After moving to our house in April, we noticed that all the neighborhood cats had one thing in common: they liked to use the dirt-filled area next to our front door as a litter box. Fixing this was high on the priority list, and last weekend, we found a green—and cheap—way to do just that. Want to see how it looks now?
A family member offered us 30 paving stones that she had used for her back porch, but changed the shape of her deck and had no use for the leftover stones. Since our area was six feet square, we just needed six more stones to fill in the area.
We bought one eight-foot length of lawn edging, three bags of river rocks, and six additional paver stones, for a total of $37, and made over our front porch. ("We" being my fiance; I only helped spread the river rock over the pavers at the end of the project!)
Now it's a cat-poop-free area, and our project coincided with cooler temperatures, making it the perfect place for us to sit in the evenings and mingle with neighbors. Not too shabby for recycled stones and a few bones, we think!
(Images: Amber Byfield)
(Re-edited from a post originally published on 9.20.2010 - CM)
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Great chairs and even cuter welcome mat. Well done.
Thanks! The chairs were bought 70% off at World Market at the end of summer (score), and the mat is from Crate & Barrel, an eco-friendly gift from an environmentally conscious friend!
uggg - we have a stray cat pooping issue (should read: we live next door to the sweet old lady who likes to feed the legions of feral cats in our neighborhood).
This would work really well in a few areas. Unfortunately, we have a lot more land to cover. I wonder if I can find some cheap leftover pavers on craigslist....
My neighborhood cats like to use my gardens as litterboxes, too. How can I get them to stop without covering the lovely garden in pavers?
@ Aimi: We tried a few solutions before putting in our patio... the most successful was covering the area with a temporary solution (a broken bamboo shade, in our case). We also heard that citrus peels would help divert the cats, so we scattered those around as well. The citrus peels might be a more garden-friendly (and still cat-friendly!) solution. Good luck!
While I love the look that spread out paving stones create (with pebbles or grass in between), I've always steered away for fear of constantly having to battle to level a chair on the surface. You guys seems to have negotiated that problem by using furniture with wide legs, which, I'd never thought of as a solution. Genius!
@ Aimi -
I read that cats hate to walk on chickenwire. You can cut it so it fits around your plants and it's not _that_ obvious asethetically.
I have yet to try it, but have considered it...
The cat isn't the "problem." The REAL problem is the cat's owner! Great porch makeover anyway.
Several cats were having territorial Poop Wars in my garden last year, but that stopped after I sprinkled cayenne pepper liberally all over the area I wanted to keep the kitties out of. Worked surprisingly well. For more persistent kitties you might do better resorting to something like coyote urine granules. Which, yes, they do actually sell, though I don't even want to imagine how they "harvest" urine from coyotes....
I agree, the cat is not a problem... He's adorable!
Nicely done. Suggestion: move the chairs away from the windows a bit and add some frosted window film to the lowers windows to soften the window reflection.
Great idea! Only thing I'd have different is no spacing between the pavers. I like a solid surface. Otherwise, Bravo!
I think the cat was trying to tell the homeowner to turn that unsightly corner into a nice seating area... He was being inspiring, not a problem!
Great option! The paving stones also bring out the colours in the stones on your house. Very well done and I love to see inexpensive options to the common problems many of us have.
What a difference! I love it! Nothing beats getting free stones and making such good use of them. Love the adirondack chairs too.
I like the way you incorporated the new, lighter colored pavers. Looks better than if they were all one color!
That looks really good! Now if you can only tell your neigbors they're jerks for locking their cats outside.
The picture, problem sign to the cat. That is just so hilarious. "Hey cat, do you know you're a problem?"....
I had a cat problem before, just put some citrus peel where they were doing their business and the problem fixed itself.
Nice. I also love the suggestion of window film and another inch of breathing room between the chairs and the windows.
Great job! It really looks good.
amazing use of concrete you've got there
This looks great! I love the pop of green, too!
Nice job! Blend dry chili peppers and warm water and pour it around exposed dirt patches if cats continue to present a problem. Hot paws!
that's a nice solution for the space, cats or no. holly white would have approved. might have to pepper the planters if the cats refocus, tho.
Wow! What a difference. Fantastic makeover
i like the shape but not the colours against the pale house... maybe some stain on the stones (?) and then the area wont be quite so washed out and the chairs and accessories would pop even more.
Paint the front door! Orange, red, yellow, fuchsia, anything! A bit more color will really warm up the space even more.
I bet it smells A LOT better
Hot peppers? That's animal cruelty. AND what if someone's curious child would come along...
someone suggested coyote pee. works great for mice, rats, fox and raccoons, but cats... not so much. also it smells TERRIBLE. it stains and lingers and is one of the worst pee smells i ever experienced. but, it was great round my chicken coop!
Does it keep the chickens in?