Cat furniture can be great for your home, especially if you have multiple cats... unfortunately, many people don't buy it because of the cost associated with it. While it is wonderful to have a place for your cats to play, perch, and claw without worrying about them destroying some of your prized possessions, many people simply can't afford to spend $100 or more on an area for their cats to play. Luckily, cat furniture of similar quality can often be made for a fraction of the cost; the furniture can even be made out of spare lumber and materials that you might have lying around the shop or garage.
In order to make cat furniture of your own, you're going to need some basic tools such as a hammer and nails as well as lumber of the appropriate size and shape, with enough carpet to cover all of the wood and a little bit of natural rope (not nylon) to make scratching posts out of vertical pieces. Ideally, you'll be able to make at least a few platforms for the cat or cats to perch on as well as a central vertical column and perhaps even a few places to attach some cat toys.
When you're ready to start on your cat furniture, you should do the following:
- Begin laying out the various pieces of wood, so that you can tell what sort of shape your finished piece will take. You need to have at least one large piece for the central column, a large flat piece for the base, and several smaller pieces to make platforms and supports out of.
- Assemble the supports for your platforms by taking smaller pieces of wood and nailing them together in a "T" shape. The pieces should create a "T" that is as wide as your column at the top and that has a tail that is long enough to go at least halfway down your platform. Each piece should be at least 1" thick.
- When all of the supports are ready, begin attaching them to your platforms. Nail through the platform and into the support, using at least 2 or 3 nails so as to make sure that the support is well attached.
- Go ahead and attach carpet to all of your platforms, using glue and finishing nails. Though you still need to attach the support to the central column and attach any secondary columns that you plan on using, this can be done through the carpet provided you drive the nail all the way through.
- Take your larger panel and attach it to the central column board, nailing through the bottom of the panel. Go ahead and begin applying carpet to this piece as well. Wrap the lower portion of the column in rope, using nails and glue to attach it.
- Nailing through the carpet, attach your platform supports to the central column, making sure that you use 2 or 3 nails on both sides of the support. If you have enough lumber, you should also make secondary columns at this point by cutting the boards to the appropriate height, attaching smaller panels to the bottoms as "feet", covering them with carpet and/or rope, and nailing through the platforms to give them additional support.
- Once you've completed your main piece, you might also want to take a few moments to attach additional pieces of rope to the bottom of 1 or 2 platforms and then tie various cat toys to them. This will give your cats an additional way to enjoy the furniture that you've built for them.
