Easy Dog Bed

We recently got a new bed and needed to get rid of both the old bed and the old foam memory topper. The 3" memory foam was still in good shape but didn't work for the kids' beds. I hated to throw it out, but couldn't think of what I could use it for. Until we had to go to the basement and our dog was not happy about it. We have an unfinished basement and sometimes need to go downstairs during tornado sirens. She used to hate going downstairs because there wasn't anywhere comfy to lay down on. I ended up using the memory foam to make at dog bed for the basement.

I had two 50x60 fleece blankets, which I had found at the store on sale for about $5. You could also simply buy pieces of fleece from a fabric store, I just had the blankets on hand. I measured a piece of the foam to fit inside the blankets, with a 3-4 inch gap all the way around. I then cut 1 inch wide, 4 inch deep slits along the edges of both blankets. I had laid the blankets on top of each other so the strips would line up together. Make sure the blankets are laying flat and smooth. Place the memory foam in the middle of the bottom blanket. Next, place and smooth the other blanket on top. Tie the tabs together all around the edges. Tada! You have a dog bed!

She is a big fan of her basement dog bed and now seems to enjoy when we hang out down there. The bed ended up pretty large. Which, of course, makes sense considering the size of the blanket but is something I might have trimmed down if I had thought it through. She loves it though.

I still had a decent sized piece left over, so I cut a piece to fit the inside of her crate. She already had a liner base and blankets, but I thought I would make a new pad for the inside of her crate with the left over foam. Once I cut a piece to fit, I wrapped it in an old twin bed sheet and put a few hand stitches in to make sure the foam would not be unwrapped and exposed. I piled her blankets back on and now she has a super comfy bed.