Design: Cat Stairs 3
Price: @$250
Name: Russell
Location: Dumbo
Pet's Name: Dodger & Oliver
Size & Type: Domestic shorthair cats; one orange, one black & tan
Pitch:
"In small quarters especially, cats ought to be able to exercise their genetic proclivity for vertical living and enjoy expanded inhabitable space. For those of us with highly attenuated nesting instincts, the challenge is how to combine function and aesthetic. When I adopted brothers Dodger and Oliver as kittens last year, I researched climbing products and was appalled at the utter absence of design sensibility in an entire product category..." [more below]
Even the DIY projects I came across were consistently awful (except Bob Walker's work in his book "The Cats'House" -- not my taste, but beautifully done). As one who tends to seek the simplest, most integrated solutions to any design problem, the notion of floating shelves seemed a likely answer. These are a combination of 12” and 36” units, purchased at West Elm and Home Depot,respectively, and carpeted with Flor tiles (http://www.interfaceflor.com) using industrial glue. The smaller shelves needed stronger attachment hardware to handle the weight.
Note:
for experimenting kittens, be sure to seal the edges of cut carpeting by carefully melting them with a flame – certain industrial fibers can cut up feline insides. And as you can see, the boys love their platforms!
Hate cats, but love the design. Very clever!
Wow, this is awesome. My kitties are jealous of your kitties.
ok now you have to show us the rest of the place....pretty puleeeze?
I love this! I saw something similar on Small Space Big Style, and I fully plan on doing something similar very soon.
I love it!
WOW!
My kitties are begging me to do this now...
Oh yeah, I expect my boys would love this. Even the freaky, scared alien cat. Question--how would you determine how much weight they can hold? Because Mr. Fatty weighs about 16lbs, his brother 13, and the baby about 7. And they like to sit together in a row. I'm just envisioning a crash.
Very cool idea, and really versatile. A person could use any paint/carpet combo to make it work for them.
I love this so much. If you are not dead set on particular colors, you can get 8 sample flor tiles for something like $5.95. I think you can do this on the website. I want to show this to my husband, because I think he will love the idea. Just how are the shelves affixed to the walls? That's my only concern.
o MY
the first thing in my head was "EEEK
AT is having another round with taxidermy!"
(many of you might have missed that little spell the first time out...it was decorative.)
then I remembered - PET month. Right. Cats.
Instant Gold!
Great stuff, love it. Wish I wasn't allergic.
Awesome! I can't wait to try this.
ok I wish I was a cat in your house. adopt me please.
Brilliant! Love it!
You sick bastid. Did you nail that one cats tail to the shelf above to take that picture? Just like the Albanian judge, I give you the gold, too.
Brilliant idea... and what a creative use of Interflor tiles too.
I saw someone else do something similar once (I think it was on animal planet or something?), but that one looked corny, whereas this version is both form and function.
Phenomenal!
Gold star! Gold star!
this is very cool, gold star!
Brilliant execution. One of my friends has Katwallks (http://www.katwallks.com/), but yours are elegant and functional. Love it.
Ingenious! A great way to give the cats more space without devoting the whole room to catwalks!
What did you use as hardware? I would love to do this, but my plaster is not that strong. My 17lb darlings managed to pull a tapestry hanging bar out of the wall by pulling on the tapestry.
I paid a lot of $$$ to have nice loops sewn onto to the tapestry, and then hung it on a nice bar, in the living room. They destroyed it in less than a week.
Looks good. But do the cats jump onto the kitchen benchtop?
Very nice!
The apartment is also beautiful. Where'd you get that coffee table?
just go to ikea -- you can get all the materials, shelving, etc. there for $30-$40 max. this is not rocket science, people. nice design though..
Hey! That's my cat! (the one that isn't orange) Mikko, how did you get out?
Seriously have you ever noticed how many cats look just like that? There's one in my neighborhood who fools me once a month at least. I'll go to leave and the Mikko-imposter will be sitting on the deck and I'll start freakin' cause Mikko isn't allowed out.
Oh wait, we're supposed to talk about design, not so much the cats right...I like it, but also wonder how it could possibly handle my 18.5 lb Mane Coon. (he's big boned people, that's all.)
Thanks for all the nice comments, folks. The hardware for the 36" shelves is what they come with; it's a metal bar with two metal poles situated perpendicular to the bar. The bar attaches to the wall and the shelf slides onto the poles, a system which provides plenty of structural integrity. As long as the attachment to the wall is strong and secure, weight and impact shouldn't be a problem. The smaller shelves were trickier. I wound up using standard L brackets, countersunk in the walls and on the underside of the shelves. Wall preparation is key; if you have somewhat soft plaster without underlying structural elements, you might be SOL.
The boys are trained not to go on the kitchen counters.
Cool, I can picture it on my wall.
Russell: Great ideas. Great design. It fits right into your decor. I love it! Am going to Home Depot this weekend! Thanks.
Wonderful job! And I think I see a purrfect post too...
I'm guessing the boys are trained not to go on the countertop *when you're home*, if I know cats. Or maybe yours are model citizens and mine are not.
regards,
trillium
I totally agree with you about the book "The Cats' House". And I also saw the one from SSBS of which Jackie mentioned but love how you arranged the configuration and successfully utilized one of those scratching post effectively!
I'm so convinced not to buy a cat tree from Petco even with 10% discount coupon I've got from them last week. Now, how I can convince my boyfriend to help me out(he's not crazy about my cats).
I'm so impressed. This is really lovely. What a fun thing for apartment-bound cats! Definitely inspiring...
trillium: my boys are very well behaved, but 'model citizens' may be a stretch. I recently left several stacks of coins on the verbotten counter and when I returned, one of them was toppled... Minor tremor? I think not. And yes, that's a Purrfect Post. My furniture couldn't live without it.
to abc: the coffee table is the Isokon Loop, available in the U.S. from Daniel Donnelly (http://www.danieldonnelly.com).
Best yet! I've seen several similar setups, but only this one could possibly be called elegant....
I love the art (painting?) on the wall - what is it? Can you tell us more?
Great idea! I plan to copy it on my very small balcony (which is of cours secured with a cat net) for those two:
http://gesineschulz.blogg.de/index.php?cat=Katzen
I don't have cats but the design of this place rocks... from what we can see of it. Show us the rest! And that painting above your sofa is really cool... tell us about it!
This is the one that was on Small Spaces, Big Style, isn't it? If so, the whole place is great. What a creative idea for the cats and a great photo too!
I tried this.
I put in a lot of time and effort to put them just spaced so, and shredded catnip on them so the cats will like it... they don't even go near them. My cats look at me like I'm crazy when I bring them over there.
how brilliant/what elegance, yes folks, cats as wall art (our living sculptures) appearing to really dig it/have taken to it...
wondering if our old cats would do the same...learn/enjoy new tricks or roosts that is...
squeegie, i would be afraid that my cat wouldn't be interested as well, after all that work. i wonder if there's a way to tell beforehand.
russell's cats look very athletic. is anyone else concerned about their cat slipping off a higher ledge and hurting himself? i've seen mine slip off a three-foot ledge. i know this will be carpeted but still...
Ellie,
If you cat climbs everything right now, he'd love these shelves. Some cats are climbers (like mine) and some aren't (like my childhoot cat). Certain breeds are more likely to climb than others - maine coones, for example, are not typically climbers, while Turkish Angoras are. However, every cat is different and if you have a mixed breed, you are best off listening to what your cat wants. My cat is beyond ready for me to build shelves for him to climb on - he is always on top of bookcases, the back of the chair and sofa, the frig (but not the countertops in my presence, bless him). He doesn't like to be held, but loves to sit on my shoulders (all claws out). Some of the spots I find him in I have NO IDEA how he got there and he is not so certain how to get down. I have to rescue him often.
If you cat likes to be up high, then shelves to climb on are much safer than letting them find whatever is available to them but not designed with their safety in mind.
I would make certain the shelves are large enough for your cat to sit on and curl up on comfortably - 12" should be minimum in depth. My cat is 11 lbs so I am planning on large shelves of about 14" square minimum.
Spaces between shelves should allow your cat to move between them without jumping - just as you see in the photo.
Anchoring them solidly to the wall is crital - any wiggle and your cats will avoid them no matter how much they like to climb.
I don't think the carpet is necessary - but that is up to you.
For those who asked, the painting is by Tony Magner
I saw someone on a no-name HGTV show or knockoff make the same thing from ikea's BJÄRNUM/ JÄRPEN shelves, comme ça:
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=16198&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=69089&langId=-1&categoryId=15648&chosenPartNumber=S99834399
(sorry for the ugly link.)
They cut the shelves shorter, and since the brackets are steel and can easily anchor into any wall stud, they are very strong- certainly enough for my obese cat.
I'm really not a cat person, but seriously, those photos are so good and those shelves look so amazing that if my building wasn't a no-pets building and if I didn't have raging pet allergies, I'd be VERY tempted to get a cat or two just to work a wall of those shelves.
My cats are climbers, as well. That's why I was so shocked when they wouldn't go near the shelves. I even sprayed catnip all over them. Nothing was motivating the cats to climb those shelves.
I had one normal shelf, a double sized one and a cube that they could not only climb on but also curl into.
Oh well. I now use them as a cute wine storage space.
These stairs are nearly identical in shape, design, and even placement to the ones featured on HGTV (click link)
Click here: Decorating : Small Space : Stylish Abodes : Home & Garden Television . And look! they even have the same little cast iron animal thing.
There is also a familiar name from Apartment Therapy under the list of Guests on this HGTV project page.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_small_space/article/0,1793,HGTV_3382_4788930,00.html
Hi Russel- I hope you're still checking this post. Where did you get your rug? It's exactly the rug I've been searching for!
And, of course, I love the cat steps.
adorable! now where did you get those counter stools?
That's sweet but my boys are big...what's the weight limit?
I know I'm a month late, but we did this 6 months ago when we got our cat Howard. We used four cheap wooden Ikea shelves and didn't cover them. They go almost all the way up to the ceiling and are right by the window. Perfect for gazing out at the neighborhood or keeping an eye on us.
We found most "cat furniture" really disgusting visually. This contest is great. Keep the ideas coming!
We're looking for a cool, economic cat scratcher next...
Hey this is GREAT!!!! I love I want to do that in my house for my spoiled kitty. Can you send more info on how you did it?
thanks Tory :)
Great idea, we have talked about doing something similair before.
GAIA,
if you go to Ikea, they sell coconut door mats, they do some really thick ones which make great scratching posts. We have a couple fixed round wall corners and our cats love them. They are cheap, and very tough.
For someone with less space, I made a cat "tree" by wrapping an upright tension pole with rope. I placed it next to my free-standing closet--it was a big, high-up cat club house. (I used a photographer's auto pole, but you can now get these at Ikea--part of the Stolmen storage system: www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/small_business/get_inspired/index.html)
The only problem was jumping onto my bed was the preferred way down. Kind of a drag when I was sleeping there.
I want this couch! Who makes it? I haven't been able to find anything like it. Thanks!!
Allison - The couch is from the Tyler Collection by Mitchell Gold (http://www.mitchellgold.com/tyler_UPH.asp). If you REALLY like it, I might actually be willing to part with it (I purchased it just 2 years ago), because I want a different fabric and it's just about the same cost to re-upholster vs. buying another one (they run about $1800 + S&H). It's a great looking, extremely comfortable sofa. If you're interested, it would be available toward the end of the summer (07), when my new place is scheduled to be finished. You can write me at: rake(at)nyc.rr.com. Cheers.
I love this. I just wish I had better walls to support it.......Looks great and my cats would love it.
Love it! And it's exactly what I'll buy for my cat as soon as we move into our new apartment!
Love the design because it is so perfect for a small apartment. Wondering if anyone knows of a similiarly brilliant design for a small pet dog. A chihuahua or a pug. I haven't decided yet...First I want to figure out where the doggy will get to mover around & play. Also, I have a balcony, so I thought I would put a "playpen" out there?
Any suggestion?
thank you.
Love, love, love this design. My cat would definately use these shelves. I'll have to look into doing this for him. Also, loved the idea by squeegee beckenheim (Gilmore Girls fan?)about using a cube for curling up in!
I use the/borrow picture at my site about cat ladders. Hopes it is ok? Check out the direct-link:
http://katt-trappa.blogspot.com/2007/03/nice-shelfs-for-cats.html
Or the whole site:
http://katt-trappa.blogspot.com/
/ Jimmy Robertson
What coffee table is that? Anyone know who makes it?
view emblem or stain's profile
I love it, and my cats love it too. I stopped at the Katt-Trappa blog and fell in love with other cat ladders. Can't wait to try them at home...
view ruga's profile
How did you install the shelves? Are they just nailed into the stud?
view isthenite's profile
This is an awesome idea. It'd be a great thing for me to do for my new place. Thank you for sharing! Your cats are SOOO cute!!
view ryumama's profile