DIY Quick & Easy Modern Cat House

This DIY cat house is a fun project that doesn't require a lot of time or money to create! Cats like to hide out and this rounded top gives them a little feeling of privacy. My nieces thought I should add curtains to the sides ...and they also gave me a lot of other tips. They wanted me to paint some fish on the house and also hang a string toy from the inside. All good ideas!

Materials

• a 12 inch by 48 inch concrete form tube (I bought one at Menards for around $8.00)
• a hand saw
• sand paper
• acrylic paint
• wood glue or other type of glue
• soft fabric for inside
• measuring tape or ruler
• *optional: small piece of foam for inside

If you wanted to, you could make 3 cat houses from the long tube. For just one, you'll need to take your measuring tape or ruler and measure 16 inches in from one end of the tube and mark it. Turn the tube and continue making marks at the 16 inch point.

Take out the hand saw and cut all the way through, using your marks to try to guide you and keep you at or around 16 inches from the end of the tube.

Next take the measuring tape out again and draw a straight line across the tube the long way (with openings at the ends) and then about 6 1/2 inches from that line make another line. Then take out the hand saw.

Cut the tube along those lines and afterwards you'll have a nice rounded piece to use for the base of the cat house.

After that's done you can take out your sand paper and sand the rough edges off.

At this point, I took out my paintbrush and acrylic paint and painted the outside of the cat house. Luckily acrylic paint dries super fast - so that was done in a matter of minutes.

Then take out your glue and binder clips and squeeze out a thick strip of glue across the middle of the base piece where you'll secure the main piece to it. Then set the main piece on top of it and you can use binder clips to clamp it down tightly as the glue dries (for me it took about 30 minutes).

If you have a piece of foam to add to the bottom, you can glue that on at this time or before gluing the main piece to the base.

*Please note: If you decide to paint the inside of the cat house - be careful! I added a bit of water to the acrylic paint to thin it out a bit and then painted it on. As a result, the rounded top began to expand and lose some of its tightly rounded shape. To fix this, I clamped the curved top down to the bottom curve for about 15 minutes and it regained its shape.

Add your kitty blanket and you are done! I didn't secure the blanket onto the base in any way as I prefer to be able to wash it whenever I need to. I hope you and your cat enjoy the new house! You'll have a part of a tube left over you can use to add onto the house or make something else with!