I quickly became tired of chasing Ryder away from all the junk useful and well-organized items under my desk.  So I decided to try to create a way to keep him out… I figured the ol’ “KEEP OUT” sign just wasn’t gonna cut it 🙂

So I found a inexpensive piece of fabric that sorta kinda goes with the room and went from this:

To this:

All I did was cut it to the proper height (it was already the perfect width) and sew a finished edge on three sides (the fourth side had a nice edge already, so I saved myself the effort).  Then I used some of the scraps to make some bias tape-type ties and sewed them to the corners.  But as soon as I tied it up, I thought “Hmmm… now, every time I have to get out some fabric or something, I’ll have to untie the whole thing.”  And that’s just way too much time and effort to be worth the venture… So I took it down and did this:

All I did was cut it up the middle, but not all the way through.  I used an overcast stitch to finish the edges without losing any width (although it looks like I lost width because I tied the corners tighter), and then attached four more ties.  Now I can just untie the middle and get out what I need without dismantling the whole thing.  It was a quick and dirty “function over form” kind of project, but so far it’s working much better than my TP cover 🙂

Speaking of my failed TP cover, I ran across this the other day, and think her idea is much more effective than mine… although, knowing Ryder, he’d probably still find a way to make a mess.  I’ll have to try it her way someday.