Materials: Hol Storage Cube (Large), floor sliders, hardware, plastic cat box, mat, trash bag.
Description: OK folks, just like a lot of cat litter solutions, this one is intended to:
1) Get that nasty box of Cat poop hidden: we live in Boston's Back Bay and have limited space in our wee little apartment.
2) Save space by making something functional, in this case a place to put a couple of houseplants.
3) Keep litter contained, instead of all over the floor. This is huge. Our cat likes to dig aggressively, scattering litter everywhere. What a mess, and required constant sweeping and vacuuming to keep up.
So, here's what I did:
1) Build the Hol box as per Ikea's instructions, except for the four little plastic plugs that go in the lid.
2) Cut out a the square entry way. (the wood is thin and this part was surprisingly easy.)
3) Line the bottom half of the crate with plastic. You could use a shower curtain or painting drop cloth; I used two large kitchen trash bags and a staple gun to keep them in place.
4) Take the box that the Hol came in and make a "litter back-board" around the end of the box opposite the entry way. (you may not think this is necessary, i did this as an extra precaution to contain litter)
5) Take a floor mat designed to get the litter off of kitty's paws and lay it into the crate. I cut the corners so it would fit perfectly in the box and wrap up on the sides. Staple into place so it won't move.
6) Put the litter box in it, hopefully you can find one that fits nice and snug, like mine. (18" x 16", it was a tight squeeze to get it in there)
FOR THE SLIDING LID:
1) Put two of the plastic plugs that come with the Hol cube into one of the ends--leave the other side "un-plugged".
2) I used plastic furniture sliders to use as guides so the top will stay "on track" when you slide it open. works quite well. Place two sliders
3) I used two different metal brackets to serve as a locking mechanism, so when you slide the box all the way open the lid locks in place and will not fall off. This way you can have stuff on top of the crate and slide it open/closed without moving anything. One bracket is a 3" long corner bracket, with one of the side bent over so it will catch on the other, small bracket. This is hard to describe the positioning of these brackets, but the pictures I took should be helpful.
~ AB, Boston
nice job. I have seen this done before but like yours a lot more!!
ReplyDeleteThis is cool! You should also post this on instructibles.com! NOW I know what to get my next trip to IKEA!!!
ReplyDeleteI think this might be my favourite cat box solution yet! Very nicely done!
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea. This ikea box really lends itself to solving the litter problem. Love the sliding lid too.
ReplyDeleteDarn! Wish this was posted on Sunday as I was at Ikea. I've been trying to think up a way to hide our cat's box for ages-FAB idea!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea, but I wonder how does the cat like it? I know that my cat is very particular about the location of his litter boxes.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool. I would really like to try something similar for the litter box in my guest room (we have 4 cats here and 3 litterboxes). I especially like how the Hol box has openings in it. Most "litter cabinet hacks" I see don't look very cat-friendly due to the way they obscure visibility for the cat inside and don't provide ventilation. But the Hol allows the cat to see outside (thus avoiding the "surprise ambush" common in multi-cat households) and also looks to have a fair degree of airflow which avoids the "porta-potty" effect that so many cats understandably hate!
ReplyDeleteAWESOME! I've been trying to figure out a solution and this might just be it. Although I think I would consider this as a top entry box for my crew. With the idea that if they walk across the top on their way out, any litter stuck to their paws could drop back through into the box. Really excellent idea!
ReplyDeleteIn my country we don´t have Ikea, or similar, and because of our 3rd world status we recycle. It´s an pastime out of necessity.
ReplyDeleteI liked the idea of the litterbox-in-a-box, we have a 16-cat household (rescued strays) and the idea of putting litterboxes out of sight ocurred in an early stage. I used fruitboxes, they are made of thin wood and with judicious cutting and glueing I had a 3-story litter-highrise and a place to store the bags of absorbent stuff.
Only problem was the smell. I´ve tried all sorts of ways to eliminate this problem and finally settled on covering the sides and back and making a duct from the top to the air duct which sits above the stove. The natural airflow (warm air rises) has eliminated all litter smells and the horizontal part of the square wood duct (you guessed it, more fruitboxes) serves as a shelf and catwalk.
I have now completed my first ikea hack, by chopping this up at the weekend!! It is really quick and easy to do. My cats are very happy and adapted straight away to their new litter location.
ReplyDeleteI have two indoor cats and the box is big enough to hold a large hooded litter box. It's perfect.
I lined my box with plastic drawer liner maternial also sold at ikea. The width of the liner is just slightly wider that the box so it curls up at the bottom edges but this is great for catching any stray litter. The length of the liner was 1.5m so I just cut that to match the length of the box.
I have made a litter hide a way from the Hol cube, found here - I like the idea that air can circulate and it isn't a dark hole for them to enter. I found a clear plastic storage bin, cut an entryway on one side and put that into the Hol. I use the top of the storage bin as a litter catcher on the floor by the entrance. This works great and looks very nice.
ReplyDeleteDo you think it would work to put levers on the back instead of the sliding mechanism?
ReplyDeleteWe made this for our cat, and had two slight modifications.
ReplyDelete1. We painted it black. It isn't available in that finish at IKEA. Word of warning: Don't use brush/regular paint, but spray paint it. The holes are a pain to paint by hand. Finish it off with polyurethane to protect against water. This is probably a good idea on the inside "floor" regardless of painting in order to not have damage due to kitty accidents.
2. We added a black "odor eating" furnace filter to the top. We have this in our main living room. The filter collects 95% of the smells, so it is usually not smelly in the living room.
Great IKEA hack, and we are really pleased with it.
Brilliant!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat tutorial too!
I'm totaly making this one for my laundry room & it'll double as a muddy-boot-taker-offer bench.
Thanx!!