Whelp, I’ve jumped on the vintage suitcase dog bed bandwagon.  What, you ask, are vintage suitcase dog beds?  Well these adorable pet beds are basically just upcycled old suitcases.  You know, the kind you find at a thrift store that have no wheels, so are clearly not practical for extreme traveling.  I have a love for old suitcases, as you can probably tell from one of my previous posts, “Retro Suitcases: Packed Full of Style,”  so I was considering purchasing a little bed on Etsy for Zuzu the poodle; however, once I noticed the hefty price tag (over $50 for most of the listings) I decided it was time for some diy magic.  I made my own version for under $10.

Materials:

  • Vintage Suitcase (hard shell)
  • Tools (hammer, screwdriver, extreme muscle strength)
  • Pillow
  • Pillow Sham

Directions:

  1. Open the suitcase and examine how it is hinged together.
  2. If it is screwed together, then you just need to unscrew the top half of the suitcase from the bottom half.  If it is attached by some other means, then you will have to break out the hammer.  Joey and I purchased the strongest suitcase known to mankind.  It was machined together to sustain extreme wear, so disassembling the top from the bottom of the suitcase was quite a feat.  Luckily, Joey provided the “extreme muscle strength” from the materials list.   He used the hammer and his brawn to break the top from the bottom.
  3. Discard the top half of the suitcase.
  4. Cover a pillow with the sham of your choice.  I used a sham from our old ikea duvet cover.
  5. Place the pillow in the suitcase and tuck the corners in.  We lucked out because our suitcase was the perfect size for the pillow we used.  If this is not the case, you can make your own custom pillow.

Zuzu loves her new bed!  She still tries to sleep in our bed at night, but during the day, I catch her lounging in her vintage suitcase palace.