Project: A Better Litter Box Hider

How to hide the litter box more successfully:

Original box cover. Pros: helped a little. Cons: the front flap fell down a lot and lots of litter still got everywhere. Made in a pinch from fabric and trim, so not very sturdy.

Starting a new design based on this one. Thanks for the idea from the author whose cat looks just like Llyr except with extra toes. Instead of MDF I used particle board (1 4x8 sheet for $15 that I had partially cut down at Lowe's). I used gorilla glue as well as nailed the sides together while they dried.

Oops. Got excited and started gluing it together the wrong way, which wouldn't have been a big deal except I measured this one out so that Llyr's box would fit EXACTLY within the edges so when he kicks the litter out, on three sides it should fall back in the litter box.

Oops again. Sometimes my nails were a little close to the edge of the particle board and bulged out.

New jigsaw dad helped me pick out instead of borrowing his. Very handy. Notice I used the unfinished table as a work table.

How to cut a hole in the middle of the front: First draw outline of the entry hole.

Next, drill out several holes that your jigsaw blade will fit through. Mine are at the corners.

Place the jigsaw blade into a hole and cut from one to the next. Learned this in high school shop. Really glad I took that class and made a significant project. I was the only girl in my class and I made the biggest thing: a computer desk/hutch.  I am pretty proud of it. When I look at that I think, "Yes, I can build stuff." Ok, maybe I don't have all the handy tools that would make building stuff much easier and make the finished product prettier in some cases, but I do what I can.

Ta da! Entryway.

The top with trim. I used L-shaped trim so it covered the top and side edge. I made the top just barely bigger than the sides of the box, but it will just sit there, it doesn't actually slide over the sides.

Putting trim along the bottom. I hate cutting 45 degree angles. It is really hard to get them to fit just right. Used flat, plain trim on the bottom edge and thinner trim with rounded edges to cover the rough edges that showed on the sides and entry hole.

With two coats of "primer" . . . white ceiling paint left over from when my parents fixed up the house before we moved in. About to paint it Nottingham Green using a free paint sample from Benjamin Moore that I got with a coupon shared by my best friend, the queen of finding free stuff.

In place. The green is very minty, and in our cream/brown dining area I think it stands out a bit, but I could repaint it someday or put it in a room with a different color scheme someday when we move. Look, the exact fit worked! Only one side that litter can escape on, and I can just vacuum it up or use a scoop to pick up most of it and put it back in the box until it is time to completely redo the litter. Llyr is really messy with the litter. He kicks it everywhere, and then tries scraping outside the box to cover his waste. Crazy cat. I'll have to slide the box forward and lift from two sides when I want to redo the litter.

Realized that with rounded edges, some litter could escape into the back corners, so I taped up some paper to cover that. Not an ultimate solution, but fine for now.

I'm sure Llyr was flattered by this picture, but look, it works! He fit in the entry hole and used it fine, even overnight when I actually had the lid in place. After this picture I got him a treat to encourage him to keep using the new box, so he got excited and just jumped over the top edge, and some litter came out on his feet. But, soon I'll put a little mat in there to help knock some of it off, and so far it has been better.

All finished! Ah, much better, especially considering that the best place for the litter box is in our dining/laundry room. We don't eat in there a lot, but sometimes when we have visitors we do, and this will help hide it more nicely. I put up a tiny hook on the inside of the lid, too, and I'm going to buy an air freshener to hang inside the box so stinky Llyr won't make the box too bad for himself.

  Another project finished, finally!