Am I the only dog owner who looks at all these advanced kids playhouses and thinks ‘I bet my dog would like that’ ? Or even, ‘as a grownup I would like that’ ? I think about this every time I go onto Pinterest and look at cool doghouses! So I decided to do something about it – I made a super cool doghouse for my dog for less than $150. Now, if only she will use it 🙂

Currently, my yard is pretty small, so there are plenty of places for Chloe (my 3 year old black lab) to layout in the sun. However, since she’s black she soaks up all that heat and can never stay outside for as long as the rest of the family. And since she’s a lab she has serious FOMO and hates being in a separate room as everyone else. She likes to be right there in the action. So I wanted to create a doghouse where she can go to escape the awful Texas summer sun beating down on her. Also, with her kennel gone, she needs a little place to call her own. And thus my dreams of creating a doghouse for Chloe was born.

Naturally, I went straight to Pinterest for ideas. But most of the dog houses I found online looked too small or wayyy too extravagant. I’m not looking to build/buy a two-story doghouse complete with wrap around deck. I’m still looking for something easy. So I ventured over to kids, pre-made, playhouses that I could simply decorate for a dog. Let’s be honest, Chloe is 60 lbs so she’s the size of a child.

Once I decided on a kids playhouse the plan was simple: find a playhouse, spray paint it, and decorate it for a dog. Seems pretty simple for a quick weekend DIY … and it was ! FINALLY, one of my DIYs turned out well !

If you’re going to buy a pre-made playhouse then the first decision you need to make is wood or plastic. In my opinion, wood is better if you’re willing to pay more for it. I found two awesome options, one in wood, and one in plastic. The plastic option (the one I bought) was $130 from Target and Amazon, and the wood option was $230 from Home Depot. Both are considered small playhouses and for kids ages 2-4, so this is perfect for my dog. I went with the plastic one for the simple reason it was cheaper and I figured it would be easier to put together. Overall, it took me about 30 minutest to put together and didn’t require any outside equipment (screwdrivers, saws, etc.)

My motto for everything is ‘I can spray paint that’. Whether it’s home decor or a DIY, if I don’t love it, I just spray paint it. And this playhouse was not exception, it comes in multiple colors (red and blue) and opted for the blue version because it was the closest thing to what I actually wanted. The walls of the house were off-white or cream, instead of white, and the room was teal blue instead of a dark grey. Additionally, I needed to add in some light blue (my favorite home decor color) and I could easily add that color with the door and the shutters. Overall, I had to go back up to the store 2 times to get more spray paint and even then I could have done another coat 🙂 See below for the spray paint and quantities that I would recommend.

Of course, I had to add in my own little touches. I wanted to make the mailbox ‘pop’ so I painted it gold, as well as adding a little number to the front of the door. I’m obsessed with these additions but they did take some work. I didn’t spray paint them because it seemed like more effort than it’s worth to tape off everything, so I used a sponge brush and painted them. These took about 4 coats to get the coverage I wanted but it looks so good!

I also wanted to add a little planter box for for $10 I did another DIY and spray painted a metal bin with the same French Blue color as the other accents, added in some $1 flowers and … magic. It looks perfect! I did have a hard time hanging it, I thought I could just glue it or secure it with command hooks but I ended up having to to use string.

I also wanted to make it very clear that this is a dogs playhouse and not a kids playhouse… so far I’m still working on that part. I’m looking for a super cute sign to put in the center corner. But so far, I haven’t had much luck, so this is still a work in progress. I did add this cute little dog statue that I found at AtHome, I’ve linked some similar ones below.

Overall, this is one of my favorite DIYs, it’s so cute I can’t get over it. I hope you like it too because you’ll be seeing a lot more of it! It will be decorated for every holiday !!