Who has cute little fur balls at their house? We do. We have grown to have quite the zoo here…not really, but we do have a few pets and I was struggling with how to organize all the pet food.
We bought some pet food bins as we added each pet, but I didn’t really have room for them in my laundry room. We don’t have a garage, so I don’t have another option for where to store pet food. What we had was somewhat functional, but not pretty and took up too much space.
As you can see above, I came up with a cute idea that I love!
Let me tell you the story and show you how to make your own cute pet food bins.
You can see above, how we used to store our cat food. It worked, but was hard for Pumpkin to get up and down. She had to climb on top of the dryer to get the bin up and down.
I did a little mini re-organizing of my laundry room over my Christmas break. It had gotten to be a bit of a dumping ground and just made me feel sad or stressed when I walked into the laundry room.
I made a few changes. Then I looked at the space I had and tried to figure out what to do with the pet food. I tried to use some other bins I had on hand, but they didn’t fit or took up to much space.
Our dog food was in another pet food container behind the door and on top of the hot water heater. Not the most ideal place for dog food. Like the cat food, it worked but was hard for Pumpkin to get when it is her turn to feed the dog.
I got the idea to use an organizing drawer to put the food in. I thought it would be easy for the kids to open and close. I also thought I would be able to store things on top of the drawer so it wouldn’t take up too much shelf space.
I tried an organizing drawer I had on hand, but it was too large. Amazon to the rescue…seriously, what did we do before Amazon (and Amazon Prime)?
I found a drawer(affiliate link)
that was the right size to fit on the shelf. The drawers I selected hold a decent amount of dog food (at least 1 week) and plenty of cat food. I believe these drawers are actually designed to hold shoes.
I needed to cute-ify the food containers. I made my own stencils. (This post will teach you how to make your own stencils.)
I colored in the lettering using a Sharpie pen. From what I have read, the Sharpie will not last very well on plastic(which these drawers are plastic).
After I removed the stencil, I decided to put Mod Podge on top of the lettering to seal the Sharpie. I tried to be careful with applying the Mod Podge so it wouldn’t have a big ring of Mod Podge. You could try applying the Mod Podge while the stencil is still on, but I was concerned that when I removed the stencil the Mod Podge would rip in places and wouldn’t adhere.
You can see a small bit of Mod Podge surrounding the letters on my drawers, but only if the light hits it right and it isn’t too noticeable.
I set the drawers on the wire shelves in my laundry room. I knew that when my kids extended the drawers fully to get food, they drawers would likely tip over. If you add something heavy on top of your drawers you will be fine, but I know that I rearrange things all the time and I didn’t want to take a chance on needing to clean up a whole lot of dog or cat food.
I used twine to tie the back frame of the drawer to my wire shelves.
Just wanted to give you another angle of where I tied the drawer to the shelf. It gives it full security when the drawer is extended all the way. There is no tipping.
Lastly, I had to fill the drawers up with the food.
I buy super cheap sets of measuring cups and use them in places like this. It makes it easy for the kids to make sure they are giving the correct amount of food to the dog or cat.
You can see how I was able to place the dog and cat food on the shelves and still store additional items on top. The hamster food goes on top of the cat food behind the wash cloths. I didn’t think we needed a whole bin for hamster food. 😉
The bins just look so cute! Between my freshening up the laundry room organization and these bins, it is now not a stressful place in my home….other than the fact the laundry never ends.
Don’t you just love my cute pet food storage solution? I do! It cost me about $17 for the two drawers. I had the Sharpie, Mod Podge, and the materials to make the stencil on hand. I know that since I already had paid good money for pet food storage containers(why are they so expensive?), this was a bit of splurge. Yet, sometimes I just have to overlook the money and do what works for the space and what makes me smile when I enter the room. How about you?
I’ve also got a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to Organizing ideas:
Follow The Real Thing with the Coake Family’s board Real Organization on Pinterest.
This is a really good idea!
I have three cats and one of the, has to eat a special diet so I have two different kinds of food just for my cats.
I think buying the smaller drawers is a good idea so the food wil keep its flavour and stay fresh as long as possible.
Next time I am at the store I will get yet, another bin! Haha
My dogs eat Raw, so I haven’t had to deal with that issue except their food taking up space in my fridge!
Yes, I know…just what the world needs…more bins. And yet, they work well and keep things neat and organized. Hope it works out really well for you!
That is a wonderful idea. We have two cats that eat dry food and two dogs – pit bulls who only eat canned food (problem with kidney). I really love this idea and will share it too.
It really is a great idea for you! With all those different foods, this will help them stay organized in a smaller space. Hope you enjoy it!
Super cute. However, I worry about bugs and mice getting in there since it isn’t sealed.
Thanks! Yes, I would never use this outside or in an outside location. Mine is stored in my laundry room and we don’t have any issue with mice or bugs in there, so it works for us. Hope you find something that works for you.
It may be handy, but it isn’t nutritious. Pet food has to sealed air tight, just like human food. Heat, air, humidity, and light are enemies to their food. It becomes stale and loses its nutritional value.
Interesting. We haven’t had issues with our food becoming stale and I’m going to look into the nutritional value info. I know most people just keep the food in the bag in which they bought it, so my containers wouldn’t be much different than that. In fact, they may keep it fresher than just storing it in the bag. Thanks for your two cents.