Build A Homemade Haven For Your Dog As A DIY Crate Cabinet

Dog crates aren't always the design centerpieces of the room they're in, often looking like utilitarian black metal cages in which you're attempting to trap some creature instead of the safe haven they really are for your fur baby. Luckily, YouTube woodworker @WoodshopDiaries has a couple of other ideas for you, including a dog crate that looks like a console cabinet ... which, in turn, looks like a fireplace. If your space won't benefit from the suggestion of a fireplace, she also has a couple of other great ideas: a crate that can be slid under a countertop and a side table design with a hidden closing mechanism. Of course, you can also save a bit of time by repurposing existing furniture, as with this IKEA MALM dog crate build.

The fireplace/console approach should suit most dogs, though it might be too small for the largest breeds and too roomy for the smallest. The right size for a dog crate depends on the size of the dog to be kenneled in it. Your pup should be able to stand inside it, sit with a couple of inches of clearance, and stretch out fully when lying down. The dog should also be able to turn around freely, and the door should allow the dog to enter and exist easily. This might sound like a bigger-is-better situation, but it's really not because a crate that's bigger than necessary is likely to undermine your goals for training the dog and keeping it calm in your absence.

YouTuber @WoodshopDiaries' fake fireplace dog crate carries off the illusion by virtue of nothing more than some black paint, an appropriate vertical bolt latch, and a scrap of hardware cloth. Otherwise, it's basically a console cabinet with three compartments: a large center cabinet that is, mostly, the dog crate with two shallower cabinets of drawers on either side. She built it as a face frame cabinet for a variety of reasons having to do with the design of the piece requested by her sister, for whom she's building the piece. This mostly has to do with the molding that wraps around the face frame members and gives the piece a somewhat detailed, ornate look. You could just as easily build the piece without the trim and without the face frame altogether.

Of course, the fireplace illusion isn't necessary for the piece to function, but in the right room it's definitely a benefit. A faux fireplace can add structure and substance to a room in a way that a simple console table won't. The illusion is generally made up of a few component parts: the position of the fake fireplace; black elements approximating a firebox or a fireplace's doors, screen, or draft stopper; and the common design elements of a fireplace, like a mantle. Any two of these elements should be sufficient to create the illusion for anyone glancing casually about the room.

A couple of other dog crate designs can be found in @WoodshopDiaries' portfolio. One that she built for herself looks a bit like a slatted Crate and Barrel-style side table with a solid table sitting astride it, presumably for drinks or doggie treats. The crate, shown on YouTube, is closed by a simple but brilliant hidden mechanism made of drawer slides on top of the slats that allow the solid portion to slide sideways, closing the crate. The sliding table approach could be used on any style of dog crate, but it works particularly well on a slatted design that maximizes the openness of the crate and the pup's integration into the room.

Another design on @WoodshopDiaries' YouTube page, built for a friend, was sized and constructed to fit under an existing countertop, somewhat like the clever crate hidden in a laundry room on "Fixer to Fabulous," but could easily be a freestanding piece. In this design, the slats are replaced with dowels functioning basically like bars. She went to a great deal of trouble to painstakingly manually measure and drill the holes for these dowels and could probably have saved some time — and eliminated some imprecision — by using a self-centering doweling jig. Her approach works well, though, and the final piece looks great. She makes the point that, if you're not constrained by making the crate fit in a specific space, it might be best to size and build it around the dimensions of a store-bought tray liner designed for dog crates.