Look what I did! How to make a cat box!

Posted on September 22nd, 2008 by admin

WTF is a cat box you may be asking yourself?

This is a cat box:

Cat Box

Yep, that’s a cat box. I don’t know how or why, but my kitty cat (Master Chief) loves getting into boxes. Any box that I would bring home she would want to get in. I eventually came up with the idea that she needed a little cat bed that would not only make her comfortable but would protect her from the furry monster that enjoys attacking her at random. So I brought home a paper box, cut a hole in the top and called it good. Inside the box I have a Purr Pad for her to lay on. You can get these at the pet store. They feel like air filters or something and for some reason cats enjoy laying on them. They are supposed to collect the hair. It does for the most part.

Here’s kitty in the box:

Cat in Box

She’s a big girl and takes up most of the box.

Since I’m into this simplifying/declutter mode I knew that the cat box needed an updating. Fabric! What a great idea. I wanted to cover the box in a cool fabric. That will be more clean looking and basically more enjoyable to have around the house. I’m so smart.

Here’s a picture of the box that I used. The one on the left is the old cat box and I found the wider one (on the right) at work. Perfect. Or should I say, puuurrrrfect. HAHA. I’m so funny.

2 Cat Boxes

The one on the right isn’t any longer, but it’s wider. That will give her a bit more room to stretch out.

Wanna try it yourself?

Materials:

Sharp craft knife and scissors
Hot glue gun and glue (Make sure you actually have glue sticks…I had to run to the store to get some. If you’re a smarty pants then you could probably figure out a fabric glue that may work a little better than hot glue. Whatev.)
Boat load of fabric
Batting (enough to cover the lid of the box)
Cat
Time (I didn’t keep track, but it took me a long time)
Patience

1. Cut a hole in the box. I traced around the bottom of my pot. Use whatever you have that’s round. After all is said and done, I’m wishing I would have stuck with a square hole. It would have been much easier to finish off. But whatev. Make sure it’s big enough for kitty. I used a craft knife. Be careful not to remove any digits.

Hole in Cat Box

2. Step two is to reinforce the lid of the box. She likes to sit on the box sometimes and it needed to be sturdy enough to hold her. All 9 pounds. Plus, and obviously, she climbs onto the box to get inside. I’m not a structural engineer, but it did feel a little more sturdy. I just cut strips of a left over box and hot glued them to the inside of the lid. It’s not pretty, but no one will see that. Well…besides the cat. But she won’t care.

Here’s my attempt at reinforcing the lid.

Strengthen Cat Box

Like I said…it’s not pretty.

3. Cut a piece of batting that is just slightly larger than the box lid. Please note that I made this all up myself. There’s probably a better way. Whatev.

4. Glue the batting to the top of the box lid. Don’t use too much hot glue as it will melt the batting. Unless you’re using a low-temp glue gun. Because you’re a smarty pants.

5. Cut slits in the batting where the cat entry hole is. Cut it like a pizza, but don’t get too close to the edges of the cardboard hole. I cut too close to the edges. Also cut the tips of the slices off. After all is said and done, I probably would have moved the cat entry hole into the middle of the box lid to make the wrapping easier, but I felt like the corner was more sturdy. I have no idea what I’m doing.

Batting. What is batting?

6. Flip the lid over and glue down the slices of batting. Pull it taught and work oppositly? Glue one slice then glue the slice directly across from it. Make any sense? Glue all the slices down.

Slices!

Now lets take a peek at my AMAZING fabric that I found at JoAnn’s. It’s actually meant for outdoor furniture so it seems very tough, but it’s still soft and workable. I almost bought some of that thin fabric and I’m so glad that I didn’t. I just don’t think it would have turned out as nice with the thin fabric. AND…I almost chose a thin fabric with cats on it. Thank god I came to my senses. I actually found this fabric in the clearance pile and I love it. I would totally cover a chair in it or something. If I knew how to do that. It’s just modern and I love the cool colors.

Sweet Fabric!

I have no idea why Hurley needs to be in all my pictures. Maybe he’s meant to be a doggy model. That is actually 2 1/2 yards of fabric. I have no idea how to measure fabric so I just had the lady roll some out until I thought it looked like enough. Isn’t it cool!?

7. Cover your box lid in fabric. I just wrapped it like a present. I did cut my fabric into a more manageable piece before starting. I used a massive amount of hot glue. I cut a slit on the corner to make it easier to wrap, but it wasn’t too hard. Don’t worry about the cat entry hole yet. I used binder clips to hold down the fabric while I was gluing.

Wrapping

Continue wrapping until you’re done. Be sure that the fabric in the corner is tight against the cardboard. This will make putting the lid on the box easier.

Finished wrapped lid:

Wrapped Cat Box Lid

I think the batting was a good idea. I just sort of made it look puffier on top and a little less like a Christmas present.

8. Flip the lid over and cut and secure the fabric the same exact was as you did with the batting. Again, be sure not to cut too close to the edge of the cat box lid. My mistake.

Hole with fabric

You can see that in between the fabric slices I glued more fabric. I had cut it a little too close to the edge of the box and some of the batting was like poofing out between the cut fabric slices. And yes…the inside is a disaster of glue.

Finished lid with cat entry hole:

Finished lid.

9. Wrap the actual box just the same as the lid. Take your time and make it nice and neat. Pull everything tightly and try to make the edges look nice and clean.

More wrapping!

See? Just like a present!

Glue, glue, glue! You can’t have too much glue! Wel, yes you probably can. Stop gluing!

Almost done!

*I chose to run the fabric pattern in a different direction as the lid. You can do it however you want. And believe it or not, I used almost all of my fabric. I saved just enough for another small project. Maybe a skirt for kitty. Lol.

10. Put your box together and look at it from all angles. Add some extra fabric to the sides of the inside of the lid so that when you’re looking inside you can see fabric instead of ugly cardboard.

11. You’re DONE! Put the lid on and call it quits! I of course, spent an extra 20 minutes gluing down every edge of fabric but I don’t think that was really necessary.

Looks pretty good huh?