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The trampled Rose in my garden

trampled rose, life lesson from a roseToday I am going to share a little story about a small rose bush that I never planted but grew anyway. I discovered it about 4 years ago in the backyard in an area that had been hardened by years of drought and neglect. The trampled rose may have been planted by the previous owner before we purchased the house around 7 years ago but I never saw it. When we bought this house we removed approximately 25 loads of leaves and debris from the neglected backyard so the rose could have been buried under all the leaves.

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Upcycle gift boxes into ornament and holiday décor storage

ornament storage, Christmas decor storageDo you need a cheaper and easier way to store your Christmas and holiday décor?

Do you like to recycle and upcycle? upycling boxes for ornament storage

Did you get a fabulous new sweater for Christmas in a gift box?

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How to install and modify an aluminum Ideal Pet patio door for smaller pets

Home Depot doggy patio doggy door, aluminum patio dog door
The new aluminum doggy patio door from Home Depot online

It took almost a year and a half to buy a real aluminum patio doggy door. We had searched in the beginning but the doors we had found last spring were over $200 and not in our budget. So with some prodding, I convinced my hubby to make one since we do not always work well together.

Home Depot aluminum patio dog door, Ideal pet door
The box and online says extra large dog door. Ha it is really for medium sized dogs

How many of you women out there have that problem?

Men just do not always understand what we are trying to say, do they!

Cocokitty for the first few days would just sit there staring in
Cocokitty for the first few days would just sit there staring in

Anyhow, the door worked for us but keeping out drafts was a bit of challenge in the fall and winter so this fall I decided enough is enough. The door served its purpose so early this November we went online and checked out doggy doors. We did find that description does not always match the real size of the opening or the animal! So check the openings and all measurements.

It took a couple weeks to get it but it was well worth the wait. No more blowing in cold air or rain. We had to adapt the directions to insert in the patio door opening and after wrestling with it for over 20 minutes because the door does not just slide in. (this will be shown in picture below) It was such a simple how to that I cannot believe it is not in the directions!

Home Depot patio dog door
There are 2 of these plastic pieces that are at the top which stopped the door from fitting and going into the patio door rails
They come out with a bit of pulling
They come out with a bit of pulling
Once you slide the door in you put these back in the door
Once you slide the door in you put these back in the door
This shows you how easily they go back in and this makes the door fit snug
This shows you how easily they go back in and this makes the door fit snug
Home Depot dog pation aluminum door
Sierra investigating. This is before we modified it. She could fit easily and she is a 44 lb Australian Shepherd

2014-12-08 20.37.35

After all that we are impressed by how it looks and our beautiful and spoiled Sierra (the Australian Shepherd) goes up to the door and at us with a look of “now what am I supposed to do?” We pushed the flap and it did not take her long to go in and out a couple times slamming the flap in the face of Gerdy Mae (Jack/Fox terrier). This made the door more frightening to her so she ran upstairs to bed. Then I say to my husband “this bottom is too high the cats and Gerdy will not climb over this”. His answer “they will learn to”. Wrong answer honey. So I threatened to fix the door myself which made my husband jump into action (Any other wives reading this know this trick too?)

We laid the doggy door down on the towels atop the kitchen island
We laid the doggy door down on the towels atop the kitchen island

There were no directions on how to modify the door but I noticed these holes where screws were on each panel below the flap. I asked him “do you think these come out?” He just grumbled because it is 10 pm and he just wanted to have ice cream. I am so glad my husband is full of so much common sense and he can understand the gravity of the situation. See the cats were sitting on the outside of door looking and meowing as if to say “what the hell did you do to my door?” I did not want to hear the meowing at 3 am because they could not get out. They are housebroke and they prefer to use the outdoor rather than the kitty litter box in the garage.

So out to the garage to get the Rigid drill and screwdriver to take out the screws and see what happens. Meanwhile I am irritating him by constantly asking ‘can I do anything?’ It did not take long for the screws to come out and then touching the panels to see that they easily pulled out of the frame. Yeah I was so excited. I posted the pics below with descriptions on what to do to modify this door.

The door now allows all 3 cats to come and go and Gerdy Mae now goes in and out with ease. Having a doggy door is the best thing ever! I spent so much time opening and closing the doors plus no cat litter to scoop (except in freezing temps). This door was online at Home Depot for less than $150. It says extra large but it is for a medium sized dog. No air blows in and all the animals can come in and out with ease.

Creating. Inspiring. Gardening without the rules!

Home Depot aluminum patio dog door
The holes where the screws to hold the panels are. Philip screw driver
took all the screws out and the panels slid out
took all the screws out and the panels slid out
Modifying a HOme Depot aluminum dog door patio
The next thing to look at was the actual flap and you can tell there are many screws. Take out the farthest screws in the corners
Home Depot aluminum patio dog door modification
panels are out and then gently slide the flap out.
After the flap is out, take a panel and carefully slide it back in. then you slide the flap in and screw it in place
After the flap is out, take a panel and carefully slide it back in. then you slide the flap in and screw it in place
The flap is down one panel and you need to screw it in place because it holds the top panel in place.
The flap is down one panel and you need to screw it in place because it holds the top panel in place.
modification HOme Depot aluminum patio dog door
Now after you get the flap screwed back in, carefully line up the screws in the side for the panels and screw them back in place. You will have 2 extra screws because the top panel had no side screw holes
One panel is at the bottom and one at the top.
One panel is at the bottom and one at the top.
You need to fill in the air gap and we used bubble wrap. You can also take out the lock mechanism to the patio door. We chose to leave it in but make sure to use the foam strip that comes in the kit to go along where the patio door meets the dog door.
You need to fill in the air gap and we used bubble wrap. You can also take out the lock mechanism to the patio door. We chose to leave it in but make sure to use the foam strip that comes in the kit to go along where the patio door meets the dog door.
Home Depot aluminum dog door
The opening is narrow making it tough to carry things in and out but the dog door can be removed if need be
After a while the cats decided that if they wanted to eat, they best push the flap
After a while the cats decided that if they wanted to eat, they best push the flap
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DIY scrap wood patio doggy door

2014-12-15 14.08.27I should have posted this a long time ago but I did not figure it looked good enough. Then I realized that I started blogging to give tips, advice, and inspiration to others and it was not about pretty photos or blog tours. I started blogging because I like to write, create, inspire, and garden.

With this in mind, I will post my ugly scrap wood and upholstery fabric patio doggy door. It is not the prettiest door but it served its purpose for over a year! Yep maybe closer to a year and a half because my husband put it together late last spring or early summer when I was away. He knew how tired I was letting our 2 dogs and 3 cats in and out all day and even into the night. Until last week this door was in place allowing our Australian Shepherd, Jack/Fox terrier mix, and 3 housebroken cats to wandering in and out all day and night. The only problem came when the wind blew just right or the rain came down in buckets. Otherwise during the summer the flap stayed in place and did not really let out any more heat than my 28 year old windows.

patio doggy door, DIY doggy door
I could not find the pictures of the door in place so I had to improvise.

Now we broke down a few weeks ago and ordered the aluminum patio door online at Home Depot for around $150 which has worked out great. I will do another blog about the door and how we had to customize the door to fit our animals (the directions for some reason did not explain this). Anyhow, for now if you do not have the extra $150 then our DIY patio door may just be the answer. We also have a doggy/cat door in the garage (which is workshop) for the cats to go in and out in the dead of winter to use the kitty litter box. January and February are the coldest months and the cats stay in and sleep a lot in the cold and do not venture out much.

You can adapt the measurements to fit your animals by making the hole/flap smaller. I believe most dogs up to a medium sized and maybe even larger dogs. We measured the height of our Aussie (up to neck or her back) and that worked out perfect. Even if you had to buy the wood, It would still cost you under $20 to make (at Home Depot is where I know you can get the 1/4″ brown pressed board for less than $10 a sheet and they can cut it to your specific size for free). You could even paint the door too but I never got around to it because it was temporary! LOL

If you live in the frigid areas of the country, winter may not be the best time to have it in unless you come up with a better flap idea. I wanted (but this was all the scrap we had from another project) to buy a plastic doggy door from Home Depot or EBay and put it in the piece of plywood that would  go from the top to the bottom of the door. Like I said this is not the prettiest doggy door but it was functional. I hope this may even give you ideas on how to create your own doggy door if buying one is not an option.

Creating. Inspiring. Gardening without the rules!

We have a standard patio door so the wood measurement of 37 1/2" was from the top of door down to the top of the lock mechanism for the patio door on the inside of the jamb
We have a standard patio door so the wood measurement of 37 1/2″ was from the top of door down to the top of the lock mechanism for the patio door on the inside of the jamb. The 1×2’s are used to keep the door in place in the jamb and add some stability to the board
This is the size of scrap we had from a previous project so this is what we used. the 1/4" thick brown hardboard was sturdy enough.
This is the size of scrap we had from a previous project so this is what we used. the 1/4″ thick brown hardboard was sturdy enough. WE had a scrap 7″ piece so that is what went across the top (10″ would go all the way). WE used duct tape to secure the fabric after we tried to get staples to hold it. We doubled the upholstery fabric and it is heavy so it stayed closed except when the wind blew towards the door. The flap was also folded to fit inside after we put in the patio door to figure out how it would hang
DIY Doggy door
The wood trim pieces we had fit perfectly in the door jamb and the notch you see is where the lock mechanism is on the patio door which actually holds it in place snugly. You could have a piece go down to the bottom of door jamb and frame the wood to hold a store bought doggy or cat door.
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Updating a wooden knob with a button

I decided to write this separate because it could be a separate project on its own. If you are like me you may have bins, drawers, or tins filled with miscellaneous buttons and baubles that I know “one day” I will use. Well finally “one day” came and I found a use for a  random button in a random tin.

knob makeover, button knob
Button and the knob (which had been painted dark purple)
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