Cat Tree

This is a 5’6 tall cat tower with plenty of room for your cat to lounge. It’s got 3 distinct levels for a cat to rest, watch, and play.

12 ft 2x4

4 11.5x16 .5 inch plywood

2 11.5x11.5 .5 inch plywood

2 22x22 .5 plywood

15 inch diameter plywood circle

60 sq ft of carpet

Wood glue

Nail gun

Staple gun

Rope

Drill

Table Saw

Jig Saw

Miter Saw

Orbital Sander

Spray Glue

Sadly I lost the first drawing, but sketch out how you want your cat tower to look.

Using 1 12 ft. 2x4 we can easily cut out all of the supports using a miter saw. Then, using preferably the same piece of plywood, cut out all of your plywood parts. I also drew out the cuts with pencil, as seen on the plywood piece.

This part is tough. First, make a 15 inch circle on a square piece of plywood a little larger then 15 inches. Then using a table jigsaw cut out the rough shape of the circle. After this, drill a hole in the middle of the circle, and screw it into any piece of spare wood, not too tight, we'll be using this to help keep our circle in place while it spins. On an Orbital Sander, clamp down the circle and wood to it, barely touching the sander. Now just turn on the sander, and spin the circle until all of the rough sides are gone

Using all of the 11.5x11.5 and 11.5x16 plywood pieces, we are going to make a box. Keep in mind you most likely will have to take some inches of the sides to make them all fit together. Before we put this together, on one 11.5x16 side, cut a square in the middle. This will be our entrance. Now using a nail gun and wood glue, put all of the sides together into a box,

Now that we have all of the main parts, measure and cut out pieces of carpet. The carpet for everything excluding the 2x4 supports should have around an inch of carpet more on each side of the shape. For any flat parts, like the 22x22 plywood bases, you only need to cover the top and sides, no need for the bottom. for the 2x4's cut a piece that will wrap around it.

Since all of the carpet is cutout we can put it on their respective parts. Do this by using spray glue to hold the carpet down in the middle, and a nail gun to secure the carpet to the wood. The inside of the box is tough to do, but the easiest way for me was to spray glue down on the sides, hover the carpet over the side until it looked right, then stick it and staple it. For the 2x4's wrap the carpet around the wood, and staple it at the part where both sides of the carpet meet.

It's the final stretch now. For any bigger parts that are touching, make sure to cut the carpet where the two parts touch, then use wood glue to stick them together. After this use screws make sure those parts stay together. For me, it was easiest to screw the box and supports together first, then attach the middle rest, the top circle, then the base at the bottom. Remember that rope from the supplies? Now we use it. Wrap it around the shortest support, using staples to keep it in place. The way all of these parts go together it as follows ; the box goes on top of the shortest support and the two longer ones go on the side. The middle rest screws on top of the middle support and into the side of the tallest support. Then the circle goes on top of the tallest support, and it all goes on the base.

Now you've built a never nice cat tower. Good job! Some things a wish I could've done differently is waste less time at the beginning of the project, so I wouldn't have rushed to get it done. I also wish that I got bigger rope for the scratching spot. Other than that I am very happy with how this project come out. I think for my first woodworking project I did alright. Thanks for reading!