Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Mourning pets who have passed away is a deeply personal experience. We were forced to say goodbye to our 10-year-old rescue pup back in 2020, our black cat in 2021, and both of our two older rescue cats last year. Point being, I’m, sadly, very familiar with the pain that comes from losing a beloved pet, and I still struggle with how to process the grief that comes from these devastating occasions.

Now that it has been about six months since our last pet loss, I feel like I’m ready to talk through a few ways that I have personally learned to manage my heartache. Of course, there’s really no true way to move on from the pain other than giving yourself time, but I think this list below can help ease your suffering just a little bit. At least I hope so. Keep scrolling for eight hopeful and encouraging ways to honor your beloved pet after they pass away.

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Ways To Honor Beloved Late PetsWays To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Ways To Honor And Remember Beloved Late Pets:

1. Keep dried flowers from sympathy bouquets: My sister has sent us sympathy bouquets after each of our losses these last few years, and I made sure to keep one flower from each arrangement to dry and display on our fireplace and bookshelves as a reminder of our late pets. This is a subtle thing that will probably only resonate with you and your family, but it’s one of my favorite ways to feel like our pets are still with us in a quiet way.

2. Put up their portraits throughout your home: If you’re open to a more expressive representation of your pet love, then go ahead and put up their photos and portraits! We have a compilation of black and white pet photos hanging in our hallway, and I also just recently placed our pet portrait paintings up along our family photo gallery wall. I love how this allows me to still see their happy little whiskered faces every day.

3. Create a photo album of sympathy cards sent to you: We also received a handful of thoughtful sympathy cards from loved ones after our pet losses. I cherish these cards so much because they show just how loved our pets were. The encouraging words in the cards help lift me up when my grief creeps back up unexpectedly.

4. Order a piece of personalized jewelry: I’m drawn to the idea of commemorating a pet with something a little more physical that you can wear daily. This shop on Etsy allows you to seal your pet’s fur into a permanent piece of jewelry, or, instead, you could order yourself a simple gold or silver jewelry item with your pet’s initial on it as a way to remember them.

5. Preserve their paw print: You’ll need to think of doing this ahead of time, but preserving your pet’s sweet little paw print is such a wonderful way to remind you of their unique size and characteristics. I did this before Tonks passed away, and now use it as an ornament at Christmas time. It makes us feel like she’s still celebrating the holidays with us.

6. Celebrate their birthday: Speaking of celebrations, I think it’s personally really cathartic to think and talk about our pets when their birthdays roll around on the calendar. It will absolutely feel sad the first few years you do this, but with time you’ll be able to smile about all of the memories you have with them in honor of their birthday.

7. Give to animals in need: I make a point to donate to animal shelters and other rescue animal organizations in honor of our pets who have passed away. Our vet makes a donation in our pets’ names every time we have to put one down, and this inspired me to do the same thing personally. It’s a good way to begin the healing process and to honor your pet’s legacy.

8. Adopt again! Of course, I can’t end this post without suggesting that you adopt again after a loss. If you’re in a position to do so, I think there is no better way to celebrate your late pet’s life then by providing a home to a new rescue animal in need. We adopted Marlo and Joe shortly after losing Tonks and Ginny last year, and I love to think that our old girls somehow “sent” the kittens to us with their passing knowing how much we needed their cuddles during a difficult time. It makes our losses feel more fated and meant to be this way.

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

I hope that list helps give you some things to think about as you work through your own pain after losing a pet. There’s no real way to avoid the suffering that comes from losing a loved one, whether they’re a pet or a person, but there are ways to work through that difficult time and to celebrate their lives from a happy place. If you have your own suggestions and words of encouragement, please leave them in the comments below so we can learn how to heal together. Camaraderie is one of the best ways to move forward, after all!

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

Ways To Honor Beloved Late Pets

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Reviewing Our New Burrow Bedroom Furniture

How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)

*This post was made possible by the generous support of Burrow, and features gifted product for testing purposes. All opinions are my own.

I’m back with my promised review of our new bedroom furniture from Burrow! Last week, I shared the full story of how we removed the old wallpaper in our main bedroom, plus how we repaired the damaged walls. You can click here if you want a breakdown of that project, but in that post I also shared a look at our new bedroom furniture. I didn’t go into detail about the pieces we chose for our space, so today’s the day that I plan to dive down deep into my thoughts on our new bed frame, dresser, and nightstands.

How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)

How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)

How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)

First of all, I should explain why we decided to swap out the furniture in the first place. To put it succinctly, our previous collection just wasn’t functioning for our evolving household any longer. Now that we have two growing kittens (one with mental impairments who’s not easy to train), the upholstered bed frame wasn’t cutting it. I kept catching the kittens clawing and gnawing on the fabric, and I was so worried they were going to ruin the upholstery permanently, so we ended up selling that bed frame while it was still in good shape. Luckily, we caught this pretty quickly, so no lasting damage was done, and I think the new owners of the bed are really excited to put it to good use. As for the old dresser and nightstands, they were all mismatched wood tones that ultimately competed in the small space. It was time for something new.

How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)

So, we chose a matching set of furniture, all done in a rich dark stain that, I think, really pops off nicely against our newly painted light off-white walls. We picked Burrow’s Heist 6 Drawer Dresser in “Walnut,” their king-sized “Walnut” Chorus Bed with wood headboard and tapered legs, and, finally, a pair of their “Walnut” Heist Nightstands. Everything shipped really quickly (it helps to pick pieces that are listed as in stock on their website if time is of the essence for you), and the pieces were pretty straightforward to unbox, too. Most of their packaging is cardboard, which I appreciated from a recycling standpoint.

How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)

Assembly was also really straightforward! I especially loved how easy it was to put the bed frame together. There were no hard-to-reach spots where bolts had to go in, plus no need for an Allen wrench. The Japanese-inspired joinery went together like a puzzle, and just made sense, which I can’t say about other non-Burrow furniture I’ve purchased and had to assemble in the past. This collection was all so intuitive, which I appreciated.

The only thing I struggled with, to be perfectly honest, was getting the dresser drawers in place on the glides. I’m sure a more patient person would have no problem, but I think I must have rushed the process, so it took me several tries to get the drawers aligned. I would suggest having a second person on hand to help you troubleshoot if needed (you probably won’t need to, though), and to pick a day when you don’t have a ton of other things going on. I was trying to assemble this piece in late afternoon right before I was supposed to be cooking dinner—it wasn’t a pretty sight! Don’t make my same mistake. Take your time, and have a buddy on hand for help. If you pre-plan better than I did, you probably won’t have any problems at all. It really was very easy to assemble.

How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)

As soon as I stepped back after making the bed and setting the last lamp on top of the nightstands (those come with drawers pre-assembled and in place, by the way!) I knew we had found the winning combination of furniture. The matching dark wood stain throughout the room gives the space a hotel vibe that I can’t get enough of, and everything is also really sturdy and high quality. We’ve had the furniture in place for a few weeks now, and we still absolutely love it. No complaints at all!

Let me know if you have any questions about these pieces in the comments so that you can shop with confidence. This was my first experience with Burrow, but it won’t be my last. If you’d like to see this set in another home with a different style from ours, check out Jessica Smith Home Design on Instagram. She has this collection, too, and I love how she’s styled it. What do you have your eye on from Burrow’s website?

How To Remove Stubborn Old Wallpaper (And How To Repair Your Walls Afterward!)

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