Last spring we adopted a dog from my girlfriends brother, so I wanted to build her a dog house. The dog, not my girlfriend.

I drew up several revisions of "blueprints" and finally decided on a slanted roof design with somewhat if a front porch, for some dog food dishes.

Step 1: Starting Out

I started out by picking the spot where I wanted the dog house to go. I levelled out the ground and and placed patio blocks around 3 sides of where the dog house would sit.

We then went and picked up some wood, and started the framing.

Step 2: Walls

I put down the plywood for the floor and sanded until it was good enough. I then built the remaining 3 walls.

In this picture they're just free standing so I can get a rough idea of what the final size would be.

Step 3: Walls Are Up

The walls went up. I used 2.5 inch exterior deck screws and finish nails.

Notice my girlfriends safety footwear.

Step 4:

I used a jigsaw and a straight edge to cut all the plywood, and to cut out the doggy door and window. I used finish nails to hold the plywood in place.

For the window I used an 8' lengthy of 2x2 cut down to size to hold the glass in place at the top and bottom, front and back.

Step 5: Roof

The roof was originally gonna be corrugated tin siding, but my tin guy didn't wanna separate with his materials.

Plan B. I built the roof framing out of 2x10 that was in the garage when I moved into my house. It was heavy as hell, and I installed it on the roof of the dog house with wall framing off cuts to hold it in place.

You can see the side profile of the house coming together nicely.

Step 6:

Before I covered up the roof with 1/2" OSB I covered up the interior studs with plywood.

Step 7: Interior

I laid down some linoleum flooring on the interior and the deck, wrapping it around the corners to protect the wood from the elements.

Step 8:

First coat of paint is on.

Step 9:

I made a personalized sign with the router.

Step 10: Finished!

Here it is all done. I don't have any pictures of the roof covering process, but it's the same linoleum material as the interior and deck.

The original plan I drew called for a wider door and no window. The window was a last minute inclusion. With the window included the dog house is 8 inches longer than originally planned. The dogs happy with it, so I'm happy.