2 sets of pliers
- dykes (heavy gauge wire cutters)
- pencil and a sharpie
- compas
- sander and paper
Materials needed might be subject to change depending on the size of your dog. Ellwood is about 70lbs, enough said. It should also be said that I used Pine because, besides the fact that its cheap, it blends in with my sisters low cost furniture. If you have hardwood furniture you might want to spring for a better quality of wood, Oak isn't too, too expensive.
- 1"x12"x 4 feet
- 1"x 6"x 18 feet 3- 6 foot boards
- 1"x 2"x 24 feet 3- 8 foot boards
- 1 4x8 sheet of 5mm sub-flooring plywood. You can use thicker wood if you want but you won't need it, and it will only make your finished product really heavy.
- 1 4x8 sheet of remesh. Its a sheet of wire grid used to reinforce poured concrete. We'll use it for the cage. There are many other options for cage material at the hardware store. I liked the 6"x6" grid that this has, and it was only about $8.
- 2 - 1 1/2" lag bolts and nuts
- box of 1 1/2" woodscrews
- box of 3/4" woodscrews
- 8 L-brackets
- box of plastic "cable mount" brackets
- 2 hinges, any style
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they use pitbulls for fighting but pitbulls really likes to play with kids...
I have 3 pitbulls at my house and never hurt some to
I name my pitbulls after my bestfriends who past away
the 2 years old pitbull is named after Camille my oldest friend the 1 year old pitbull is after christian and the youngest pitbull is named after sandy
nice instructables :D
thank you very much.
if he is one he sure is big :D
(If you want to embed video, you need to first post it on youtube or other video hosting site, then follow the instructions here.)
As for the video (which I assume shows how the bed/cage folds and unfolds) I had trouble embedding video too. I ended up following some excellent advice found in one of the Q&A forums. Post the video to YouTube, then paste the link into your instructable. Ignore the "embed this video" tab and just copy the video link from the address bar. Even if you have to go to the trouble of setting up a YouTube account, it will work better than putting the full video file into Instructables. Hope this helps.