Plywood cat tree/shelving unit

[Cooop]

I am planning to build a cat tree/shelving unit for the corner of our kitchen. Its going to be 1.5m tall, 90cm wide and 30 cm deep.

The idea being is that the cat can enter by a ‘mouse hole’ on the bottom right hand end of the unit, she then has a series steps to jump up that go diagonally across to the left and back on themselves up to the top right where she reach the very top where her bed will be. A 15cm riser section at the top will house her bed.

The main structure is made of 4 uprights which are sandwiched at the top and bottom, shelves or cat steps then places between each upright at 30cm internals.

The bottom left and middle sections will be functioning cupboards, the bottom right will be a fake door for symmetry. The top middle will either be a photo frame area or another fake cupboard

Each cat step will have a section of cream wool carpet glued in place for paw traction and also sound deadening.

I was hoping for any input on 1) the project in general and 2) the specific worries below:

• I was intending on producing this all out of 18mm birch ply, I have some previous wood working skills but it’s not a material I’ve used before. I was not intending on hiding the edge of the ply, it would be a visible feature but I am a little worried its too much edge on show and wont look great.

• The unit will have a kitchen wall on the left and the back. The right hand edge will be visible and as such I would prefer not to used screws for each of the horizontal sections I need to secure. I was considering on using glue/dowels but a 1.5 stretch with no screws is making me concerned.

I’ll let the photos explain the plans….

 

[Mr Chibs]

What software did you use to do the drawings?

Last time I went to the merchants... birch ply was expensive, perhaps the elements that are being carpeted could be normal ply.

Have you looked at pocket jigs? Somehting like a Kreg... this might be a good solution, as you could hide the joints in the carpeted shelves.
As for visible edge... if you wanted it in birch, say, you'd need to be looking for birch edge banding, you can just glue it one... think some may iron on.

 

[Cooop]

I use Google Sketch up for my designs, its free for the basic version.

Cost wise I am looking at around £70 in raw wood, I'll need a new circular saw blade at £15 ish and then the Wax/oil on top which will be another £20 at least.

I did see the edge banding stuff but didnt look into it too much as I was going to have everything on show. The more I think about it, the more I think I will cover them....

I havent heard of the Kregs pocket jigs before so I'll go check them out now

 

[foxhole]

Rather large and elaborate structure for a cat box.
Cats prefer enclosed sleeping space so a top would help .
My dog could negotiate that , cats only need a couple of levels to reach ceiling height with their agility .

 

[Cooop]

I agree its not the standard platform cat tree style. It was an attempt to incorporate some functional room furniture along with a raised place for her.

The scale is deceiving, the arched openings are only 20cm wide, I could go smaller but I worked on a 30x30cm cube idea and it went from there....

 

[Ian H]

Be careful, we keep getting children stuck in ours.