Spring Fever- Pet Food Storage

So I took myself to that big pet supply chain to see how much it would be for a practical pet food container...What? $15?! ( The "good" ones were almost $40!) For what? A big piece of plastic that's what. It was also ugly, flimsy and the lid was so thin I thought for sure I or my son would snap it as soon as we handled it. You see, I like to have the dog food in containers that are not breakable but are airtight so that the food stays fresh and pesky critters (ants!) stay away. Being that Spring has Sprung and that's when our pest season begins, I knew I had to jump on this issue and f-a-s-t !!! Feeding our K9's is my eldest boy's responsibility and while he does the "job", he is rather messy about it. Kibble scatters more often then not and being that we keep the dog food in the laundry room /service porch area, it's not uncommon for me to step on loose kibble, find it under the machines, and worse! Find it in the clothes as I'm sorting them out. Yuck! So you can now see that the need for a storage unit was sorely needed. The last one I had was tossed last summer because someone dropped water into the bin and put the lid on. Hmm, can you say warm/humid days, dog food, closed lid= moldy, smelly food that no dog would touch with a 10 foot bone!
But herein lies the problem. I need the storage container, however, I don't want to spend any cash on something I know I wouldn't be happy with.


So, what to do? What to do?

Thinking...Thinking...

Before:

It's an empty HEAVY DUTY plastic detergent bucket! I gave it a good wash out and dry off. I then grabbed some sandpaper from Hubbs workbench (180 grit?) and gave the bucket a good and heavy sanding on all sides to give it some "tooth". I then printed out pictures of my furry babies, some quotes about dogs, grabbed the mod podge and a brush and went to work.

After:
This was the first side I did. It's too uniform for me but it was all ready on so I decided that the other sides would get a much "free-er" appearance.

I just need to buy some vinyl "paw print & bone" stickers, clean it up a bit and then give it a nice coat of sealer and BAM! I got myself a pet storage container that is "air tight", "heavy duty" and best of all? IT WAS FREE!!!

(I lined the inside with a plastic bag, poured in the dog food and use an old veggie can as my scoop.)