Watson's Trunk

Like most of the female world, I have recently become obsessed with Pinterest.com and when I saw this picture on there, I knew I had my new project for Watson.

I was getting ready to move and I knew the move would be easier on him if he had a bed of his own, as opposed to just a blanket on the couch. So it was kind of a miracle when, while I was out shopping with my friend Kendel up in North Georgia, I found the most perfect trunk to convert into Watson's bed. It was navy blue with old, dirty, silver hardware. We painted our dining room navy blue, so the color was just right. And the best part was that it was only $10! Thank goodness we wasted half the afternoon just trying to find the antique mall. It was time well spent.

Once I got it home, I tried to clean it up, but there really wasn't much I could do. Luckily it's beautiful just the way it is.

And the dog fits perfectly inside!

For the inside, I bought a fleece blanket from the Atlanta Junior League's thrift store for $2. I took some measurements of the trunk and drew out the pattern. As you can see, the first time I drew it out, I made some mistakes, but I swear by "measure twice, cut once" rule so I was able to correct it before I cut the blanket up, and the lines would be hidden on the back once it was done.

I cut it out to match the sides and bottom of the trunk.

I forgot to take a picture of this step, I guess, but I bought some batting from the fabric store, folded it over a few times to give it some extra plushness and lined the edges of the trunk, then I put a standard size pillow in the bottom.

I laid the fabric in it to test it out before sewing it up.

I sewed the corners up using a very basic zig-zag stitch.

The fabric needed to be removable so I could take it out and wash it because I knew the dog would jump in it dirty, or wet. So to attach the blanket, I found Velcro's Decor. It's a type of velcro where one side, the hook side, is sticky backed to attach to a hard surface and the other side, the loop side, isn't sticky backed so that it can be sewn onto a fabric. It was intended to be used for window treatments and bed skirts, but it worked great for me.

I sewed the soft loop velcro to the blanket and then blanket-stitched the edges to give it a finished look.

Watson LOVES his trunk. I think it really did help him deal with the chaos of the move. Whenever he'd start to get spazzy, he'd just go jump in the trunk and hide. He lives in it. He's in it as I'm typing this. It's always funny to see the silly positions he gets into. I was originally going to leave the inside of the top alone, but somehow he manages to use it like a shelf for his head sometimes, so I'm going to try to line the top with the leftover pieces from the blanket. Someday.