If you’re a pet parent, you probably say the following things all the time:
“Where’s the leash?”
“Did you give her the heart worm prevention?”
“I can’t find the poop bags!”
“Where did your treat box go?”
**Trips over squeaky ball and wakes up entire household.**
I’ve wanted to be a dog mom for YEARS, and finally having my very own fur-baby has been a true dream come true! My shepherd-collie-beagle rescue is seriously a girl’s best friend and I love every big stretch and yawn, and the way she stomps her paw with attitude or grabs my arm with her paw for pets. Let’s be honest though: in order to keep the cuteness in check and not in chaos, we need to be ORGANIZED as pet parents. If you could save those five minutes every day chasing down the treats for the treat ball or the water additive to keep that bad breath at bay, you would want to, right? That was my EXACT motivation behind her new puppy corner!
It all started when I noticed an old kitchen rack in the back of my husband’s car that he intended to get rid of before I noticed (God bless him- he knew it didn’t match our kitchen “theme”!). To his surprise, I yelled out, “NO! Don’t get rid of it. Can you pick up some white paint on your way home?” He looked at me as if I was crazy and he had NO idea where my little blonde head was going with this, but I saw the potential in that kitchen rack to come back to life.
The first step was to bust out an old shirt & sweatpants, a paintbrush & can of white paint, lie down an old blanket, and get to work painting every inch of that cart being careful not to miss a spot. Once it had dried, I dragged it into my kitchen and screwed in four hook screws: three placed about an inch and a half apart on one side, and one solo screw on the opposite side. This was for her leash, collar, harness, and on the opposite side her puppy towel for the days when she comes prancing in with those adorable but muddy paws.
Next, it was time to start stocking! In the drawer went all of her poop bags, heart worm & flea prevention medication, bandanas, adoption paperwork etc. ANYTHING having to do with Shandy goes in the drawer or on the rack of this cart. Above the table, I hung a calendar with pictures of Shandy (you can order these for your on pet on Shutterfly) so we can keep track of when she needs her heart worm prevention, flea prevention, etc. On top of the table, I placed her spare set of pink food bowls, her pink treat canister, and grey food bin with a little pink & grey scooper inside that measured out each cup. On the shelves, all of her treats (she loves Bocce’s Bakery), paw balm, toothbrush, and her pink go-bag for when she travels with us holds all of her sleepover essentials. Yep, all things Shandy are in this corner!
Next to her table, I put her food bowls with a mat underneath (she’s a water drooler) and a larger food bin that can fit a backup bag of food so we don’t run low. I was able to find all of these things between TJ Maxx & Homegoods. Bowls were $6.99 each, mat was $5.99 and her food bin was $16.99. In the corner, I placed a grey & white bin that I also found at Homegoods for $12 to hold all of her toys.
Let’s talk about why I specifically mentioned the pink & grey accent colors here: During my time working with interior designers at my former position at a homewares company, they instilled in me the best rule of thumb in decorating I’ve ever heard: pick two to three colors in every design. Since I LOVE pink- most of Shandy’s leashes and bowls are pink- and our kitchen is mostly white, I knew I was working with those two colors for sure. Grey has been a good neutral (and crazy popular) color lately, so I decided to pop that in as well so my hubby wasn’t completely overwhelmed with my feminine taste. This is a tip I highly recommend that all of you use in any room you want to decorate moving forward, and it’s one that you’ll see repeated in my theme in my future posts to come, as well 🙂
Have questions about creating your own pet parent’s corner? Email me at emmalyn@emmalynreid.com and I’ll answer them!
Emmalyn Reid 