Building The Perfect DIY Pet Oasis For Our Cats

Building The Perfect DIY Pet Oasis For Our Cats

After recently adopting our two cats, Shrimp (aka the barn cat) and Grits (the orange tabby), we quickly realized that they needed a place of their own to play and relax. But design speaking, I’m not a big fan of the huge cat trees nor do we have the space in our home. Instead I decided to create a pet oasis for them that was extremely functional but also modern and stylish.

This is what our living room and wall looked like before:

{Photo by Laura Sumrak}

And here is the after:

For a cat play area that spans the entire wall, doesn’t it blend right in with our decor? The shelves are big enough for the cats but small enough that they’re not obtrusive. Painting the shelves the same color as the walls allow them to seamlessly fade into the background instead of sticking out like an eye sore.

The cats love to chase each other and climb to the highest possible place, especially Grits, so the project was definitely going to require some height. I also wanted to include carpet for scratching and a few toys to entice them to climb and play. After doing some research I decided on a collection of staggered, floating shelves with carpeting on top that blended right into the decor in our living room.

Building the shelf steps:

1. Measure and cut shelves to desired length using a miter saw (or have them cut in your local hardware store)
2. Lightly sand the shelves with fine grit sand paper
3. Measure and attach the brackets to the shelves in desired location using 3/4″ wood screws
4. Apply one coat of paint using a paint sprayer (or brush by hand) and allow to dry
5. Once paint is dry lightly sand the shelves and brackets again
6. Paint the raw edge of the shelves with a brush to fill in and even out the edge
7. Spray on second coat of paint and allow to dry
8. Cut out carpet tiles to the size of your shelves using a carpet knife
9. Apply Liquid Nail or other adhesive to the rubber side of the carpet piece
10. Place the shelf on top of the glue covered carpet, press down and allow to dry

Hanging the shelves:

1. Check for studs using a stud finder. If you can’t find a stud use plastic anchors for support
2. Hold the shelf against the wall and make sure it’s level
3. Mark the holes in the brackets with a pencil where the screws will go
4. Set the shelf aside and drill a hole into the pencil marks then insert the plastic anchors by tapping them in with a hammer
5. Hold the shelf against the wall and insert 1.5″ wood screws and tighten with your drill

Attaching the cat toys:

1. Spray paint the eye hooks the same color as the wall (I used my paint sprayer for this too)
2. Drill a hole slightly smaller than the eye hook
3. Screw the eye hook into the wall via a stud or using the same plastic anchors for support
4. Attach the cat toys to the hooks by tying them with clear fishing line

They also enjoyed playing with the Fresh Step’s Cat Charmer toy. It’s so much fun to watch them chase things and they love the strings and feathers. My son gets a kick out of taunting them too!

Apparently it’s the perfect place for bathing too! Play, sleep, bath. I think they’re going to get good use out of their new pet oasis!

I think Grits might be a little more excited about his new jungle gym than he is about my son showing him off for a picture. :)

We couldn’t be more happy that our furbabies have a fun and functional new place to play! But, I think it’s just as exciting for us to watch their curiosity and what they come up with! They are the funniest when they play together or chase each other up and down the steps!

We hope you enjoyed seeing Shrimp and Grits at play and this inspires you to think outside of the box and create your own pet oasis at home!

Feel free to leave any comments or questions about the project below!

Cheers!

{In partnership with Better Homes & Gardens and Fresh Step.}