craftgrrl | The Kitty Condo Project

I love looking at the designs of various different kitty condos that are sold in pet supply stores. And usually, taller is "better," if only judging by what's also more interesting. I mean, a simple round, one-level covered in carpet is little more than a hard-framed "princess bed" with one way in or out, and not high enough off the ground to get interesting.

Of course high enough to get interesting also means you have to keep it away from places your feline companion may wish to climb/jump onto from their condo...

Supplies needed for this condo:
two complete and relatively clean banana boxes
a sharp blade for cutting

I won't go into detail as to why I was discouraged from using "just any old boxes" for my project. Let's just say that since she'd been biting off (but not eating!) bits of the first play box I gave her, it was suggested I only use ones food came in. And banana boxes are not only very strong (the bottom halves are, not the lids), but you can be certain that the local seller will have more than one to get rid of daily.

BBC 1

A "boring" side; one square cut door added since the last posting. Sweet Autumn Cloud shown walking behind her new condo.

Main access port: still the center-top square, which actually looks like a paler square here. Secondary access port is the cut that shows the top of the bottom box.

Heh... the long, made for kitty's arms to poke through port. Mind, those "air holes" on the bottom box go all the way through, and the kitty can poke through just about to her shoulder...

Shown on the fourth side is the original hole I cut into her first banana box. The darker inside, the "floor" of her lower box is the good side of her first play box, to keep toys getting stuck under the box.

Closeup of the top entries. The lower one shows the top of the bottom box, with the "floor" of the old shelf-box that was her first play box.

Sweet Autumn Cloud trying to help me show off the condo! Sitting on the first level, she's got her upper body in the top half.

Now only her head is in the upper level, with the rest of her comfortably curled on the main level.

Showing off the square-cut entrance.

Showing off the first-cut main level entrance. The kitty was unwilling to show off the entrances on the upper level, moving through or retreating back from them before the camera would catch her... naughty kitten!!!

The bottom level is a top and bottom of a banana box, with about 2" cut off of the bottom edge of the lid. You can see it's missing the red triple-stripe on the lower half. The UPPER half's banana box lid is missing the top, so that it's an open square slid down part over the bottom but mostly around the top half. This keeps the top box in place, so that leaning against it from the inside or out will not topple the top box right off the main level. This also means you COULD add more levels if you wished, but if I did, I'd slip something heavy into the main level to keep it from tipping over. Like a marble tile...

If you try something like this, I'd love to see it...