Jungle Room and Cool Cat Perch

Wendy's Jungle Room and Cool Cat Perch

I received a fun call to see if I would come redecorate a room in a family’s home just for their four cats. I usually get the call to decorate a house, but not just for a family pet. I loved the idea, and of course I jumped at this opportunity!

I met with the family and decided on a jungle theme. The room to be decorated was a small one, not much bigger than a large closet, so I really had to be creative with the space. The family had the room painted and floored to my design specifications, leaving me one day to come in and finish the room transformation. Let me share with you the basics for the room, and then I will teach you how to make my cool cat perch.

Wendy’s Jungle Room

Before I start a room project, I always do a mock room on paper, and my favorite site to use is arrangearoom.com. This is a free site, easy to use, and it helps you create a very professional looking design.

Our first step in creating our jungle room was to deal with the current walls and flooring. The old paint was removed, and a fresh coat of medium green was applied. The original flooring was old concrete, so we had it thoroughly cleaned and let it dry out. Now the room was basically ready for transformation.

I came in and did a process called Tatouage® on the walls. It's like applying a mural piece by piece, and I selected my designs from the animal patterns and jungle theme category at the TatouageDesigns.com. The patterns were inexpensive, beyond easy to apply and took no time at all. The neat thing about this product is that you can apply a few pieces to accent a space, or you can cover an entire wall. It all depends on your budget and your vision of the finished room. I have TATOUAGE® in my home and every time I have guests over they can’t believe I did this until I show them the website.

For the new cat-friendly flooring, we had wall to wall Sea Grass installed. Cats love to scratch the Sea Grass, and it will last a long time working double duty as a toy/scratching post. I added a watering system called The Drinkwell®. I told my clients they would not have to worry about water every three hours as this will hold a full day's worth of running water. This system not only provides fresh running water, the sound of the "river" added a new dimension to our jungle room, really bringing it to life. I set up a feeding station near the water/river, added a litter tray, and I was now ready to make my cool cat perch.

Wendy's Cool Cat Perch

Supplies Needed

• Wood cut to the desired size of your finished perch: I selected 12 inch widths, but you can make your perches any size you choose. No sanding necessary.
• Fabric: You'll need enough fabric to cover your wood board. If you plan to make more than one perch, buy more fabric. Select patterns that accent your overall room theme.
• Quilt batting: This will be used beneath the fabric to provide a little cushioning to the perch.
• A professional staple gun and plenty of staples: This is what you'll use to secure the batting and the fabric to the board.
• Utility brackets: These will help you secure your perch base into position. Choose wood or metal, whichever best suits your design.

Directions

Once you have all your supplies, you are ready to make and hang your cool cat perches. I hung several at different heights and made them different sizes to give the cats the choice to sit together or alone.

• First, wrap the batting around the wood, and then pull tight. Staple this in place on the underside of the wood board, pulling smooth and tight before you do. You can control the amount of cushion with how many times your wrap the batting around, but don't go overboard or your perch base will be too bulky.
• Next, lay your fabric out face down, and set your perch on top of it in the middle, leaving the stapled side up. Beginning with one long side, fold the fabric over the edge and begin stapling it to the board. Move to the opposite side, pull the fabric up tight and completely staple this side as well, but you'll want to overlap the staples from the other side. Tuck the fabric in from each short end, making sure it is snug and then staple it securely.
• Finally, attach your brackets to your base, and then screw the brackets to the wall, taking care that your perch is basically level.

Once you have made all your different perches/boards, you are ready to hang them all around your new space. Again, have fun with this. It has been two weeks now, and my client has called me a few times to let me know they are beyond happy. My next project for them will be creating a doggie playroom. I can't wait to get started!

“Remember the animals in your life are not just your pets they’re your friends” WNR

Previous Tips

• Drinking Fountain for Your Cat
• Dental Health Month
• Tips on Dealing with Cat Allergies
• What To Do When Kitty Brings Home a Gift
• Solutions for Refreshing Your Home