We have a very spacious kitchen and dining room, which is the heart of our home. It has a laminate floor, easy access to the back yard, tons of natural light and is just everyone's favorite place to gather.
All of this also makes it the perfect place to corral the dogs when we need to keep them in one place. While many Chihuahuas can be well house trained, mine seem to do really well when in this area, but when they are turned loose in the rest of the house, they don't hesitate to mark their territory. It can be very frustrating!
I didn't want them to have to stay crated all the time, so we figured a way to gate off the two entrances into the kitchen/dining area and let the dogs have free run.
This last year we got a new, larger refrigerator and lost the ability to slide the gate between the wall and fridge at the main entrance into the kitchen. Fortunately, there was a sliding pocket door at one time in that doorway! It had been broken since before we moved in, and sealed up.
Enter, Shawn-the-Wonder-Guy!
He tore open the door frame and pulled out the old sliding pocket door. He then created THIS:
This is the view, looking into the kitchen from the entry hall of our house. He created a mini sliding pocket door! He even made this side to match the bead board wainscoting we have in the hall way!
Look how easily it slides open and into the wall:
This is pretty critical because whoever designed this house, did a really stupid job right here. It is not spacious, with the refrigerator on one side and a cabinet on the left. There is just no room for a baby gate that swings open.
I am so happy with this door! When completely open, it sits flush with the door frame and most people don't even realize that it is there.
The dogs enjoy complete freedom to roam around in the kitchen and I don't have to worry about them going into the living room or other areas of the house while I am busy in the kitchen.
Does that little Cooper just have the cutest face or what...???
I didn't get a picture of the doorway that is on the other end, but it leads into the living room, is much wider, and we have a swinging baby gate there. It is visible in a lot of the videos and pictures that I post of the dogs wrestling in the big bed.
This height is perfect. The dogs can't hop over it, although most everyone in the house except short-legged me can step over it if they want to. Although you don't have to bend that much to grab it and slide it.
Pretty cool, huh?
