A few months ago, I wrote a post about how to decorate stylishly while also recognizing the demands and needs of your pet overlords (or faithful best friends, if you have dogs instead of cats). In said post, I showed a photo of the tower we have for our cats, and explained that I thought it was among the more aesthetically-pleasing variations in the cat tower family:
That may be true, but my tolerance of said cat tower began to decline precipitously as we continued to work on the picture window side of the living room.
The opposite side of the living room looks like this, and has pretty much been constant since we first did our living room makeover in the fall (except for the side table, which was a relatively new acquisition from an awesome vintage store in Burlington, VT):
But meanwhile, the opposite side of the room, against the picture window, has been a continuous work in progress.
We started here:
But I knew that eventually I wanted to add seating over there so that the room didn’t feel so oriented around the sectional facing the TV. Then we scored The Chair and our new end tables, and brought in an old rocker we had, leaving us with this:
Things were starting to get crowded….
Then finally I found a replacement for the rocker at the Brimfield Antique Show, a mid-century lounge chair that I fixed up with new webbing and furniture polish last week. That left us with this:
Getting closer….
But the closer to “finished” that side of the room got, the more the cat tower drove me crazy. It’s hard to tell completely from these photos, but it really juts into the doorway to the hall, and makes everything feel more busy and crowded.
Fortunately, I had a plan. For the longest time, I’ve been dreaming of building something on the walls for the cats, like this:
Cat stairs from Bill and Maria at Uhuru Design, as photographed by Apartment Therapy
Or this:
From the Plus-Nyan house, a home in Japan designed with both cats and stylish interior design in mind.
So this past weekend, I finally did it. I built some cat shelves.
I thought long and hard about what I wanted them to look like and changed my mind a bunch, but ultimately I decided I wanted them to be relatively simple but also colorful.
First, I bought some simple wood boards at Home Depot — an 8′ length of 1″x6″ for most of the shelves, plus two 1″x12″x10″ oak pieces for two slightly larger shelves where I hope the cats will actually lay down. I also bought simple “L” bracket corner braces, two for each shelf (I was planning on six shelves, so 12 brackets total). Four of the brackets were larger, for the two bigger shelves.
Then I got to work. First, I cut four 11″ segments from the 8’x6″ board on my table saw. The 12″x10″ pieces were already cut.
I gave the corners a quick sanding to remove any roughness, then I stained the boards with a Minwax stain. I originally tried a lighter color (Golden Pecan):
But like with the colorful leaning mirror I built a few weeks ago, I didn’t like the lighter look so I did an additional coat in the much darker (and aptly named) “Dark Walnut” that I already had from a previous project. I guess I just don’t like Golden Pecan….
I let the stain sit for 15 minutes before wiping off excess, and let each side dry for four hours before flipping them over and doing the other side.
For the brackets, I decided I wanted to paint each set a different color, so I sifted through my collection of leftover spray paint and found some bright colors I liked. I knew I wanted a coral/pink in addition to what I found, so I also grabbed the leftover paint from my coral TV stand project. I set up all the brackets in pairs like so:
I gave them all a coat of primer intended for metal items, and then moved onto painting them. To avoid overspray that would get on nearby brackets, I constructed a simple shield out of cardboard that I put around each pair as I sprayed:
Within a few minutes, I had six sets of colorful brackets (the coral color I just painted on with a brush, since it wasn’t spray paint).
I also wanted the screws to match the bracket colors, so inspired by Naomi’s incredible door painting extravaganza, I grabbed a piece of cardboard and poked holes in it so that all the screws were sticking out with their heads exposed. I grouped them in sets according to which pair of brackets they went with.
Then I used the same cardboard shield to protect them while giving each set a coat of spray paint in the color corresponding to their bracket pair.
The hole-poking took a little while (I just used some scissors), but otherwise it was a very straightforward process.
Once the shelves and brackets had thoroughly dried, it was time to assemble! First I attached the brackets to the underside of each shelf with my drill and a screwdriver. I used one shelf as a flat surface to simulate the wall, to make sure the brackets were positioned so that the shelf would sit flush against the wall once mounted. I set each bracket 2″ in from the edge.
Next I carried them all upstairs to their new home. I moved the cat tower out of the way, and got to work. Murphy supervised skeptically from The Chair.
To mount them, first I determined how high I wanted the highest one to be and how low the lowest, and measured that distance (it ended up being 50″). Then I marked the midpoint of that, so that I would have three evenly spaced shelves — top, middle, and bottom. These would be my right-most shelves. Along the left edge of the wall, I then marked an offset of 12.5″ above and below the middle marking, so that along the left edge I would have two shelves evenly staggered from the right shelves. I had originally planned to do a third shelf on the left side too, but it would have been too high (the cats wouldn’t have been able to fit on it below the ceiling) so I just went with two.
I started mounting them with the lowest one first, holding it to the height mark I’d made and using my level to make sure it was straight.
I marked the holes in the brackets onto the wall with a pencil, drilled in these spots, and then attached the shelf using the colored screws corresponding to the bracket color.
I worked my way up the wall using this system, putting the deeper shelves along the right side so they wouldn’t jut out into the door way as much.
Then I stepped back and admired my handiwork.
From an aesthetic perspective, I love them — they’re so much less bulky than the cat tower, and I think work perfectly in the space.
Functionally, I’m not sure yet. We’ll see if the cats take to them. (UPDATE: The cats have *not* taken to them — see my full post on how bratty they’re being about their lovely shelves. UPDATE UPDATE: I gave up and took them down — the cats just weren’t digging them. Oh well, live and learn!)
Here is Murphy being posed on them:
And leaving immediately.
He’s also doing a lot of this:
“What the frak, Mom?” (Murphy is a Battlestar Gallactica fan, obviously)
I think it will take a bit for them to explore this new space, but I’m hopeful. Murphy, at least, is a pretty adventurous and acrobatic cat. I may end up putting some dark carpet remnants on each one to give them some traction (and some softness for lounging), so I’ll keep you posted. But for now, at least I’m loving how they look! That’s what’s important, right?
(Sharing at Weekend Re-Treat Link Party, Two Uses Tuesday, Tip Me Tuesday, One Project at a Time, Thrifty Decor Chick, Remodelaholic, and Link Party Palooza)
I was really rooting for you to do the Plus-Nyan around-the-house catwalks, but I suppose this was a little more reasonable. WTG drawing inspiration from these elaborate designs.
I think Sam was rooting for that too….
I love this idea, and I know our cats would too! My favorite part is that the brackets are painted fun colors. Pinned 🙂
Thanks Katie! I decided I couldn’t pick just one color 🙂
I actually did something very similar about a year ago. However instead of painting the brackets a color, I painted the brackets the same color as the wall and painted the edges of the shelves a color. I used red, blue, and green but I didn’t make the paint completely solid. When brushing it on I allowed some of the strokes to be thinner so the white of the board shows through. They look great and I just knew my 2 cats were going to love it. I placed it on a wall that they could use to actually move between downstairs and upstairs. However, as much as I love them, the cats don’t… They won’t use them. I may be because I used a 1″ x 4″ board and it isn’t wide enough. I have 6 shelves at 12″ long and in the center 1 that is 24″ long. They are spaced in such a way that are easy to get from one to another, but no deal. Guess I’ll have to get some wider boards and see if that makes a difference!
Those sound so cool! I’m still waiting to see how they take to them, but yesterday my husband sent me a photo of one of the cats napping on the top shelf (I’m out of town briefly) so that seems like a promising sign….
Great project! Can’t wait to make my own for my kitty. I think she’ll love it! Can you shared the colors u used for the brackets AND your front door!!! I love that color!! Thank you so much!
Keep up the great work!
Put something on the shelves they can knock down – you won’t be able to keep them off
oh man i hope this works out for you. so my sunroom has 3 tv trays open at all time b/c they’re the perfect height for cat lounging and looking out the windows. aesthetically i don’t love them, but they could be worse. plus if my darlings are happy, then i’m happy. hope yours take to their new improved space!
b
Hahaha, thanks! TV trays is pretty clever, actually! Not too huge, and easy to put away if needed!
I use kitchen trays, small cabinets, boards & unusual stuff as cat perches successfully. In 1 room I’ve gone all round all 4 walls: 1st wall- small stool, next to a 10″ w x 6 ft long carpet covered board screwed into studs vertically up/down) for climbing. That gets my guys up to their 1st perch, an oval kitchen tray with 1″ lip, attached to two L brackets. Over 5″ and 8″ higher up is a resin tray attached to L brackets. Next is a board with an S shaped cardbd scratcher screwed firmly onto it. This leads to a 10″ wide board over a closet door. From there a wood perch fills the corner leading downward on wall #2 to a tall storage unit with a basket screwed to it (naps!). Next is a 10″ wide x 18″ long board (perch) that’s screwed on top of a narrow 3-shelf cabinet (for art supplies). Going downward a step, kitty lands on a 4 ft long x 10″ wide white shelf; then steps down onto another perch, then to an 18″ l x 10″ w board. That leads to a 4-shelf, open back, nicknack holder I found at a resale shop. After wrapping sisal around the ‘ladder rungs (shelves)’ the piece was attached to the wall on a slight downward angle . They have fun walking on sisal ladder rungs! That leads to a 10″ long wooden open box screwed into the corner of the 2nd & 3rd wall. From there a 10 ft long x 10″ wide board spans a window. A basket for naps is screwed onto the board too. Next I used a tall cat tree in the corner for enter/exiting, That gets the cats to the 4th wall where another resale store goodie is screwed into studs… & on we go all around the room. There are 2 enter/exit spots. I’m a 70 yr old lady, never had cats until 6 mos ago. These 3 kitties LOVE racing, chasing each other and napping on these wild and crazy perches & boards.
Wow, that sounds amazing, and so creative!
I love this and am hoping Murphy will too…eventually. We created a similar project for our four cats. We call it the “wall of fun”. We have a front porch (it is not an outdoor porch though) and we added the boards to two walls. There is one that actually goes around the corner. Some are shorter and some are longer for lounging. Two of the four love it and use it often. The other two….not so much. They like to be at the very top. We did add carpet tiles and I think that helped a lot. So nice to see that others create cat friendly homes as well. Thanks for sharing!
That sounds awesome, I’ve been wishing I had a full wall (and even a corner) to play with. Very cool! And it sounds like the carpet tiles are the way to go — I’ll definitely be giving that a try. Thanks Michelle!
love these ideas!
Thanks Lana!
I hope he enjoys these. I’ve debated on doing something like this near our kitchen cabinets so the cats can climb up the shelves to get on top of the cabinets instead of on my counters.
did you screw the shelves into just the drywall or did you make sure they hit the stud?
So far one cat (Murphy) has been enjoying them, but mostly he just jumps straight up the top shelf and doesn’t bother with the ones below.
I screwed them straight into the drywall — I would have preferred to get a stud, but it just wasn’t possible with the narrow section of wall that I had to work with and how precisely I wanted to place the shelves. But they’re holding up well, and each one has two brackets with two screws per bracket.
Love the decor, your cats must like their new shelves.
Thanks! So far one cat likes the shelves and the other does not, so it’s a 50% success rate… 🙂
I wonder if you made them wider that would have worked? Perhaps you can still use the brackets and just widen the wood? He looks cramped just standing and I would guess the ideal way for them to use these would be to snooze and curl up. Just a thought! 🙂
Thanks Miranda. I couldn’t go any wider because they would have jutted out into the doorway too much, but I don’t think that was the issue because the cats sleep on more narrow windowsills in our house all the time. I think they were too close together and hard to get from one to the next, which unfortunately was just what the dimensions of that space required. Oh well, lesson learned!
Your cats probably aren’t using them because they can’t lounge in the sun and look out the window.
Definitely a possibility, though I find them sleeping all sorts of much stranger places!
Another idea would be velcro. Buy patches of various cat friendly material that can be taken up and machine washed, and then Velcro’d back on. Won’t change the project, just give warmth and footing in case of slippage!
It may be they don’t use them because there is no exit except the way they came up. If there was a way to go up and another way to go down they may be more inclined to use them. Cats are always looking for an exit strategy. Also if there was a piece of carpet on the shelves, they would feel more like a cat tree and the cats would have a little more grip. Also is there a reason for them to go up there (e.g. can they look out a window or is there sunlight they can lay in) They usually have a reason to travel up there.