Cheap and Cheerful "CaTable"

Hi,
I love my cat (Nyx) but I'm often concerned she doesn't have enough to stimulate her in our flat. Then I saw the CaTable and thought this could be the greatest thing ever! Basically its a table with a built in section for your cat to wander and play as you work. unfortunately we dont really have the space/funds to invest in one so....

In this instructable I am going to show you how to make your own cheap and cheerful CaTable.

I must note this is a rough instructable as I am doing this to fit a table we already have but I have tried to do it in a way that if you are attempting this yourself it will be easy enough to make adjustments so it purrrrfectly fits what every table you have.

Stuff you'll need

A Table

Corrugated card.

I was lucky enough to have access to some bits large enough to fit our table but it would be easy enough to adapt this instructable using smaller pieces/cardboard boxes.

Glue dots

Double sided tape will do or even a glue gun but i was trying to keep this instructable as cheap as possible

A Craft knife

I cant stress enough how much easier it is to cut through corrugated card with an new/sharpe craft knife

Tape

a pen or pencil for marking

A ruler (not pictured)

Also later on you will see i used some pringles tubes as added support but this was only due to the curved edge of the table

Lay your cardboard on top of your table ensuring that the corrugated flutes* run in alignment with the table and (in this case) from below mark out the shape of the table.

Cut out this shape and use it as a template for another two similar shapes ensuring that one of them the flutes run at a 90 degree angle (so basically you will have one shape were the flutes run along the table and one were they run across the table)

This is important as the flutes will form a criss cross giving the top more support

Stick these two together to form your top

The table shape that is left will be your base

*The Flutes are the zig-zag of card in the center of the corrugated card as pictured

Take a long strip of cardboard, in this case it was 40 inches long and 12 inches high (10 inches plus and additional 1 inch on either side to act as a surface to attache to the base and top)

I used these measurements as i felt the height was high enough to accommodate Nyx as she wandered about inside the table. as it turns out i could have made it a bit shorter

I marked the strips at 10 inch intervals and cut out a notch an inch deep into the card.

I used this first strip as a template for another 3.

once i had four strips i lightly scored across the parts where i was adding a fold and then folded them into squares, taping them at the joint to act as four supports and attached them to the outermost corners of the base. as you can see due to the curved edge the front supports are a bit further back. this had the nice effect of creating another crawl space for nyx

taking another two strips i attached one to the back of the back most supports as this was going to be against our wall anyway and cut out an access hole* on the other and attached this to the front of the front most supports to maximize the inside space Nyx would have to wander around in

*I left in some bits at the top so Nyx can get back scratches as she goes through :)

Making sure it wouldn't interfere with the supports i cut another access hole for nyx near the back of the top and attached it to the supports using glue dots.

It was at this point i realised that the top needed a bit more support due to its shape and added in two pringles tubes which were handily enough the exact height and used glue dots to hold them in place.

And there you have it, one cheap and cheerful CaTable!

This inscructable can be adapted to fit any table i would imagine.

NOTES.

as i mentioned earlier i really could have made the inner supports a bit shorter but as it is the person using the table has to stand. mainly because this was a high table to start with.

The top can support a fair amount of weight but obviously not excessive amounts.

Nyx loves it :)

I hope you enjoyed this instructable and please feel free to leave any comments, questions or pictures of your own CaTable creations below.