Cat Friendly
This attractive accessway to a litter box was incorporated into the whole-house remodel of a brick Colonial in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Molding above the baseboard frames the entryway through which the cat accesses a tunnel to the basement, where the litter box is. This keeps the homeowners from having to leave the basement door (to the right) open. Keep in mind when taking on a project like this that it’s probably best done by a carpenter or skilled handyman, because cutting through a wall is serious business and requires the right tools and skills
Designer Tami Holsten of Bear Trap Design got super creative when custom-building this litter box hidden in a bench in a laundry room in West St. Paul, Minnesota (this photo and next). “The space is limited so I needed to be creative and find the ultimate litter box hideaway for their two cats, Bud and Stella,” Holsten says. The bench seat lifts for easy access to the box, which the cats enjoy for its privacy, she says
Adding storage under a staircase during a remodel is the perfect time to incorporate a hidden cat box area. That’s when this enclosure was added to the custom birch plywood drawer system in this basement in West Grove, Pennsylvania. Designer Pete Cooper of Spring Creek Design says he likes to look for unused nooks of space for cat enclosures. “Under the stairs is a great example of a small pocket of essentially unusable space that is just right for the cat. This particular box was built to take advantage of such a space,” he says. The front panel is removable for access and is secured with magnets. Cooper says he started integrating cat enclosures into basement finishing projects when cats — whose boxes are often relegated to the basement — were displaced. Other cat box projects he’s worked on have included electrical outlets for self-cleaning litter boxes and night lights “for scaredy-cats.”
The deeper ledge inside holds his water and food bowls. “All we do is open the door to restock,” Kasha says. There’s a vent to the outside back wall at the end of the space, which is about 5 feet deep. “To clean the litter, we open the door and pull out the litter box. It all works great. No odors,” Kasha says.
This attractive accessway to a litter box was incorporated into the whole-house remodel of a brick Colonial in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Molding above the baseboard frames the entryway through which the cat accesses a tunnel to the basement, where the litter box is. This keeps the homeowners from having to leave the basement door (to the right) open. Keep in mind when taking on a project like this that it’s probably best done by a carpenter or skilled handyman, because cutting through a wall is serious business and requires the right tools and skills.
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