Cat EXPEDITion

Materials: EXPEDIT shelf (1x5), HAMPEN carpet (80x80 cm), an old cat tree, cutter knife, nails, hammer, drill, glue, some screws and 4 metal-angles

Description: In our living room, we have the big EXPEDIT shelf (5x5) as a room divider to split up the couch and TV corner from the desk corner.

We have two cats and they like the shelf ... but as most of the boxes are filled with our stuff, they had not much room to sit or play in it. The shelf is also to high for them to climb on top of it.

So I was thinking about how I could build something to help them climb the shelf. It has to be something that fits the shelf and merge with it.

The solution was - after all - fairly simple: I bought another EXPEDIT shelf (1x5) and put it all together except one of the boards. We had an old cat tree with two sisal-rods. I took one of the sisal-rods and installed it in the middle of the upper board. Then I arranged the last board on top of the sisal-rod inside the shelf, so that it jut out about half of the board-size ... this is a perfect platform for the cats to jump on top of the shelf.

After it's all mounted, I took a small, green HAMPEN carpet, cut it into small squares and glued them on the upper two boards and the top of the shelf (some nails helped too). This does look nice (we use the same carpet on the floor), and also give the cats a nice place to lie on and additionally will prevent gliding or sliding while climbing.

Now both fur balls can jump from the couch right into the shelf, climb up one box and easily jump on top of it. They love it, and we are happy, that it looks nice.

~ Jan, Germany