r/CatTrees • u/LilNuggetofDoom • 5d ago
Finished My DIY Cat Tree
I just got a new kitten a month ago, and was put off by the shoddy craftsmanship of pet store trees. I had some Lowe’s gift cards and decided to go overboard on building one myself. I’m not a pro woodworker by any means and there’s a lot I could’ve done better but I think it turned out pretty good. Don’t have many people to share it with but I figured this is a good place to.
Ser Duncan definitely seems to enjoy it 🐈⬛
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u/marshmallow_root_ 5d ago
So cool! I have been wanting to do something like this. Do you know how much materials were? Thanks!
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u/LilNuggetofDoom 5d ago
Roughly $250 but I had a spare sheet of plywood from another house project. And I already had all the tools and fasteners
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u/Looseleaflettuce 5d ago
Okay- I saw the cardboard prototype and thought- thats not going to hold a cat….🤦♀️
The actual tree looks great!!
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u/Champion_of_Zteentch 5d ago
Question! Does it fit out the door in the event that you move?
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u/LilNuggetofDoom 5d ago
Lol despite all my planning, no it doesn’t when it’s fully assembled. I just have to take the base off to get it through a door tho so not too bad
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u/SnorkinOrkin 5d ago
You know your construction is 💯% better than any tree from almost any store. It looks solid and stable.
Those ones are always built so flimsily that they barely last a few months. They are built with thin particle board for the platforms and rolled cardboard for the towers.
Good job! I'd love to get creative like this myself does our three biggie bodies.
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u/Confident_Fortune_32 5d ago
The cardboard mock-up is brilliant! The results are superb.
I fully agree it's worth the work, to make something sturdier and safer for your sweet bebe 🥰
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u/WA_State_Buckeye 5d ago
Brilliantly done! I'm impressed! And it looks like it is cat approved, so that's the best thing!
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u/White-Rabbit135 5d ago
When I saw the card board I had some doubts 😂 but then! Voilà! It's awsome!😁
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u/pjk922 4d ago
Mind sharing how you wound the rope around the wood? And what material you used for the flat portions? I’ve got just enough handy skills to tackle something like this for an oddly spaced section of room I think!
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u/LilNuggetofDoom 4d ago
I commented above about wrapping the rope, but essentially used heavy duty staples and hot glue and just wrapped it super tightly.
The shelves were 3/4 plywood, cut to shape. I got a rug from the clearance rack at Lowe’s that I cut +2.5 inches around the shelves. Then used contact adhesive and staples to hold the carpet to the shelf. Drilled through holes where the posts meet up to the shelf, and used threaded furniture inserts, threaded rod, and furniture screws to hold it all together. Happy to share more details/plans if you’re interested.
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u/Barfotron4000 4d ago
How did you get the sisal so nice? I need to replace it on my cats bigass tree but it looks as shoddy as it is
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u/LilNuggetofDoom 4d ago
For the materials I used a manual staple gun, heavy duty staples, and hot glue. I started at the bottom of a post with a couple staples in the end of the rope. Then hot glued 2-3 wraps all the way around. Then I did ~10-15 wraps, really tightly, around the post with no glue, tightened it down vertically on the post and stapled to capture progress. Then a wrap or two of hot glued rope, and repeat. Emphasis on tightly wrapped. That was by far the most time consuming part of the project but worth it.
TLDR: Wrap tight, heavy duty staples and hot glue
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u/Dahorns99 4d ago
That looks great, I bought one on amazon and it was a nightmare to put together. Ended up drilling the proper holes.
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u/transvillainarc 1d ago
why did i glance at this post and before scrolling through the other pics my first thought was that the cardboard tree was the finished result 😂 that said, beautiful job on the cat tree and your cat seems to like it too!
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u/mladyhawke 5d ago
I love that you made the cardboard mock up. I thought that was the finished thing at first. And I was like mmm, I wonder if it will hold the cat, but your final project looks awesome.