How to Repurpose a Stool as Cat Furniture

Warning, DIY Project ahead! This weekend I decided to get some inspiration from Pinterest and create some fun cat furniture and cat towers out of old bar stools. I created two different styles and used mostly things I had laying around the house to repurpose.

Before I even finished the first stool Lulu was already in the hammock with Daphne not far behind! 

The best thing about these stools is that the humans can still sit on them. The cats took to the sisal rope scratching posts immediately.

Here’s how to make your own DIY Cat Furniture!

Gather Supplies

Rolls of Sisal Rope (can be found in the hardware section at Walmart); Staple Gun and staples (3/8″ or 10 mm stapes work best); an old winter scarf or blanket for the hammock; scissors to cut rope and blanket to size; string for attaching toys; toys; glue gun and glue sticks for gluing the sisal rope during the wrapping process.

Make the Hammock

Decide where you will put the hammock. I chose the bottom side rungs on one stool and the top on another. Wrap the material around the wood rung and staple it in place. Pull the material tight on the other side and staple. Then cut any remainder. To make the sisal rope seat, I started by laying the stool on it’s side then gluing the sisal to one rung and wrapping the rope around the other rung. Every wrap I applied more glue and ensured each wrap was close to the previous so there wouldn’t be gaps in the seat. At the end I glued the rope to the other end and stapled everything to secure it.

Make the Scratching Post Legs

Now decide how many legs you want to wrap. I wrapped two legs on each stool. Lay the stool on its side at a comfortable height. Keep your plugged in glue stick and scissors nearby. Cut enough rope where you can easily bunch it in your hand and hold it for quick wrapping as pictured.

Start by gluing the end of the sisal rope to the stool, then apply three or four stripes of hot glue to the sides of the stool and wrap the rope around the glued spots (pictured below). Continue gluing and wrapping until you reach the end of the rope. Glue the end piece to the stool and follow up with the staple gun. Then start again with another piece of rope and glue until you’ve wrapped as far as you’d like to go. Repeat with other stool legs.

Attach toys

I used thick string and tied it through the holes in the jingle balls. Then I tied a knot in the top of the string and stapled it to the back of the stool seat just above the knot to keep the string from slipping through the staple. I also used the fringe from an old scarf and attached it to the bottom of the seat for extra enticement. The cats were intrigued the moment I started attaching the toys.

Here’s the final product on the second stool.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please share your favorite DIY cat projects with us. If you are at home with your cat more and want to know if they are excited and love your project, we wrote this blog about knowing what cat tails mean!

Let us know what you think in the comments below! Would you like to see more Cat DIY projects from us?