Dog Food Dilemma

Dog food storage typically isn't all that exciting, I know. But I'm hoping this post will make it exciting for you! For over a year now, our puppy's food has been stored in a clear plastic tote in the storage closet of the kitchen. Did it work for us? Yes. Was it as functional as it could be? No. Storing his food in the closet meant that each feeding required grabbing his dish, walking to the closet, opening the closet door, opening the two latches of the tote, getting the food, closing the two latches of the tote, closing the closet, and bringing the dish back to his eating area. Now I admit, the closet was only about 10 feet from his eating area... But I still felt like this process could be streamlined a bit.

Because his food and water dishes are located immediately as you enter our house, I didn't want to just set a battered clear plastic tote of dog food next to his dishes. Nothing says "welcome to our home" like an ugly tote of dog food. So I started looking online for some alternative dog food storage options.

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I wanted a DIY option to save some money and because I enjoy projects. I looked into the cost of a galvanized trash can and, the cost combined with the process to paint it was more than I wanted to spend. I stopped into a local Salvation Army store and found this:

It's actually an old potato bin but I thought it would work perfectly for dog food storage. I picked it up for $20. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have paid quite this much. The bin in the unit needed to be replaced because it had a huge crack in the bottom and the wood was pretty beat up on the top and the sides. Nevertheless, I got to work transforming this beauty into something greater.

I removed the three drawer pulls, and detached the bin from the front piece. I sanded down the entire unit not only to  smooth out some of the imperfections, but also so the paint would adhere better. I wanted to do some work with vinyl decals to add the words "Dog Food" to the front of the unit. So I hopped over to Lowe's and picked up a sample of some turquoise paint. I painted the area on the drawer where I wanted the words to be in the turquoise first.

Then I cut out some vinyl letters using my Cricut and carefully placed those on the drawer. I forgot to take a picture before I covered the whole drawer face with the brown paint I was using on the entire piece, but you can kind of see the vinyl through the first coat of brown.

After two coats of paint, I removed the vinyl to reveal the turquoise letters. (Pictures are further below.) I painted the rest of the piece brown to blend in with our entryway decor. Once the paint was dry I reattached a new bin to the front piece with four screws. It's just a simple Rubbermaid Trash Can. 

I added some new drawer pulls I picked up at Hobby Lobby on clearance and put the entire thing back together. Time to move it upstairs!

Here is a photo of our entry way before:

The storage unit there was a goodwill purchase re-painted as well. While that unit works really well for accessory storage like hats, mittens, and scarfs, it takes up a lot of space. My future project plans include adding some seating to this space and I think with a bench in this room, that storage unit will make it too cramped. So I moved the unit into the basement and used another drawer organizer I found in another part of the house to hold the accessories, which fits nicely into the closet of the entry way. 

Here is the new piece in it's new home! I love how the turquoise lettering turned out. I found that yellow bucket at The Salvation Army for $1. It works great for our keys when we come in the door. All in all, it makes feeding time much more efficient. The drawer also holds the puppy's leash so it's right there when we head out the door. Here is a final look at the space with the new dog food storage piece.

It adds character and functionality to the space. Just what I wanted!

Do you have any creative storage solutions for pet food?