cat cave

Upon moving into our newly built house last April, one of the first things we did was cut a huge hole in the wall. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. We took note during the construction process of all the little nooks and crannies that would eventually get walled up – free space that was just sitting there, waiting for someone to find it. The largest of these crannies, by far, was under the stairwell. While the upper half of the underside of the staircase was used as pantry space, the lower half was boarded up, covered with sheet rock, and left there to die.

So, what did we two DIY-ers say to ourselves? “Why, that space would be ideal for a litter box cupboard!” As the proud parents of three cats, we like to keep their bathroom habits as private as possible. Rather than leave the litter box out in the open (bathroom, laundry room, etc.) we like to keep it hidden…and, quite frankly, I think the kitties like their privacy. So we cut a hole (or two) in the wall. The first hole is about 2.5 x 3 ft. and is located just inside the laundry room, beside the door leading into the kitchen. It’s big enough for Trey and I to crawl into and leads into a space that’s about 3 x 5 ft., the ceiling of which starts at about 2 ft and runs to about 5’4″ (it’s under the stairs, remember?). The second hole is in the kitchen, just outside the laundry room door and is about 8 x 8 inches – and is the frame for the kitty door flap. That way the cats have access to the litter box under the stairs without having access to the laundry room and pantry. I hope that makes sense.

As I’m typing this, Roger has decided he’d be much happier in my lap – specifically sitting on my arms, effectively pinning me to the keyboard.

Where was I? Oh yes. So we cut this hole in the wall sometime around May. In September we purchased the sheet rock to finish in the space. Sometime around then, we also installed a permanent LED nightlight and a pull-string light fixture (one for the cats, one for us). But it wasn’t until December 29th that we actually started to make the inside of the litter box cupboard look like a real room. And it’s almost done! After being on our “to do” list for nearly 8 months, I can honestly (and without fudging the truth of our productivity) say that the cats will be allowed into their newly refurbished bathroom again before the week is out.

Now, we can’t just keep calling it a litter box cupboard – cause that sounds weird and uninspired. This new space is affectionately referred to as the Cat Cave. And every time I say that, the old Batman them song pops in my head…

Duna-duna-duna-duna duna-duna-duna-duna CAT CAVE!