One of the projects we wanted to tackle for our dining room in the $100 Room Challenge was an upgraded dog gate. It wasn’t super high on the list of priorities, but it all just came together for only $3.75 so I couldn’t resist.

Update: I’ve gotten a couple irate comments on Pinterest over this gate (even an accusation that I created this so I could laugh when strangers children fell and injured themselves). People claimed that their dogs and/or children would climb it. First: if it’s not for you, you don’t have to do it! Second: we are dog sitters and had dozens of dogs of all ages and sizes while we had this gate and NOT ONE tried to climb it. Two of them put their front paws on top…and nothing happened. Third: if you have trouble with your child, you should clearly consider other options. Everyone else: please enjoy this very easy, cheap, and effective project.

We have a nice little entryway at the front door, but with the dog boarding business, we need a way to keep dogs back and safely inside when the front door is opened.

We have a really nice, fancy baby gate set up, but there are three annoyances with it:

1. A lot of people trip over it coming or going because it has a bottom piece that you don’t really notice, which is terrible (and the most important annoyance).
2. Guests also always have to ask how to get out, which is also silly to have to do, and unfortunately, they often get a little embarrassed.
3. It’s not pretty.
   I actually didn’t even notice how unattractive it was until I was taking the “before” picture for the challenge.

Here is the previous one:

And now:

As I like to do when I need to decorate on a budget, I started the project by browsing Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for free items. Usually I’m looking for things that could be given a cheap makeover, or taken apart for parts to build something else.

Knowing we wanted to DIY a gate, all I saw when I came across a free crib were tons of free gate parts.

This was the crib (originally):

We picked up it, and were super excited when we got home to find out that the side pieces were the perfect size for our doorways! We actually didn’t even have to take it apart for parts, just add hinges and a door latch. (I did trim down the two side pieces on top because they were too tall.)

So project breakdown for the new gate:

• Crib (FREE)
  If we needed to at this point, we would have cut down the parts to fit the doorway, or built it from scratch using the parts.
• Spray paint (FREE)
  We had white spray paint on hand. It wasn’t necessarily needed, it was a nice color, but this one had stickers that just would not come off cleanly, so it needed to be re-finished.
• Two hinges ($2.75 at Home Depot–similar here)
• One door latch ($1 at Home Depot —similar here)

A bonus of getting the whole crib is that we now also have a (free) headboard for our guest bed, another side piece that we’ll eventually use to add another matching gate to the hallway, and the whole front panel, which we’re not sure how we’ll use yet, but we’ll figure something out.

Oh, and if you happen to find a free or cheap crib online, many of them come with mattresses included, which make perfect large dog beds.

Here is a picture with the other side of the crib for reference. The left is the part “before.” So we just turned it on it’s side, trimmed the new “top” down and removed the drawer slide.

Another unexpected bonus is that the Roomba can now also vacuum the entryway. Which is very exciting for me.

Other updates we’ve made to the room so far are actual curtains(!) (also from FB Marketplace for $10), and we swapped out the light fixture.

The light fixture we had purchased a year-and-a-half ago for the family room and didn’t end up using it because the light it gave off wasn’t enough for the room, so it’s been sitting in a closet for all that time. (It’s this one from IKEA.)

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Dogs just stink.  We love them like crazy, so we put up with it until we’re to the point of not even wanting to be in the same room anymore. 

In spite of what some vets recommend (and lots of people on the internet who are just quoting each other), our dogs do best with baths once a week.

But when your dogs are 70 & 80 pounds and double-coated, weekly baths are rarely not always going to happen that often.  So what do you do with two giant stink bombs in between baths?  DIY dry shampoo!

There are lots of dry shampoo recipes for dogs out there, and several commercial shampoos available too.  And we tried lots of them before experimenting on our own.

First, we tried the powders made from oats and cornstarch, baking soda, then one with just cornstarch and essential oils.  While they helped with the stink…I kinda hated them. 

Why most DIY dry shampoos don’t work

If your dog has missed enough baths, you know they get oily just like we do.  The cornstarch in the recipes very effectively absorbs the oil…but then it stays on the dog.  Then when you pet the dog, your fingers get coated with a layer of stinky, oily powder.  Not so pleasant.  Actually, it’s really unpleasant.

And it also makes them itchy.

It turns out, you need VERY LITTLE cornstarch to do the job effectively.  But if you apply the cornstarch as a powder, there’s no way to apply such a small amount evenly and effectively.

How to make DIY dry shampoo that DOES work

The key is spray DIY dry shampoo for dogs.  Most of the spray “shampoo” you can buy for dogs is basically just chemical fragrances to cover up the stink.  And then they’re not real ingredients, so not only did they always end up giving me a stomach and/or headache, there was NO TELLING what they were doing to the poor dogs.  Others that were more natural still did nothing to help with the oiliness, and they were expensive too.

After some experimentation, I came up with a no-rinse shampoo recipe that works perfectly for us.

How to make your own DIY dry shampoo for dogs:

The one tablespoon of rubbing alcohol helps it to dry quickly, but it’s not enough to dry out their skin or damage their fur.  And just one tablespoon of cornstarch is plenty for 1/4 cup of water.  Just enough to be effective, and not enough to coat the dog and everything he touches with greasy powder.

You could go without the alcohol, but your dog will stay wet for a while.

Super easy, and super affordable.  In fact, you probably already have all the supplies in your house–that would make it super free.

And this also makes a great gift idea for any friends or family with dogs!

No-rinse dog shampoo FAQs:

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Our Roscoe is pretty big.  Even though he is a common breed, he is even larger than most Goldens (85 pounds at his healthy weight–95 if daddy feeds him). 

When it comes to buying things for him, he is considered XXL, which makes things hard to find and expensive.  For our first 3 years with him, we struggled to find him a bed that wasn’t ugly and he could actually fit in.  We went through so many “affordable” beds for him, but they would last about 3 months before getting lumpy.  It was time for a DIY dog bed.

Hover over the image to save it to Pinterest for later.

Actually, this can’t really be called a DIY, because it’s just a re-purpose.  But it’s a far more effective bed for a large dog than any actual dog bed we’ve found: it’s a crib mattress.  Here is our overjoyed model showing off his second, velvety sheet:

At Target, extra-large dog beds start at $80 (lumpy and stinky in no time) and go up to $350 (just, no).  Ours is from IKEA for about $35.  But you can get very affordable one from Amazon too (and if you’re a Prime member, the shipping is free too–if you’re not a Prime member, click here to get a free 30 day trial so you can take advantage of free shipping on something so huge.)

And of course, there are lots of good sheets for under $10. You can use a solid one, but obviously, the patterns are much better at hiding the fur and prints from dirty paws.

(Affiliate links above.)

Not only is the size of the mattress way better than most dog beds, it’s far higher quality, it’s not ugly and it’s so much easier to clean, since it’s covered with a machine-washable fitted sheet.  For extra protection, a mattress pad is only a few dollars more.  Another benefit of the inexpensive fitted sheets is that it takes about 20 seconds to put it on the bed.  Putting covers back on actual dog beds usually took me forever (or 20 minutes, whichever happens first)–pretty annoying when you’re washing it weekly.

So, there you are: a quality, non-DIY large dog bed for under $40.

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