DIY Dog Crate + End Table

One thing led to another, and now we have a dog – Arthur. The good little guy finds the apartment too big to stay alone when we are not around, and it is a recommended practice to have a dog crate so that the dog has a confined space of its own.  The options to buy were hopeless, and the cheapest ones were just made of metal wire. They look horrible inside the house and it looks like a prison cell. There are nicer wooden ones, but they cost few hundreds of dollars. So, I put my DIY hat on, and thought of building one for our new buddy!

Design decisions:

• Should be wooden and solid                        
• Should serve more than the purpose of keeping the dog in and double as an end table
• Should not be an eye sore in the house
• Should be large enough for the dog to go in turn around and come back
• Should have proper ventilation
• Should take maximum use of existing dimensions for raw material
• Should not cost fortunes!

Material:

• 1 sheet of 4ft x 8ft, ½ inch thick Plywood
• 3 lengths of 1.5 inch x 1.5 inch x 8ft lumber
• Small pack of ¾ inch wood screws
• Small pack of 1.5 inch wood screws
• 8 90 degree metal framing angles
• ½ qt latex based wood primer
• 1 qt wood paint
• 2 Brass hinges – 270 degree
• 1 lock
• 1.5” brush and 6” roller

Design:

The cuts for the plywood and how the 1.5"x1.5" bars are used for the frame are shown below.

Steps:

So, here is how I got on with it.

All big cuts of wood were done at the store itself. Home Depot cuts everything for free, and Lowes would make up to 3 cuts for free and charge a small amount for each cut. I got my lumber from Home Depot and the plywood and lengths of wood were cut to my exact measurements. It helps a lot to get clean 90 degree cuts and most importantly it is so easy to transport.

The frame was done using the 1.5”x1.5” bars. I could have used two more bars on the top, but I did not want to buy more lumber, and anyway the plywood was going to give it the required support at the end. I used 90 degree angles with the ¾ inch screws to make sure I get all angles right and to have a solid fit. The angles for the vertical bars would have been a better fit if they were fixed on the outside, but I did it from the inside to make sure the plywood sticks on to a flat frame without any obstacles.

Once the frame was done, the floor board was put in place. I had to cut off a 1” strip as I was laying on the inside as shown in the design, and also four cuts were made on the 4 corners to give way to the four vertical bars of the frame.

Then the plywood pieces for the side (2’x3’) and rear were attached (2’x2’). All wood panels were sanded to make sure there are no rough edges left out.

After this, 2 coats of wood primer was painted inside and outside. It was important to do this at once coz the primer tends to warp the plywood a bit when applied only on one side. The painting task was taken on by my lovely wife and she did the primer and paint at the end.

Once this dried, I put on the roof part of the crate which we wanted to double as the top surface of an end table. According to the design and limitations of the size of pieces, I wanted about 1” length added to the roof. I used a piece from what I cut off from the floor board and stuck it on the 2 ft end of the panel using some wood glue. Since we wanted a wooden finish, a couple of coats of wood stain was used on both sides of the 2’x3’ plywood. Once it dried up after few hours, it was screwed in on the top, leaving the right amount of space on the front to flush fit just right when the door is closed.

Next primer was applied on the door panel. The hinges were attached to the panel in the 270 degree fully open position, and then the unit was attached to the rest of the crate in a way that when the door fully opens, it overlaps with the side.

Now the basic structure was done. Now it was time to cut the vents. I didn’t like the traditional strip based design. So I wanted to drill large holes in a pattern, and I also wanted the pattern to remain when I opened the door as well.  After a little thought, we settled on a 3x3 hole grid for the door and overlapping sides, and another 9 holes around – 6 on the sides and 3 at the back. A 2.5 inch hole saw bit was used to drill the holes, which ended up very nicely. Point to note when drilling holes in plywood is that if you go only on one side, there is the risk of chipping on the other side. Therefore it is best you start drilling on one side, and half way down switch sides and drill the other half from the other side. You can easily do this because the guide bit drills the center hole, and you just need to come on the other side along that. It was wise to attach the door and then drill it, so that the overlaps for the holes on the door and sides happen very precisely.

Once the holes were cut, all the rough edges were sanded. This is a lot easier if you had a rotary grinding bit. I didn’t have it, and resorted to using sand paper with my hands. I don’t think I sanded enough anyway.

After all soothing was done, paint was applied – with a brush for the nooks and crannies and inside the holes, and with a roller on all other flat parts.

Mission accomplished!

From day 1 Arthur loved the crate, and all ended well. The whole project cost around 80 bucks for the raw material, paint etc with a couple of coupons added, and I had invested in most tools already.

Next Steps:

• Planning to use some of the disks I got when cutting holes and use them as legs so that the door opens and closes easily, plus it will be good to ventilate the underside of the crate.
• Patch up the paint in few places where it has not got applied properly.
• Some areas look a little too rough to my liking. I will sand them down a bit more and paint once I get a proper sander.
• Maybe I will add 4 castor wheels to give it some mobility - maybe.
• Add bluetooth... Nah! I am kidding! :)