DIY

How I saved $80 by making a cat tree myself

/ Alicia Stice / Leave a comment

IMG_2240

Total cost: $40.50 | Total savings: $79.50 | Time: Plan for about 2 hours, spread between two days so you can give the stain time to dry.

***

I love my cat Craig, but I do not love spending more than $100 on a piece of furniture made of cheap plywood and carpet. So when I went to the pet store and saw the $120 price tag on the cat tree I wanted, I said “no thank you” and made one myself. This project ended up being a little trickier than I expected, but it definitely proved worth it in the end. All I needed was a little help and a few (OK, many) trips to Home Depot.

WHAT YOU NEED

Cat tree supplies

  • One 8-foot-long 4 x 4. (The one I bought was pine.) $12.26
  • A piece of wood cut into a circle (again, I used pine, but you could use whatever you want). $6.87
  • A quart of wood finish in the shade you want (you could actually probably get away with a smaller size and save some money). $6.48
  • Sandpaper $3.97
  • One corner brace $2.67
  • Wood screws $5.98
  • Wood screws small enough to fit corner brace $2.27
  • Scrap wood for the base and one platform (Home Depot let me have scrap wood for free)
  • An old T-shirt or something you can use for a rag to stain the wood
  • Old carpet or throw rug If you don’t have one, pick up a cheap bathmat or two. You could probably also ask the hardware store if they have any scrap carpet.
  • Power drill (I suggest borrowing one from a friend if you don’t have one)
  • Wood glue if you have it
  • Box cutter
  • Tacks

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

  1. When you’re at the hardware store, ask an employee in the lumber department to cut the 4 x 4 into the length you want. I had two platforms, one 3-feet-high and one 5-feet-high.
  2. Sand down the wood from the 4 x 4. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but just make sure it won’t give you splinters.
  3. Use a rag to coat the platforms in stain (and the wood for the platforms if you don’t plan on covering them with carpet.) I used two coats, but that’s all a matter of personal preference. Let this dry overnight.
  4. Use a box cutter to get the carpet the right size to cover your base board and any platforms you are covering. try to minimize the excess so you don’t have lots of carpet folded on top of itself on the underside.
    carpet folding cat tree
  5. Use tacks to stick the carpet to the bottom of the platform and use a few on top to make sure there isn’t any bubbling.
  6. Use the box cutter to cut holes in the carpet of your base in the places where you want to place the 4 x 4s for your platforms. Then drill three pilot holes in both the base and the posts.Cat tree carpet holes
  7. Apply wood glue to the post, and use wood screws to attach them. I turned the project upside down for this step.
  8. Attach the platforms the same way you applied the base to the posts.
  9. Since my bottom platform was a rectangle, I used a bracket to attach the bottom of it to the taller post. This helps stabilize the taller platform and keep it from swaying around when my cat jumps on it.