12 DIY Cat Shelves and Walls: a Tiny Home in a Dresser and Shelves That Almost Held Books

“Built a cat house for our cat community”

My wife and I started by taking care of one cat, but that quickly turned into five. Now, we average around 12 outdoor cats that we care for, not including the rescues we have inside.

Last year, I built a temporary 4’x4’x3′ plywood shelter to give the cats a safe place to sleep during the cold winter months. Since then, we’ve taken in four more cats, so this year, I decided to build something more permanent.

This new structure, affectionately named the Taj Meowhal, is a 7’x4′ triple-story cat house.

So far, I’ve only been running the basement lamp 24/7, and even with outdoor temperatures dipping to 20°F, the main floor stays a toasty 60°F.

They absolutely love it!! They helped by sleeping where I was trying to work 😅

They said they’d pay once they got jobs. A year later, still no rent—just little landmines all over the yard as their ’contribution.’ Haha.

“I made my cat a tiny home inside a dresser”

I decided it’s absolutely necessary for Vivaldi to have a tiny home.

So, I started looking for what kind of dresser or chest would make sense in this situation.

I was so lucky to find a good condition one for 10€.

I was on a budget, and because normal wallpaper appeared to have the wrong scale. After SO MUCH research and shopping around, I went with gift wrap.

The paintings are, of course, Vivaldi’s favourites.

The small desk and chair were thrifted, the box is his favourite box, and the little “rug” is a placemat that looks exactly like a rug I have in my bedroom.

The whole thing took weeks to finish, I worked on it in my spare time. It cost me less than 100 euros.

Vivaldi loves his little box so we just moved it into the dresser and it became one of his fav spots

My partner’s brother said this is nicer than his Paris apartment and they both don’t have indoor plumbing 😭

“With a major lack of storage on our boat we still keep these shelves clear so the cats can have a bunk bed.”

“I built some ‘cat shelves’ and a climbing wall for our new cat. It was a very easy project, but the cat loves it.”

I was worried when our cat wouldn’t use my shelves for the first couple of days. I was just starting to think about putting books on them when she decided to check them out. She’s been climbing on them ever since.

It’s much better to have her climb the wall instead of the curtains.

“Salamander can’t wait to show you his new cat wall 😍”

The wall sat unfinished for a week and he got used to it, but it just got finished up last night. I think he was happy and confused to see more things for him to trample around on. Love that little guy.

He’s still extremely unsure about it, but he’s at least curious about it.

“My brother and I built a house with heated blanket for a stray cat that roamed near our house for winter, but we got an uninvited guest.”

We actually built it with foam and hardwood boards.

“My dad built this awesome adjustable cat wall for my kitties! They love it!”

He’s always building wonderfully outrageous stuff for his grandkids and grandkitties.

The easily removable aspect is so nice. We had a configuration our larger cat was not vibing with, so we swapped things up to accommodate him and now he uses it all the time.

“We built my roommate’s cat a fort on our couch and it’s become permanent. She stays in there all day and has gotten mean while inside. She now hisses at and punches me.”

I know she loves me cause we play together, slow blink, all that kinda stuff.... But when she’s in the fort she’s a different cat, I miss the nice one 😥

“My cats using the cat shelves I built them.”

Top shelf cat always messes with the bottom shelf cat trying to move to the middle shelf lol.

They broke my 65″ TV when we stored catnip above it in the entertainment center, it wasn’t wall mounted though this is much safer. The black one, Odin, was on the floor in a pile of catnip rolling next to destroyed TV when I came home.

“Built ‘Cat Wall’ today. Nailed it.”

These are my first indoor only cats, and they are only 3.5 months old. They were climbing everywhere. We needed to give them safe and legal places to play. So far, a huge hit!

The last straw was a broken picture frame and glass all over the floor.

Room to play for both of them. But just like cats are cats, I found both of them sleeping on the same shelf today.

“I built a cat shelf for $80 and my cat is using it!”

It took me about 2 hours putting it all together and another hour installing it.

$8 for the carpet (15’x1′), $9 for the adhesive, $13 for 2 pieces of wood (6’X1′), $50 for the shelf hardware.

“I recently put up some shelves in my closet that always stays closed. My oldest cat, Ash, who always tries to find places to hide out and relax away from her two sons found a way in and looks so happy to have a new retreat. I put a blanket in and made her more comfortable. She looks so happy :’)”

I found her outside my house when she was a little older than a kitten, she moved in with me not long after and had two amazing kittens. She’s earned a special spot of her own for sure 😄

It’s funny you can buy the fanciest of beds and they’ll never use them, but give them an old blanket or some towels and they’re happy 😂