Dogcorating

Clearly I love my dogs.  I like to talk about dogs, learn about dogs, and spend time with my dogs.  So what do I like to watch on TV?  Animal Planet?  NatGeo? ......  Nope.  HGTV!  I love HGTV and find it to be great “low-involvement,” yet instructive and inspiring, television. 

Can you tell where the conflict lies here?  I’ll bet that all of you with more than one dog can tell….

Sadly, having multiple dogs is often incompatible with having an HGTV-worthy house. Especially when your house is of modest size.

Case in point (my family room):

Prior to the human child joining the pack, things were ok. The dogs hung out in the family room during waking hours and in our bedroom at night.  That meant only 2 locations full of dog beds and toys.  My living room was nice.  No clutter, no crates, no dog beds. 

Then along came the human child.  We couldn’t have him hang out in the dogs’ space, as small toys are just too tempting for corgi mouths.    And, although the dogs were properly “baby-proofed” before the child was born, I found separation of dogs and child to be a good idea, unless closely supervised. 

So there went my living room.  It now has magnets all over the door, an art easel, and numerous baskets of toys. What’s an HGTV-loving woman to do?  Dogcorate!  (Decorate with the dogs in mind)

Warning:  Digression

Yes, I like combining words to make new words.  The husband & I have a bit of a contest to see how many words still make sense while adding the word corgi – or some close variation (e.g.:  use corgfusion instead of confusion if the dogs are confused, or there is confusion thanks to the dogs)

Back on track: 

I finally decided to reclaim one room.  I think this decision came about when we had a guest come over and we had nowhere for them to comfortably sit.  The choice was:  sit on dog haired sofa and put drink on top of the dog-crate-turned-into-end-table or move the stuffed animals and crayons out of the way and put drink on sticker-covered coffee table. 

I decided to work on the family room (pictured above), and the room is now is nearly complete.  Our goal - something more stylish, but dog friendly.  I’m already taking pictures, and I’ll share the results once it’s all done.