How to Build a Cool Dog House

Building a cool-looking dog house is easy and doesn̵7;t require you to be an expert house builder. You can, if you are inclined, build a complex dog house, but a simple dog house can be cool also. It is all in the design and the decor, rather than the complexity of the house.

Things You'll Need

  • Six plywood sheets, 4 feet by 4 feet
  • 15 wooden boards, 2 inches by 4 inches
  • Staple gun
  • Nail gun
  • 20 nails, 3-inch
  • Hammer
  • Pencil
  • Straightedge
  • Hand miter saw
  • Drill
  • Sandpaper
  • Paint
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Instructions

    • 1

      Place a 4-by-4-foot plywood sheet on the ground and attach four 2-by-4 boards on each side so that the sides of the boards and the sides of the plywood sheet are even. Use a staple gun or nail gun to attach the boards to the plywood.

    • 2

      Attach another 2-by-4 board to the center of the structure built on step one using the staple gun or nail gun to attach the 2-by-4 both to the previous 2-by-4 frame and the plywood.

    • 3

      Repeat steps one and two until you have made three of these structures.

    • 4

      Put one of the structures you̵7;ve already built on the ground where you want your dog house to go. Make sure to place this structure so that the 2-by-4 frame is on the ground, and the plywood board is facing upward. This will be the base of your dog house.

    • 5

      Erect one of the remaining structures from step three onto one side of the dog house base so that plywood board is facing out and the frame is facing in to the dog house. Use 3-inch nails to attach this structure to the base. Hammer the nails in straight down into the bottom 2-by-4s. Use 10 nails to attach the structure.

    • 6

      Repeat step five with the final structure from step three on the opposite side of the base. You should now have a base with a left wall and a right wall.

    • 7

      Draw a door on a 4-by-4 piece of plywood using a pencil and a straight edge. Draw the door so that each edge of the door is 1 foot from each edge of the plywood sheet. Only the bottom of the door should reach all the way down to one of the edges of the plywood.

    • 8

      Cut the door out of the plywood using a hand miter saw. This will be the front wall of your dog house.

    • 9

      Attach the front wall to the structure built on step six using your staple gun or nail gun. Attach this piece so that each edge of the front wall is flush which each one of the previous plywood sheets. You should now have a structure with a front wall, left wall and right wall.

    • 10

      Draw a window on a 4-by-4 piece of plywood using a pencil and a straight edge. Draw this window so that the bottom edge of the window is 2 feet away from one of the edges of the board, and each of the other edges of the window is 1 foot away from each of the other edges of the plywood. Your window should be 1 foot high and 2 feet long. The edge 2 feet away from the window will be the bottom of that wall.

    • 11

      Cut the window out of the plywood board using a hand miter saw. In order to get the cut started, drill a hole big enough to fit the miter saw. This will make the back wall of your dog house.

    • 12

      Attach the back wall to the structure from step nine in the same way in which the front wall was attached. You should now have a dog house which is missing a roof.

    • 13

      Attach the final 4-by-4 plywood sheet to the top of the dog house in the same way which the front and back walls were attached.

    • 14

      Use sandpaper to smooth out every surface of the dog house until there are no splinters.

    • 15

      Paint the dog house whatever color you want. Be creative; this is what is going to make your simple dog house look cool. So if you want to paint designs onto the dog house, do so. If you want to paint each wall a different color, do so.