Kitty Furniture or Accessories Inspiration

XplosiV · **Joined:** Sat Sep 13, 2014 11:54 pm **Posts:** 181

I'm a curious chap these days, and that may or may not be a good thing. It's probably a great thing for the Foursome, but probably not so great for the bank balance.

Here's the thing, during some of my inspired web surfing, I've seen many a great idea for things that be purchasable by us hoomins for our beloved slave dri... er, kitties! As such, I often wonder if I could incorporated or adapt any of these ideas into our their home. So, I thought maybe we could all benefit from some kind of collective, post it if you think it's a cool kitty furnature, idea.

As some of you will have seen in the ongoing but badly in need of updating, awesome foursome gallery, me and my dad had made a bunch of shelves to go throughout our lounge/diner. Well, everyone has their way of doing things, and thatsall good. But some things have really stood out as being a cool purchase for our cats. Brians hicat, for one, the fast cat wheel for another. So what other really cool things are out there?

I did look into getting some thick nautical rope, to make a rope pole, near floor to ceiling, as Nyx loves to climb the outside of their cat tree, he's the smallest, lightest, and probably most agile of the foursome. The thickest rope I could find that I could also find brackets for, was 2.5". Not sure if that would do though. So, the idea evolved. Que the light bulb moment! How about a rope fender! The nautical kind. 2 feet long and eight inches wide. Short, but still, we could use a couple to link shelves in a different way, like vertically. Here's a pic of a nautical fender.

So what else is out there that could be a worth while investment?

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

A rope fender seems like it would be a great idea!

I saw a great suggestion of using bookcases picked up at yard sales or resale stores and cutting alternating holes in the shelves so the cats can climb through them. They can be secured to the wall so they don't tip over and you can put a bed at the top and some activity items on the way up.

I am going to order a One Fast Cat as soon as we can afford it, I think Diesel will love it and I think some of our other cats will use it too.

We're working out some shelves, platforms and corner shelves right now. We want to get our master bedroom and master bathroom "catified" first since that's where the kids like to spend most of their time. Our bathroom has 2 high platforms built in already so I was thinking of a sort of bridge between those something like they use here:
http://www.catsplay.com/cat-wall-mounte ... ised-ledge
http://www.catsplay.com/large_fabric_ra ... wall_shelf

Our biggest challenge is that Diesel doesn't have claws so anything I do I have to make sure he can either jump or pull himself up to the next level since he can't climb like the other cats.

brianj12 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 4:31 pm

I purchased a bunch of these:

http://www.crazycatcondos.com/wallclimbers.html

Which is now sitting out in my garage waiting to be installed. I also have a bunch of half-edited hicat video that I've been too busy to finish... but I will when things calm down a bit. I'll post pictures of the shelves when I get them up. They look really neat. I especially like the looks of the wall tubes/ wall crades. They are much bigger than you'd think looking at the pictures!

XplosiV · **Joined:** Sat Sep 13, 2014 11:54 pm **Posts:** 181

Donna I totally agree, I've seen those before and I love the idea big time! It's just a shame it's a USA delivery thing, as I'm sure they would do well in Europe or world wide. That and they are pricey.

Me and dad did have a plan to make a couple of rope ladders, luke in the first pic, but it turns out we don't really need them as our boys just jump (rather silently too at times) from shelf to shelf.

Brian, I've seen those too, they look great, but the price is shocking! $250 down to $195 for 2 shelves?! Our 13 shelves were made for approx $300 and most of that was the floating brackets.

Still, I've got a carpenter on the case for the cabinet now, so hopefully things will get rolling again and it won't be long before I can get some 'finished' pics up :biggrin:

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

Those look really neat Brian.

We have this shelf that Diesel loves. We had it in the living room by the TV and he would jump from the media cabinet onto the shelf but we just got a bigger TV and had to take the shelf down :rolleyes:

. We'll incorporate it somewhere else, just not sure where yet. We've got really high ceilings so we want to put lounging platforms up but we have to figure out the entrances and exits so there isn't any bickering when they're being used.

brianj12 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:55 pm

XplosiV wrote:

Brian, I've seen those too, they look great, but the price is shocking! $250 down to $195 for 2 shelves?! Our 13 shelves were made for approx $300 and most of that was the floating brackets.

Well, it's the old tradeoff between money and time, and skills come into play too. I put up some home-made shelves on the cheap on my bedroom, and that has served my cats really well, but it looks very "ghetto" and for my livingroom I definitely need something a lot better. Plus at my level of carpentry, making something "cool" like the shelf-tubes just wouldn't be possible. So yea it's not cheap, but getting something that looks really nice and is made really well is worth it to me in this case.

brianj12 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:58 pm

Donna741 wrote:

Those look really neat Brian.

We have this shelf that Diesel loves. We had it in the living room by the TV and he would jump from the media cabinet onto the shelf but we just got a bigger TV and had to take the shelf down :rolleyes:

. We'll incorporate it somewhere else, just not sure where yet. We've got really high ceilings so we want to put lounging platforms up but we have to figure out the entrances and exits so there isn't any bickering when they're being used.

Nice! I had my eye on those too, I think they are very attractive (aside from the truly horrible job someone did photoshopping that cat onto it :lol:

), and at one point I very nearly pulled the trigger on a couple of those. I think I still may have those in my amazon wish list in fact :lol:

In the end it was neck and neck as to whether I'd go with those or the ones I ended up getting...

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

We are very happy with that one. It's very sturdy (and heavy, wow) and the plush mats have magnetic backs to keep them on, which also makes them easy to take off and clean :wink:

. Even our fat 25lb. moggie got up on the shelf and took a snooze.

I think we're going to reuse it in our bedroom and I will probably get the matching one that steps up the other direction so we can put a platform and an 'exit' in between them.

CMYKjill · **Joined:** Tue Sep 23, 2014 6:38 pm **Posts:** 1838

One of my cats lays on top of my wall mounted center channel under the TV. I cringe when she does it, but she is so darn cute I let it go. I finally received my cat wheel last week but several of the parts were cracked and broken. The replacements are due today. I can't decide on the best place for the wheel but maybe in my bedroom would be a good place for it. They love that room because their favorite tower is in there.

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

Diesel keeps trying to figure out how to squeeze up onto our center channel speaker too but we've got it right up under the TV.

CMYKjill · **Joined:** Tue Sep 23, 2014 6:38 pm **Posts:** 1838

Donna741 wrote:

:lol: Diesel keeps trying to figure out how to squeeze up onto our center channel speaker too but we've got it right up under the TV.

It is too much to ask her not to sit on it. It's part of the playground now. They both stand in front of the sub and watch it vibrate through the grill. The cat under the TV is a statue.

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

That's too funny, yep it's part of the playground now. Anything to keep the kids entertained :wink:

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 8746

The way my living area is laid out, I have large windows and very little wall space to put anything, so Raiden has THREE cat trees of various heights. He loves to jump on the back of the couch and chairs. He has the Fast Cat Wheel which is hops on by himself at least twice a day. He does like to climb up on the shelving in the bonus room. Outside of that, he's stuck! I'd love to put shelves up on the walls, but my walls may be 3' wide. My windows are practically floor to ceiling and I have doors to closets, bedrooms, and outdoors! I live in the choppiest house ever!

brianj12 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:15 am

CMYKjill wrote:

Donna741 wrote:

:lol: Diesel keeps trying to figure out how to squeeze up onto our center channel speaker too but we've got it right up under the TV.

It is too much to ask her not to sit on it. It's part of the playground now. They both stand in front of the sub and watch it vibrate through the grill. The cat under the TV is a statue.

Oh man, I can tell you that for Serafina (I'm starting to see things through her eyes now :lol:

), she'd be jumping on top of that tv all the time, trying to "tightrope" across it, and even trying to perch on it. That bottom shelf/speaker would have no appeal... too easy!

XplosiV · **Joined:** Sat Sep 13, 2014 11:54 pm **Posts:** 181

Just been having a good look at woodenart. They do some great stuff, and it's mostly fairly affordable too! I'm not sure it'll be of much use to board members across the pond, but for any UK members it might be worth a look if you intend to get a cat house/den for your garden.

Reason I've been looking is we have had the idea if making an enclosure for our boys. The trouble is, finding somewhere that either has wooden framed, mesh panels, ready made, or made to size. This place apparently does both, without the extortion.

I've worked out the costing for the 180m of 2 x 1 alone, to make the frames and doors, and that's already double the price of what I can buy a ready made panel for, including bells & whistles. And that was a cheap supplier of European oak, never mind the more expensive ones. This place could easily burn a hole in my pocket, I might need restraining! So, does anyone have any experience with them? Any thoughts? They seem genuine enough.

Kitty Furniture or Accessories Inspiration

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