Years ago I had a friend build a wood box with finial feet so I could make a footstool. I planned to paint the legs and upholster the top and sides. It was going to double as storage unit with a removable top. Well, that was one of those good intentions that turned into a big ole procrastination so the box ended up in the basement out of sight and forgotten for twenty years.
One day while searching the internet I came across a site that had unique, hand painted beds and toy boxes for pups. Although amazingly beautiful, the cost was astronomical…$400 plus shipping for a toy box was a bit out of my price range. I lamented a bit, being a princess, I want what I want and usually get it, but I just couldn’t condone spending that kind of money on such a frivolous purchase.
That’s when I remembered that wooden box in the basement. All I had to do was throw away the top, cut a half circle in one side and I was in business! I used some house paints that coordinated with our house interior which covered the box itself and then artist paints for the highlights. Total cost....under $30.00!
It was a lot of fun to design and paint.....the proverbial labour of love. My four pups watched on as mommy transformed a plain old wooden box into a flashy, toy chest. Of course it was too small to hold all of their toys but it fit nicely beside their whimsical drinking bowl, filling the need to coordinate at all cost. We packed up some of the excess toys and threw out the well-worn, ragged ones. We bring a few of them out every now and then to re-introduce as new and put some of the older ones away for later.
You can’t show favouritism so every time I buy toys for my babies I have to get four of them. I let them choose which one they like by throwing them on the floor and they scramble to grab one, politely I might add, and that’s their special toy for the day. They love new toys! If anyone argues that they don’t understand about ownership I would argue. They know just as well as any two year old and share about as well. They coddle and covet their new toy to make sure they’ve marked it well with their own drool just to say, I had it first!
So now they have this great toy box that they pretty much empty every time we fill it back up. By the end of any day our living room looks like an explosion in a toy factory and that’s okay. The happiness of our pooches is all that matters. We haven’t been able to train them to pick up after themselves although Jake, our youngest, likes to corral a pile of toys on his bed and lay on top of them.
I love to watch my babies go to the box, sniff for the right toy for the day, hour, or minute, whatever suits the fancy, and dig it out. I guess it doesn’t take much to amuse me. Watching my babies at play or sleep brings happiness usually reserved for winning the lottery, world travel, falling in love and chocolate. What can I say ? I love those pups no less than if I carried them for nine months and gave birth to them. Only other pet owners could possibly understand!
One day while searching the internet I came across a site that had unique, hand painted beds and toy boxes for pups. Although amazingly beautiful, the cost was astronomical…$400 plus shipping for a toy box was a bit out of my price range. I lamented a bit, being a princess, I want what I want and usually get it, but I just couldn’t condone spending that kind of money on such a frivolous purchase.
That’s when I remembered that wooden box in the basement. All I had to do was throw away the top, cut a half circle in one side and I was in business! I used some house paints that coordinated with our house interior which covered the box itself and then artist paints for the highlights. Total cost....under $30.00!
It was a lot of fun to design and paint.....the proverbial labour of love. My four pups watched on as mommy transformed a plain old wooden box into a flashy, toy chest. Of course it was too small to hold all of their toys but it fit nicely beside their whimsical drinking bowl, filling the need to coordinate at all cost. We packed up some of the excess toys and threw out the well-worn, ragged ones. We bring a few of them out every now and then to re-introduce as new and put some of the older ones away for later.
You can’t show favouritism so every time I buy toys for my babies I have to get four of them. I let them choose which one they like by throwing them on the floor and they scramble to grab one, politely I might add, and that’s their special toy for the day. They love new toys! If anyone argues that they don’t understand about ownership I would argue. They know just as well as any two year old and share about as well. They coddle and covet their new toy to make sure they’ve marked it well with their own drool just to say, I had it first!
So now they have this great toy box that they pretty much empty every time we fill it back up. By the end of any day our living room looks like an explosion in a toy factory and that’s okay. The happiness of our pooches is all that matters. We haven’t been able to train them to pick up after themselves although Jake, our youngest, likes to corral a pile of toys on his bed and lay on top of them.
I love to watch my babies go to the box, sniff for the right toy for the day, hour, or minute, whatever suits the fancy, and dig it out. I guess it doesn’t take much to amuse me. Watching my babies at play or sleep brings happiness usually reserved for winning the lottery, world travel, falling in love and chocolate. What can I say ? I love those pups no less than if I carried them for nine months and gave birth to them. Only other pet owners could possibly understand!
JAKE SCORED HIS TOY FOR THE MORNING. NOTE THE RECYCLED FAUX FUR BED ON THE FLOOR THAT WAS MOMMA'S LAST WINTERS GO TO JACKET. NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR MY BABIES!
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