DIY Projects for Cats and Dogs: 20 Easy-to-Build Creations for Your Best Friend

(Paperback)

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Description

Pamper your pet while you save money by doing it yourself! This book shows you how to build inexpensive, functional accessories to make your home a pet paradise. DIY Projects for Cats and Dogs presents 20 simple projects that you can make in just a weekend, without any advanced skills or special tools. From a cat tree and a hide-away litter box to bowl stands, leash racks, and a Scandinavian bed platform, these stylish structures will take care of your pet's needs while preserving your interior decor. Built and pet-tested by the authors in their own home, each imaginative creation features step-by-step instructions, materials lists, and inspirational color photographs. Inside DIY Projects for Cats and Dogs Functional yet stylish furniture and accessories to make for your cat or dog. 20 simple DIY projects that anyone can make in one weekend without special skills. Save money by doing it yourself with scrap wood, simple materials, and basic tools. Modern, decorative designs let you show your love for your animals while embellishing your home. Step-by-step instructions, materials lists, and inspirational color photographs. Projects include litter boxes, dog house, bowl stands, bed platforms, travel basket, cat tree, leash rack, bedside table cabin, and more.

Reviews

"...emphasize "practicality" and "keeping costs down," using inexpensive materials such as pine and engineered wood. Step-by-step instructions benefit from an abundance of photos..." - Publisher's Weekly
Cashing in on the billion-dollar-plus market for pets, French handypeople, designers, and animal lovers Rau and Legrix have concocted 20 simple, Scandinavian-inspired accessories to make for four-legged creatures. (Amazingly enough, there are more feline-oriented projects than canine--though there's a handful of each.) The emphasis is on streamlined, straightforward style that can be easily emulated by those with rudimentary woodworking skills. In similar fashion, the authors eschew fancy materials like exotic woods, recommending instead pine, plywood, and OSB (oriented strand board--though watch out for splinters). Every design features level of difficulty, lists of materials and tools, and step-by-step captioned photographs and finishes with a note about overall cost (ranging from $12 to $35). The real question: how did they entice their cat, Info, and the "borrowed" Jack Russell terrier to stay still for pictures --Barbara Jacobs - Booklist
If you're a fan of Scandinavian style furniture, and have some DIY talent, you will love DIY Projects for Cats and Dogs: 20 Easy to Build Creations for Your Best Friend. Author Armelle Rau is the communications manager at Scandinavian decorating group Strene Greene West and creator of the chic decoration blog Mocassin Headband. She wanted to create furniture for her furry friends that combined function and fashion. From a cat bed hanging off a radiator to a rolling end table bed, the projects in this book are practical and (according to the publisher) fairly easy to put together, requiring only basic tools and simple materials. Given that the words "some assembly required" instill fear in my heart, I'm the wrong person to assess whether these are simple projects or whether they require advanced handyman or handywoman skills, but I do know that I would love to have someone make some of these projects for Allegra and Ruby. I don't think cat furniture cats will love needs to sacrifice function for beauty, and any of these projects would look beautiful with any style decor, not just a Scandinavian look. Beautifully illustrated with four-color photographs and step-by-step instructions with photos, not just drawings, this book will delight pet lovers who want to make their furry family members happy without breaking the bank. - Conscious Cat Blog

Author Bio

Armelle Rau is Communication Manager at the Scandinavian decorating group Sotrene Grene West. Armelle writes a fashion and decoration blog, Mocassin Headband (http://www.mocassinserretete.com). She lives in France. Pierre Legrix is a teacher and a professional writer. Pierre founded and directs Nonobstant, a writing services company. He lives in France.