Slobbery chew toys, ripped bathtowels, fur — the dog’s special corner can be the last frontier when it comes to home decorating.

A Somerset woman is now offering a way to glamorise even Fido’s grimy space with trendy, handmade dog beds.

Michelle Mayho refurbishes old furniture and sells it over the internet. In January, she was working on a corner table when she had an epiphany.

“I suddenly thought, this would make a good dog bed,” said Ms Mayho, who has two chihuahuas of her own, Keegan and Zoey.

She pulled the table apart and rejigged it to be a dog bed with feet and a cushion.

When she put it on emoo.bm it sold in a flash.

“Then I thought, hmmm I’ve got something here,” she said.

She set up a Facebook page and started calling her dog beds Ffunky Pet Beds.

“The response from people was fantastic,” she said. “I have now sold about 15 of them for about $125 to $200.”

The beds come in a number of styles. Some are boxy with a cushion.

One is a regular dining room chair, with about two inches of leg to make it easier for little dogs to hop up.

At first, her beds were aimed at little dogs, but she soon began to hear from owners of large dogs.

“I couldn’t very well make a bed for them out of wood,” she said.

“It would be too large and too expensive.”

She created another type of dog bed — a large, round cushion with a draw string to control the size.

When the string is drawn tight, it is a cosy snuggle area for a small dog; let the string out and it becomes a large cushion for a bigger dog. Each piece is unique and takes a lot of labour, love and time.

“You have to cut the wood out,” she said. “You have to sand it, put several layers of paint on and then put the fine details on. The fine details take the longest. I also do the cushions and fabric for it, and put feet on.”

Before she sells her dog beds, they are product-tested by experts Keegan and Zoey.

“I put the bed on the floor, and just leave it to see if they go into it,” she said. “When they are nice and comfortable, I know it is ready to go. They are my guinea pigs.”

From the dog beds, evolved doll beds.

“I made a really cute dog bed with four posters,” she said. “I thought hey, that would make a cute doll bed. I have ideas all the time. Sometimes I even have ideas in my sleep. A lady bought it from me who gave it to her little girl for her birthday. I got carried away and made blankets and pillows for it.”

Her style tends to veer towards the distressed shabby chic look.

“I like to do things in black and white or in an animal print,” she said.

“No matter what your home decor, a piece that is black and white or zebra striped can really set things off. It can become a conversation piece. You could also do another solid colour and white. If you do red and white, you can have an Asian theme.”

Ms Mayho said some women buy make-up or jewellery; she buys power tools.

“My favourite tool is the jigsaw, because you can do so much with it,” she said.

Her father, Henry Mayho, was also an artist.

“As a child I did a lot of painting with him,” she said. “I was never allowed to touch the family power tools. When I grew up, I taught myself how to use them.”

She said it’s important to ask lots of questions if you want to learn how to do carpentry.

Unfortunately, when she asks questions in hardware stores she sometimes gets attitude from sexist sales representatives.

“You might see a bit of eye-rolling,” she said.

“So you find the people who are good, and you go to them with your questions.”

Carpentry is her passion.

“I only wish I could do this full-time,” said Ms Mayho, who day job as a sales representative at Bermuda General Agency keeps her busy.

“At the end of the day, I can’t wait to go home and get started on my projects.”

For more information, see www.facebook.com/FFunkypetbeds/info or e-mail Mayhomichel@yahoo.com.