With the project finished, I can say that I learned a lot about both myself and the process that comes with building something from scratch. My goal was to become more handy and creative by building something out of scraps and things I had around the house, and I have to say that I think I succeeded. I came up with the design for the condo all on my own, using other people’s projects as references. The construction was sound, its size satisfactory for the space I live in, and my cat does enjoy slipping through the tunnel and climbing into the perch.

I did learn that I used the wrong glue for most of the project — I even said that you should be using Elmer’s School Glue or Craft Glue when I ended up using hot glue. I learned the hard way when the back half of my condo came apart as I was trying to move the condo into a separate room of my apartment. I also wish I was able to find more things to decorate the house with, like paint or twine toys or even a cat bed. But I’m still proud of what I achieved; I built an entire cat condo from scratch, from the design to the construction.

If this were a continued project, I would move onto more cat-friendly interactive things. I’ve always wanted a window perch for Bruno to sit in, because his favorite thing to do is people-watch. I could easily design a little hammock for him to sit in, but figuring out how to balance a nearly 10 pound cat on a glass window with suction cups is a very daunting task. But I know, with the skills I’ve learned and the research I’m prepared to do, I could eventually get a cat hammock up. Either that, or I’d start making kick toys out of recycled material. Little fish made out of old wrappers and paper that smell like catnip, mice that are just balled up packing tape with a string attached at the back to make a tail… There’s a lot of possibilities there that have been unlocked by me completing this project!

Hopefully that whoever gets to read this blog gets inspired by it, just like I was. But now, I think it’s time for a catnap. And Bruno seems to have no objections.

Welcome back! It’s time for the third step in your cardboard kitty condo construction — decorating!

With the layout finalized and everything glued into place, we can finally move on to the last step. This one is arguably the most fun, because it all depends on what you want to see from your DIY cardboard cat tower and matching that with what you know your pretty kitty needs. If you like to paint, then pick up some pet-friendly paints like the ones listed here on this website! It’s important to remember that this cat condo was built for your cat, and using paints that could potentially harm them would be really bad. Research is always important for this sort of project!

Unfortunately, due my own clumsiness and Bruno’s tendency to eat things that get left around, I decided not to paint the condo for him. Instead, I’m going to be putting a bunch of toys that he doesn’t use anymore all over the condo in places where he can play with them!

I chose an old mouse that Bruno was never very interested in unless someone was holding it, an unused scratching board, and a twine-wrapped ball from a very cheap scratching post that he destroyed.

I placed them on the parts of the condo that he would be most likely to play in: the tunnel and the perch. The twine ball went into the perch so he could have something to chew on while curled up in his box, and the scratching board was placed into the tunnel so that he could have a little stimulation before entering his big cavern.

There’s no end to the possibilities of this project, so you don’t have to use my condo as a direct guideline. If your cat is more relaxed, then you don’t have to use so many toys. If your cat can be trusted to not eat the paint off the side of the cardboard, then I highly recommend painting your condo in order to give it a little bit more fit to your living space! If your cat enjoys bedding, you should also find a little bed or blanket to put into the perch or tunnel so your kitty can be extra cozy!

And with your decoration, toys, paint, and blankets done, you can now consider your cat condo finished. This project takes very little time and resources, and all you need is a little bit of imagination and inspiration. Hopefully with my help and the other resources I’ve been able to provide, you’ll be making your cozy kitty cardboard condo in no time!

So, we’ve made it this far! Hopefully by this step you’ve been able to find a construction that fits your space and your cat’s needs, and said cat hasn’t demolished that in the process. Today, we’re going to focus on finalizing that construction — so make sure you like the shape, because there’s no going back after this!

The excitement is palpable in Bruno today.

This next part is really easy step-wise, but it can also be kind of tricky. If you don’t use the right adhesive, clamp, or staple, your cat condo can end up being a big issue. Some glue won’t hold over the abuse it might get from a cat jumping in and out of it, while staples can unfold themselves and can cut into your cat and make them afraid of getting into any of the boxes. That brings up one of the two big questions for this project; is it better to use glue or staples for your cardboard cat condo?

It would probably be easier to use staples, right? Everyone has a stapler or a staple gun. But if you remember the playlist from last week’s post, nobody was using a stapler for their DIY cat condo videos. That’s because school supply staplers are both too weak to hold cardboard together and they’re also very sharp. It can become a hazard very quickly for your feline friend if they unfold in the condo, or worse if they swallow them out of curiosity.

Okay, so we won’t use staples. What kind of glue should we use then? There’s hundreds of different kinds, And if we don’t use the right glue, the project can come undone right under the cat’s feet. So that’s where I began my research, where I found this article by a company who specializes in adhesives for cosplay. The article goes through an entire list of different adhesives to use for cardboard cosplay. The list puts Elmer’s School Glue at the very top of the list, so that is the kind I’m also going to recommend most. I personally am going to be using a hot glue gun because that is the strongest glue I had around the house, and Bruno tends to throw his weight around so hot glue might be better for his rough housing nature.

So now that we know what kind of glue to use, time to put that all to action! Below is a clip where I show you how to properly glue your cardboard boxes together using hot glue. That way this post doesn’t get too text-heavy and exhausting to read!

Unfortunately, for some reason my video editor refused to process some of the video I shot, so pardon the foggy shots at some points. The important thing is the narration mostly stayed in tact. I’ll try to figure out a better video editing program for next time!

Now, with all that out of the way, we can move onto the best part — decorating your cat condo! Next week, I’ll be showing you some glamorous additions for your cat’s hideaway!

Bruno’s already lovin’ the new space!

So… I’m not a very crafty person, and I’ve never tried to be one before. I’ve always been the one to let my dad work with the power tools and my brother to create amazing things with his LEGO sets. Instead, I’ve usually found my days reading a book or watching a movie and thinking creatively with those things. Unfortunately, knowing the lore of Young Adult novels from the mid 2010s is not going to help me build a cat tower, so I had to start thinking like a crafter.

People are always doing newer and cooler things for their cats. They’re always finding ways to make the small world their feline lives in all the more exciting and stimulating. A lot of people don’t have the means to just buy something like this bed made for cats and people from CatLife, so many turn to creative, inexpensive, DIY-type setups in order to provide for their special whiskered friend. Lucky for me, I don’t have to figure this out alone. I’m definitely not the first person to think of making a cat tree out of recyclables, so there is a lot of inspiration for me to go off of.

I’ve compiled a playlist full of these videos that I’m using for idea gathering and brainstorming, and hopefully these bright minds can give you a few things to think about too!

Turns out, this is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Cardboard that’s been sitting around in the house for the past 7 months is not exactly prime construction material, but I know for a fact that Bruno likes it. I had him participate in the construction, mostly so I could make sure that all of the boxes could hold him if need be.

Bruno checkin’ out the view!

The video that gave me the best ideas was actually one that used the simplest technique — DIY Cat Condo by Claire C. Her video is all about constructing a condo that was sturdy enough to have cats climb through each level without toppling over. Bruno’s other towers are all built for maximum height and, honestly, maximum drama.

Claire C. focused a lot on hiding places for her cat. And Bruno’s towers both provide height, so maybe he needs a change of pace. Instead of being super tall without a lot of room to crawl through the huts and snooze, he could use something that acts more like a hamster tunnel than a tower. It will still have height and drama (because all cats are drama queens), but with this structure I think I can lower the risk of everything collapsing beneath by 9-pound cat’s weight.

So here’s how I did it:

To build the Bruno Palace like I did, you’ll need boxes with these sorts of shapes:

The very long box is going to become the ‘tunnel’, which will lay beside the two larger pieces to create his cavern.

Those two big pieces become the body and the base of the condo’s height. One of the two small boxes will serve as a perch for Bruno, because I know he likes those boxes the best. There’s also a staircase formation in case he wants to take a rest in the alcove here.

The other will become a sort of groundhog hole for him to jump out of if he’s feeling rambunctious.

It’s a very simple construction, but I know it’s what Bruno will enjoy. The key to understanding what kind of tower to build for your cat comes from knowing what kind of personality they have and accommodating for what toys they already play with. If your cat is like Bruno, then I think you’ll find this shape very fitting for what you need.

The planning of the shape is crucial to understanding how you want your cat tower to be built. If you don’t have the right steps in place to build, then you’re going to build something that is structurally unsound, or doesn’t satisfy you or your furry friend when the time comes to glue it all together. For this reason, I’m leaving it like this for now, in its bare planning stage.

But with all of this in mind, you’ve completed the first step of the DIY cardboard cat condo: inFURRmation gathering! Next week, I’ll be covering the best ways to make sure the whole thing stays together in one solid piece, and whether we should be using glue or staples to keep it together. And after that comes the fun part — decorating!

Catch you later!

If you’re reading this, I’m going to assume you enjoy cats. Nothing better than a cat in boxes, you might think. You see a cat jumping into an Amazon Prime box and you say to yourself, “yeah. That’s correct. That’s how things are meant to be”. But for someone who owns a cat that frequently breaks the toys, I’ve found that no matter how much money I spend, he’s always going to prefer hanging out in the boxes those toys came in.

Due to several COVID-19 related problems, my recycling hasn’t been picked up in… a while. A very long while. So I thought to myself, what is a person who lives alone with her cat supposed to do with all these Chewy and Amazon boxes just lying around? Certainly my cat can’t just entertain himself by jumping in and out of the boxes, day in and day out, making a whole lot of noise at 4 am for no good reason!

Except yes he can, and that’s exactly what I’m about to capitalize on.

With this blog, I’m going to try my best at constructing a sort of cat tower mixed with a hamster tunnel system out of the old cardboard boxes laying around my house and in various closets. Hopefully what I learn will prove useful for everyone else reading this; maybe you need a new recycling project, or you’re like me and you have a cat who is just insatiably playful and you want to make them something that will keep them preoccupied long enough for you to write just one blog post.

I have two cat towers that are built for larger cats already, and I’ll be using those as the groundwork for this upcoming project, along with a few family members who are experienced in such craftiness. The process of figuring out the dimensions of these cardboard boxes and how best to put them together will be the next post.

I hope you decide to join me for the next update!