Category Archives: Cat
DIY: Make a Cat Hammock
Bear with me on one of my sillier DIY posts. This is how I turned a cheap cat bed into a superior cat hammock.
Cats are so fickle. I buy inexpensive cat stuff just in case they are deemed uncool by our picky pets. Sometimes the strategy backfires when the cheap buy becomes a favorite and then doesn’t hold up.
Here’s the perfect example. This particular cat bed happens to be something Pixel loves. She lays across the top panel using it as a hammock all the time.
She used it so much that the poorly constructed piece began to fall apart. You can see in the above photo how silly she looked sitting in the broken bed in different positions. I decided I needed fix it up for her.
Neither cat ever used the bottom portion as a bed so I got rid of it yo make a proper cat hammock.
The old bed fell apart at the seams, so instead of having a seam right at the frame joint my plan was to make the whole hammock from one continuous piece of fabric.
With a black frame, I bought purple fabric to match our Great Room. I lucked out at Joann’s and found a perfectly sized remnant of purple polyester for a couple bucks.
My Cat Hammock Materials List
- Less than a yard of purple heavy weight polyester or nylon
- Matching thread
- Sewing machine
- Straight pins
- Scissors
- Straight edge
- Newspaper
- Pencil and sharpie
- Iron on low setting
With all my materials ready, I removed the old bed from the frame and use it as a rough pattern for the new hammock.
Using a piece of newspaper, I sketched out the shape with pencil. Then I used a straightedge and pen to make exact lines for my pattern and cut it out.
I ironed all the kinks and wrinkles out of the fabric before I pinned it to the pattern.
Then I cut about an inch out from the actual pattern piece for my seam allowance.
The polyester has a tendency to fray so I folded all my seams twice (1/4″ each) to enclose the raw edge. I worked slowly around the entire piece first pressing the edge with my iron then securing it with straight pens.
When it was all pinned, I sewed my seam slowly. (I always make mistakes if I go to fast.) Then I went back and pressed the seam again with the iron.
Since the frame pulls apart really easily, I decided to sew permanent closures, but I could have also used Velcro or snaps to attach the hammock to the frame.
I used the frame as a guide to figure out how much clearance I needed. Then folded over each end and sewed it to create a channel for the frame to fit through.
Installation was a cinch. I just took apart the frame and slid the hammock on then reattached the frame. Here’s the finished piece I presented it to Pixel. She gave it a sniff before walking away and ignored it. Such a fickle cat! I waited on eggshells to see if she would use it.
Days later, I came home from work to find her lounging in the hammock. Her actions showed the project was a success. Pixel has a cool place to spend her afternoons and I feel like a proud cat mama.
I know this project would be hard to do without the frame, but I bet you could use a milk crate like this or this instead with Velcro or snaps closures.
Who knows, maybe I’ll try it myself if we need a second cat hammock in the house.
DIY: Refurbishing a cat scratch post
It’s funny the things I get annoyed at purchasing.
Laundry detergent because I only want to buy it on sale.
Cilantro because the last batch went bad before I used it.
Coffee beans because it’s usually when I am all out and cranky.
But more than anything, I hate buying something that should have replaceable parts, but doesn’t.
Enter the mighty cat scratching post. It keeps the cats’ claws away from our furniture (most of the time) and is therefore a necessary evil in out house.
Regardless of its usefulness, it is perhaps one of the ugliest things in our house. I’ve looked for a better looking post, but it doesn’t seem to exist so we have two inexpensive versions from Target. They work out great for the cats, but when the carpet gets all worn out and grungy, I wanted to replace it. But I can’t. They don’t make replacement parts for the posts. It’s very short-sighted on the manufacturer and it just drives me crazy!
So I got thinking and decided to make my own replacement carpet post out of a utility mat, glue and staples. A fraction of the price of a brand new scratch post. And while I was at it, I gave the post a makeover at the same time with some dark green spray paint.
I started by buying a dark gray utility mat for $3.00.
Then I took apart the old post.
Using the old carpet as a pattern piece, I measured the width of the carpet tile.
Then I cut the mat with a straight edge and a utility knife.
Next using dark green spray paint I had on hand, I darkened the current post stand and topper to match the dark gray utility mat.
Once the paint was dry it was time to assemble the parts.
I stapled one end of the carpet piece of the post and then used some tacky glue to keep the carpet in place before stapling down the other end.
Then, I clamped the carpet post with a bunch of rubber bands until the glue dried.
I let the glue dry overnight before I reassembled the post. Voila! The cat scratch post is ready for action. I spent less than $5.00 on the makeover and I have left over supplies for the next time I need to replace the carpet post. Not a bad deal at all.
Bad cats
I gave our house a deep cleaning on Sunday. The floors were swept and mopped. I spot cleaned with my handy Spot Bot. The couch and chair slip covers were washed.
And that’s how I found this scratch post under our club chair.
Bad cats. I’ve know they have been doing this for awhile, but I didn’t know how extensive it was. I am so glad I have slip covers on this chair. I taped up the rip with a little duct tape and put on the slip cover.
Enter Sticky Paws. The package says “our transparent medical grade adhesive is odor free and is so easy to apply: simply pull off a strip from the brown backing sheet apply where you don’t want kitty to scratch, then peel off the white “crack-n-peel” to expose the surface that the cats can’t stand.”
So far it seems to be working (??). It peaked Pixel’s curiosity so she sniffed and licked it, but I saw no scratching.
The big question for me is how long the tape lasts. A day, a week? I think its going to take a couple weeks (at least) to correct this behavior. If the tape lasts only a day, this could get pricey.
I’ll check again tonight to see if they tried to scratch and how the tape holds up.
