As a mom to quite possibly the sweetest little poodle ever, a rowdy Maine Coon cat, and a step-mom to my fiance’s dog, Sugar, (oh and let’s not forget our fish!) we have accumulated a lot of pet supplies.  In this post I will focus on organizing supplies for the four-legged furry variety rather than the finned.

Whenever we leave the house we kennel our dogs.  It was how I was raised and it prevents the dogs from getting into anything while we are gone…some say it makes them feel more secure too.  At first, my fiance was against it because his dog, Sugar, was a rescue dog and he felt we were being cruel.  At first she wasn’t too keen on the idea of being “locked up”, but now she sees the kennel as her doggie den.  After a couple of weeks of positive reinforcement (aka treats) she now gets in her kennel voluntarily.

First, a designated space to corral the animals:
I didn’t want dog kennels taking up space in my living room or bedroom, so the area next to our garage door entrance was the best bad decision. Sugar is a 50 lb German Shepherd mix and her kennel is LARGE.  One way I saved space is by stacking the two dog kennels.  My poodle Buddy, also gets a large kennel even though he’s only 7 lbs.  It’s his poodle palace.  I secured the kennels by adding some plywood between them for stability.  I put some side rails along the plywood too, for added support so the kennel wouldn’t tip over. Buddy is a little confused as to why I have put him in the kennel for a picture.

Storage:
To help the over-crowding situation I decided to steal the underutilized hall closet for pet supplies rather than having another type of storage chest taking up space in this small entrance area by the garage.  We also keep the cat litter box cabinet in this area, so as you can see from the picture below, space is maxed out.  You can read about how I made that here.  Below is the view from our garage.

So…I took the door off the hinges and filled in the trim.  This made more sense than having room for the door to swing open in an already cramped area.  After filling and painting the door casing I painted the inside of the closet.  The color I chose is Martha Stewart’s Falcon.  Appropriate for animals isn’t it?

Next I added some adhesive shelf liner in a bold print.  I wanted something semi-neutral since it would be visible all the time.

After sorting “like” items I found several baskets and canisters to hold a variety of large and small supplies. A canister holds open treats and a basket holds extra treat packages.

Brushes, toothbrushes (yes poodle dental care is a must), and other hygiene items are stored in these durable little baskets.  The handles make them easy to take wherever we need them.

Another two portable storage containers hold shampoos and potty pads.

I painted some bold stripes on the walls in this tiny little area to make it more cohesive, added some decorative animal prints, and hung up a coat rack for leashes that I spray painted to match.  The decorative prints are homemade too.  I simply used stock silhouette animal images online, recolored them in my photo shop program, and printed them out on card stock.  Easy custom wall art!

All-in-all I am pleased that we have a little area dedicated to pets.  I love them like they are my children, but that doesn’t mean that my home needs to look like a pet store. Eventually I’d like to tile put hardwoods in this back hallway to make cleaning easier…oh the list never ends!