Custom-Made Doghouse—‘Daphne’s Dreamhouse’ // From the Workshop
February 2023
We recently custom designed and built a dreamy doghouse for probably one of our furriest clients to date—Daphne the French Bulldog. With a fun (and slightly challenging) brief, we tackled this job with gusto and we’re happy to report that both Daphne and her owner were very happy with the end result. Read on to learn more about the design and build of ‘Daphne’s Dreamhouse’—most likely the fanciest doghouse you’ve ever seen.
Daphne's Dreamhouse—Custom-designed Teak doghouse. Photo: Rohan Thomson.
A Home Fit for a Canine Queen
Daphne is a Canberra-based French Bulldog who prefers the finer things in life.
Daphne's owner came into our Workshop & Showroom on a sunny Saturday morning to discuss the options of having a new home made for her pet.
Daphne’s owner came well prepared with images from Pinterest and elsewhere, most featuring pieces that combined timber with steel. For her, including a 'barn style' sliding door was an important feature that we were able to incorporate into the design.
A Stylish Doghouse to Match Our Customer’s Home Furnishings
The doghouse needed to match Daphne’s owner’s other furniture in the living room, including a beautiful Teak sideboard. To make sure the doghouse would look the part, we matched the dimensions, style and timber species of the sideboard.
After a few consultations with Daphne’s owner we were able to come up with a design that complimented the space but was functional at the same time.
Daphne the French Bulldog chilling out in her custom-designed doghouse. Photo: Daphne’s owner.
Daphne's Dreamhouse with sliding door and direct access to the backyard via the doggy door. (You can’t quite see her, but she’s in there, safe and comfy). Photo: Daphne’s owner.
Daphne the French Bulldog chilling out in her custom-designed doghouse. Photo: Daphne’s owner.
Design Features of Daphne’s Dreamhouse
To elevate the design and avoid that cage-like look that steel bars would have given, we used thin timber slats on the front, and incorporated Daphne’s owner’s ‘barn style’ door brief with an elegant and striking powder coated sliding track.
We left the right hand side of the doghouse open to provide Daphne with direct access to the backyard through her little doggy door, and the top of the unit also lifts open (similar to a blanket box) for ease of cleaning.
Powder coated steel sliding track.
Timber species: Teak
As a key element of the brief was matching Daphne’s owner’s other Teak furniture, it was fortunate that we had received a big load of Teak benchtops from the Black Mountain CSIRO Plant Science Labs just months earlier.
Recycled Teak is rare to come across in our salvaging jobs but lovely to work with so we had a lot of fun with this project. We still have some Teak available, so if you have a project in mind that you think would work nicely in Teak, make sure to get in touch ASAP!
Sliding ‘barn house’ door, with the end left open to allow access outside through the doggy door, and a lifting lid to allow easy access.
We custom design and make a huge variety of furniture and joinery products.
We can replicate any furniture designs you see on our website or social media, and we can further customise to your specific needs. Daphne’s Dreamhouse has elements of a blanket box or a buffet, but with obvious puppy-related customisations.
Get in touch if you have something ‘same-same but different’ you’d like to have built by the talented Joinery Team at Thor’s Hammer.
DESIGNER: David Scerri
BUILDER: Evan Humphreys
TIMBER SPECIES: Teak
DIMENSIONS: 1380 mm wide X 850 mm deep X 750 mm high
Photos by Rohan Thomson. Words by Ellie Keft & David Scerri.