Corner Cabinet to Cat Condo

6 Materials

$54

4 Hours

Medium

Just in case you don't follow me on Instagram (you really should, lol...ddcamp170), we took over Hometalk's Insta Stories yesterday with this fun project. If you hurry you can watch the whole story on Hometalk's Instagram before it expires this afternoon.

I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the low quality pictures in this post. I've discovered that it is very hard to Instagram a project on two accounts while all along trying to snap pictures and participate in the said project all at one time! Whew, its hard work yall!

Anyway, we started out with this old corner cabinet that we got several years ago. Prior to yesterday I had removed the doors and primed the whole entire cabinet, then it just sat in the shop forever and collected dust. I dusted it off then wiped it down with a damp cloth to make sure it was good and clean for its transformation.

We wanted to have a scratching/climbing pole on either side and also carpet the shelves for more comfort, so we purchased a remnant piece of carpet (6 x 12) and padding (4 x 3). Total cost was $54. We have lots of carpet left over to use on other projects if we need to. We got these at Lowe's.

For the climbing poles on each side, we used a 2 x 4 cut to fit the front of the cabinet and then we cut the top edges at a 45 degree angle for a smoother transition and a bit of interest.

We left just enough room for the carpet to fill in the gap.

Next, we covered each 2 x 4 with carpet. We marked center with a pencil so we could make sure to line it up perfectly when adding the Liquid Nails that we adhered the carpet with. We used a putty knife to apply the Liquid Nails over the board.

After applying a generous amount of liquid nails to just the front and sides (not the back), fold the carpet around the 2 x 4 and staple it down using a staple gun. Pull the carpet as tight as you can when stapling.

Attach the carpet covered 2 x 4s to the cabinet with long wood screws. We used three on each side. It helps if you pre-drill your holes before you add the screws.

Now for the paint. I just used some paint I had in our stash. The gray color is called Thin Ice from Home Depot and the blue is the same chalk paint I used on my bedside table HERE. I only used one coat of chalk paint because I liked the look it gave with a bit of the gray showing through. Also, I was a bit messy doing this because I knew we would cover all my booboos with carpet next.

We used a piece of the padding to make ourselves a template and then cut the padding and carpet for each of the four shelves and the top. Your padding pieces will be more of an exact fit, but be sure to cut you carpet longer so you will be able to wrap around the front shelf edge.

Visit our blog for the steps we took to cover the shelves with padding and carpet.

Next we brought the condo inside the house and attached it to the wall with some long lag screws. We wanted to ensure that the cats would be safe and not topple over or be in danger of this large shelf falling on them.

So far out of three cats, only Hazel has been brave enough to check it. Since then, no one has played on it. I think maybe it has to do with the paint and new carpet smells, but I'm not sure. Maybe they'll come around soon.....I hope!

Thanks for looking!

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Old Corner Cabinet (Thrift shop)
2 x 4 Wood (Stash/Lowe's)
Carpet/padding (Lowe's)
Liquid Nails (Lowe's)
Staple gun (Stash)
Long Screws (Lowe's)

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#pets #homedecor #furniture #repurpose

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3 of 5 questions

Kelly hartill on Oct 23, 2017

Why don't u sprinkle some cat nip on each shelf? It helps my babies when they r unsure of a new gift.

2
Peggylu42 on Oct 23, 2017

Have you tried catnip on it, just rub it all over the carpet , they will come.

1
Nancy Hurst on Nov 04, 2017

good job. I love the idea. Have you tried putting some catnip to entice the cats on it?

1

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4 of 85 comments

Ann K. McDowell on Nov 15, 2017

Not catnip but what about something else with either your or the cats smell on it. A box or two might help too.

1 Reply
- DeeDee on Nov 15, 2017
  Hi Ann! After a few days the new smells went away and they happily play on it daily now. Thanks for the suggestions though!
  
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Liz A13 on Dec 16, 2017

I might have drilled some large holes in the shelves for them to climb through to get to the next level-the holes could be offset from one shelf to the next.

1 Reply
- DeeDee on Dec 17, 2017
  HI Liz! Its a great idea and we even thought of doing that, but the shelves aren't very big to start with, so we decided against it. They love it now! They are always playing on it and even sleep on it too. :)
  
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Corner Cabinet to Cat Condo

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