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This Cat Canopy Shelf dupe looks just as good

5 shelves for the price of one cat canopy shelf!

Our cats were to be indoors and we couldn’t fit both their cat trees.

To give them an indoor playground I began researching ideas.

I found a lot of very expensive cat playgrounds and wall mounted cat shelves — all very expensive and costly.

So when we saw these BURHULT shelves on sale in IKEA we decided to replicate our own cat shelves but in the style of the very popular On2 Pets Canopy Cat Shelves to bring color and outdoorsy look to the new place.

IKEA Items Used:

SIBBHULT bracket, white 7 x 7” – $0.75 each (2 brackets per shelf, so we used 10 for 5 shelves)
BURHULT shelf, white 23 1/4 x 7 7/8” – $2.49 each (5 shelves used)
LANGSTED rug, low pile beige – 2’0″X2’11” – $4.99 IKEA LAST CHANCE (Regular price online: $9.99) We used 1 to cover 4 shelves and we needed 2 to cover 5
FIXA 260-piece screw and plug set – $9.99 / 260 PACK

materials
OTHER MATERIALS:

Ficus branch 22″ from Hobby Lobby – $2.99 (used 2 branch per shelf)

TOOLS:

Stapler or hot glue gun
Scissors 
Electric Drill
Level Measuring Tool

DIY Cat Canopy Wall Shelves instructions:

1. Start with an empty wall in house, preferably with windows for cats to perch on; take a photo and design a basic plan of where the shelves will be placed per your aesthetic style. 

  • We placed 2 on each window ledge as cats already use the ledges as perches; these will serve as the lowest point to which the cats jump to from the floor so ensure that you have at least 2 low jumpable shelves before building upwards. 
  • Also ensure the design has multiple up/entry and down/exit ways for the cats to go up and down and not feel trapped by one way up and one way down. VERY IMPORTANT – they will not use it if they feel trapped having only one option up and down. 
DIY cat canopy wall shelves

2. Measure the placements on the wall for shelves, mark the spots where the brackets will need to be drilled in. Use leveling tool to ensure the placement is leveled. 

3. Drill the brackets into the shelves and to the wall using the largest FIXA drywall anchors and screws for most stability. 

  • We used the largest to support the weight of our second cat who’s a chunky 15+ lbs.

4. Measure and slice the LANGSTED rug into 4 pieces and staple or glue gun onto shelves.

  • We found that the LANGSTED rug measured perfectly width wise; we were able to line 4 shelves using 1 rug and used left over carpet for the 5th instead of purchasing another rug. 
  • The shelves will need to be lined with gripping material for the cats. This is EXTREMELY important due to how slippery the surfaces of the BURHULT shelves are. 
DIY cat canopy wall shelves
Creating the canopy

5. Using the Ficus Branches, mold the wiring of the stems to curve outwards and onwards to create a canopy and either glue to the shelves or push into the space between the carpet and the shelf if it’s tight enough. 

  • We chose to push into the space between carpet and shelves as we used staples instead of glueing the carpet down; this allows us to remove or change up the leaves according to season.
DIY cat canopy wall shelves
How long and how much did it cost?

Each shelf cost $9.99: $3.99 for the shelf and brackets and $6 for the 2 branches per shelf. In total the project cost $55, adding in for the $5 rug we found on sale. 

We went through a lot of trial and error to find these materials at the cheapest budget friendly prices to exactly replicate the look and feel of the $45 Canopy Shelves from Amazon which we fell in love with and perfectly matched our new home.

You are welcome to use more expensive or different colored/look of items as per your style.

What do you like most about the hack?

SUPER COST Friendly and aesthetic! We built an entire wall for the price of 1 of the cat canopy shelves being sold on Amazon! The cats love them and use them as perches. 

What was the hardest part about this hack?

Figuring out the placement of the shelves to make it look aesthetically pleasing, finding the right leaves at the cheapest price.

What to pay special attention to?

Positions of shelves and ensuring cats are comfortable with the heights and ways up and down the wall. 

We found that the cats have to be trained to jump up to the top shelf and down in order to familiarize them with the shelves. 

Looking back, would you have done it differently?

Perhaps purchased all materials in one go; it took alot of returning and trial and error when we did it one by one.

~ by Swetha Ram

The post This Cat Canopy Shelf dupe looks just as good appeared first on IKEA Hackers.

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