Puppy in the family? Senior dog? Or just need help keeping things generally dog-friendly around the house? We know the feeling. To make our home more pet-friendly and comfortable, especially for senior Oli, we’ve made DIY dog bed protectors and DIY furniture protector pads for the dogs’ favourite nesting places. It’s easy (and inexpensive) to convert readily available waterproof materials, like mattress protectors, into custom sized and shaped furniture toppers or dog bed protectors. They’re water and pee resistant, washable, comfortable, and affordable, too! Here are three different DIY waterproof furniture pad methods that we used to make our home more senior dog friendly.
Making Our Home More Senior Dog Friendly
Senior dog Oli’s increasing issues with bladder leakage have led to us upping our game on making his favourite places around the house more pee-tolerant. We want him to continue to enjoy his golden years (pun totally intended…hehe…) in comfort. I spent so much time looking for suitable bed sheets and protectors that Facebook and Google started serving me ads for incontinence products. There are some great products out there, but I couldn’t find the sizes or shapes we wanted to suit Oli and his nesting places. I decided to make our own customised protectors instead by adapting ready-made products into a perfectly sized (and styled) DIY sofa protector and DIY dog bed protectors.
For those of you who might not need quite so much protection, basic blankets are amazing for helping to keep any pet-friendly home both clean and cosy. We love easy clean, machine washable, and quick dry blankets, like the homemade fleece dog blankets that Humphrey is lounging in below. They help keep everyday light messes off of the harder to clean beds and furniture. They also pair well with the extra protectors we’ve added for Oli for layers of comfortable and easy to clean pee protection. Pawfect!
Sourcing Materials for Upcycling into Protectors
Sourcing Supplies to Make Protective Toppers and Pads
The furniture pads and bed toppers in this post were all made by hacking mattress protectors. The sofa cover and two dog bed toppers were made from one quilted protector. The four back-up foam protectors were made from one laminated protector. Bargain! To keep the material costs down, you can shop for clearance items or super sales to buy quality supplies at low prices. All seven of these custom protectors were made for less than NZ$40 total in materials. That’s less than the cost of a single ready-made pet bed protector or sofa pad. You could also repurpose an old mattress cover or one that doesn’t fit your current beds to make a DIY dog bed protector for almost no-cost.
Checking Materials for Waterproofing and Water-Resistance
Not sure about your supplies? Have an old mattress protector or bed cover that needs a quality control check on waterproofing? Whether it’s for protectors, bed covers, blankets, jackets, or any number of projects, it can sometimes be helpful to test the water performance of materials. You can also test pre-loved items to see if they’re still performing as expected.
To do a a quick and easy check, layer the material over an absorbent material that readily shows a colour change if wet. A coloured tea towel or dish towel works well for the absorbent material. I apply water on my waterproof material, and then do an initial check for surface resistance (beading, run-off) and immediate wick through (if the cloth underneath is wet). If that passes, I do a press test and rub test to see if the material is genuinely waterproof or will seep through with prolonged exposure or applied pressure.
Water Check Test Performance for Different Materials:
- Waterproof – Truly waterproof materials won’t let any moisture through. They hold the water out no matter how long it sits, or if it is loaded under pressure or rubbed.
- Water-resistant – Resistant materials do a good job at holding water on the surface, but can’t handle prolonged exposure and/or pressure. Water will pass a pour test, bead and roll, but will eventually seep through, especially if rubbed or pressed.
- Partially water-resistant – Others may have partial water-resistance. Small quantities will bead, but volume will soak through and/or the beads will absorb with rubbing or pressure. Many polar fleeces are good examples of this partial resistance. Thin microfleece will soak straight through immediately (it’s a great stay-dry inner for diapers) but the thicker and tighter the weave, the more resistant it becomes. Some fleeces are admirably water resistant bordering on waterproof.
Checking Materials for an Absorbent Layer
Some items have an absorbent layer over a waterproof layer to help contain messes. If you are checking the performance of an absorbent layer, absorption speed, spread, held volume, and/or hold (if water squeezes back to the surface under pressure) may also be beneficial.
Custom Sized Waterproof DIY Furniture Protector Pads
Senior Dog Sofa Snuggles and Struggles
The living room sofa is one of Oli’s favourite places to nest. It’s beautiful and comfortable, but the type of leather finish is not very pet-friendly. It was always covered with layers of old dog blankets for protection from scratches, drool, pee, and such.
The DIY sofa protector pad was easy to make and is a perfect custom fit. I also made a custom blanket to sit over the top in a nice shade of grey that suits the sofa. It has ever so slightly bigger dimensions so I can tuck the edges into the sofa to hold everything neatly in place. Protected, comfortable, and much more presentable than the previous mound of blankets. Dog mad, but presentable. Haha!
DIY Furniture Protector Pad Supplies and Materials
To make a similar pad, you will need a mattress protector of suitable size, binding or material to make binding, suitable thread in a coordinating colour, cutting tools, and a sewing machine. A walking foot would be helpful, if you have one. Everything can be measured and cut with scissors, but a rotary cutter, mat, and straight edges are handy. An iron and ironing board (with pressing cloth if needed) are also recommended, if your fabrics allow. Fusible tape can also be used if you need a little help with the binding.
- Mattress protector (for repurposing materials)
- Double-fold binding (or material to make binding)
- Straight edge (either as a cutting guide or to mark a guide line)
- Square object (optional to assist with checking corners)
- Measuring tape (optional)
- Complimentary coloured thread
- Sewing machine and general cutting / sewing supplies
- Iron and ironing board
Sewing the DIY Furniture Protector Pad
The steps below, other than prepping the layers before binding, are exactly the same as binding a blanket. Once you get comfortable with using binding, the process is easily applied to all sorts of sewing projects. See our DIY dog blanket binding for additional photos of applying binding, turning corners during binding attachment, etc. if you need some extra visuals. Or cute dog blankies.
Preparing the materials:
- Prepare (or purchase) double-fold binding. I made my own custom binding tape. It’s the same quick dry binding material as I used on the dogs new bound fleece and layered dog blankets.
- Prepare mattress protector material by removing the fitted edges. You can salvage the edge materials and/or elastics for other crafts.
- Optional: Ironing is difficult with these materials, but it is helpful to ensure the material is as smooth as possible. Pre-washing/drying, hand smoothing, or low-temp ironing on the fabric side (with a pressing cloth over/under if needed) can help if time and materials allow.
- Cut the mattress protector material to required size. Ensure the cut edges are straight and corners squared. Pin if/as needed to hold.
Optional but recommended extra prep: Sew a narrow hem around the edges, within the area that will be covered by the binding. This helps hold things together while your apply the binding. Although the edges are sewn together during binding, it’s easier to neatly sew the binding into place if the squishy layered materials are pre-sewn together first. Then you can trim the edges straight if/as may be needed and proceed to apply the binding. The narrow hem will be hidden under the binding, so feel free to use up odd colours of thread if you wish.
Binding the furniture protector pad:
When machine sewing binding, everyone likes to do things a little differently. Most methods work similarly if you’re careful with positioning and sewing. Do what works for you. It often depends on the materials, project, and person. My sewing skills are tidier on the top! You can read more about making and using binding in our reference post and extra resources are available on our pet craft help Pinterest board. As noted in reference post, I usually sew and trim the tails (So Sew Easy has a great visual on this method). For straight binding, I sometimes cheat and use a little bit of fusible tape to help secure my outer strip at the joint.
- Select a starting point on the edge of the protector pad, ensuring it’s far enough away from the corner not to interfere with turning the binding (at least two full unfolded widths at minimum).
- Unfold the end of the binding and position it at the starting point, right sides facing, so that one raw edge aligned with the raw edge of the prepared fleece. Depending on your preferred method of joining the ends of the binding when they meet, leave sufficient excess.
- Sew the binding into place along the first fold line, taking care whilst turning corners. You can find detailed instructions and photos for sewing binding on corners in our introduction to binding and our bound dog blanket DIYs.
- When you’ve sewn around the protector back to the starting point, join ends with your preferred method as noted above. Trim threads.
- Turn the protector over, wrap the binding over the edge and position for second sewing using your chosen binding attachment method.
- Carefully narrow topstitch (or other sewing technique, if/as you prefer) the binding into place, taking extra care to ensure the corners are neatly folded on both sides. As I reach a corner, I like to remove my item from the machine, ensure the corner is folded as neatly as possible (checking both sides) before sewing the turn and continuing.
- Trim threads if/as needed.
A little extra tidy up…
Because this cover will be taking a lot of wear under paws, bodies, and bums, I went back and double edged the binding with two stitch lines, as shown in the photo below. I thought my topstitching wasn’t tight enough to the edge. I was feeling bold and did a very narrow edge stitch after practising my binding on several projects and it came out great! Practice makes better, but not yet perfect.
Custom Sized Waterproof DIY Dog Bed Protector Pads
Our recently upcycled matelasse dog bed covers for the office dog beds look great and don’t slip and slide like some waterproof fabrics. The boys love snoozing together while we work. They’re actually on the beds together behind me right now! For protection, I made two custom sized DIY dog bed protector pads using the same technique as the sofa protector above (and material from the same hacked bed protector).
The only DIY difference, other than size, is that for the bed protector pads I also cut material from a microfiber sheet and used it to top the toppers. It’s simply cut to the same dimensions, layered, and joined when the sides of the protector material are sewn before binding. Prettier, but not really necessary as there is always a blankie (or several) on the dog beds as well. Other than when they hopped on and then refused to budge when I was putting the pads into place. Haha! I think they approve of the upgrade! Look at cheeky Oli in the collage below, Humphrey in the background.
DIY No-Sew Dog Bed Protector Toppers
No Sew? No Problem!
If you don’t sew (or want an easy no-sew dog bed protector for back-up, like mine), thin laminated-style mattress protectors or incontinence sheets can be cut to fit without finishing the edges. The lamination keeps the edges from fraying. It’s a very easy option for making a DIY dog bed protector. The downside to these, as aptly demonstrated by Oli when he hopped onto the bed I was using to check size during cutting, is that they are much more likely to shift, bunch, or perhaps even tear than a padded topper. Oli also demonstrated why I need toppers by leaking some pee onto the topper. Not even finished and already on bed protection duty! See below for precautions for use and storage.
No-Sew DIY Dog Bed Protector Supplies and Materials
To make a similar no-sew DIY dog bed protector, you will need a basic laminated mattress protector of suitable size and cutting tools. Everything can be measured and cut with scissors, but a rotary cutter, mat, and straight edges are handy if you have them. An iron and ironing board (with pressing cloth if needed) are also recommended, if fabrics allow.
- Laminated mattress protector (for repurposing materials)
- Straight edge (either as a cutting guide or to mark a guide line)
- Square object (optional to assist with checking corners)
- Measuring tape (optional)
- Iron and ironing board (optional)
- Scissors or cutting tools
In choosing a single layered protector material, quality varies. Beware of significant crunching noises. Dogs (and people) may not like the sound. Toppers laminated with a thin absorbent top layer will helps protect what’s underneath and around the protector, not just have liquid pool or run off the edges. That’s why I hacked a protector instead of using PUL fabric.
Making the DIY Dog Bed Protector
- Prepare the mattress protector material by removing the fitted edges (save for other crafts).
- Optional: Ironing is difficult with these materials, but it is helpful to ensure the material is as smooth as possible. Pre-washing/drying, hand smoothing, or low-temp ironing on the fabric side (with a pressing cloth over/under if needed) can help if time and materials allow.
- Cut to required size. Ensure edges are straight and corners squared. Done!
Precautions for Use and Storage
If this type of simple no-sew DIY dog bed protector is used as a topper, they’re best paired with an easy wash blanket. The blanket will give extra stability and protection, as well as added comfort. If you have a fitted flat-topped dog bed bed cover like mine, they also work well when slid into potion sandwiched between the inner mattress and outer cover. They’re great as a back-up layer of protection for the foam if the cover is not waterproof or resistant or in case a supposedly waterproof fabric cover seeps. Sliding inside the cover is how I use ours.
It can be tricky to slide a protective layer into place inside a fitted dog bed cover. I find it easiest to work on the floor with the bed backed up against something to prevent it from sliding around. I hold the two corners of the protector that will be going to the inside/back, reach my arms inside, then slowly work everything into place and smooth it all flat.
Check the packaging for care instructions before purchase and use. The no-sew protectors can be washed and dried in the same way as their source. I like to machine wash cold and line dry. It’s also worthwhile noting that this type of material is often prone to winkling and creasing. The protectors are best stored rolled instead of folded if not in use.
