Guest Post #1- Fancy Cat by Crazy is My Superpower

In February my love and I moved into a loft in Downtown Los Angeles. After all the pleasantries of moving, we became a family of 5. He brought along Scarlett and Cody, his 2 adorable/excitable English Cocker Spaniels and I brought along Lucy, my less-than-friendly-to-anyone-but-me, rescued feline. Needless to say, the transition was not pretty. For a while I feared that we would not make it out alive (it was not at all helpful that our ‘totally hip, cool, awesome, best place to live ever’, loft has no walls – so other than the bathtub, Lucy had no place to hide.). Time, turns out, has been on our side. My hopes and dreams of being one happy snuggly family are looking brighter with each passing week (for the record, I will settle for happy…snuggly might be a tad unrealistic). Here are the beasts in all their glory: Scarlett and Cody, posing for treats (hence the upward gaze) and Lucy Cat wondering what I am doing with the pile of junk on the dining table.

Now that Lucy is out of the bathroom, she has found her favorite spot atop some boxes of books that are still awaiting bookshelves. It is an ideal spot for her because the boxes are just high enough that the pups don’t bother. In anticipation of the arrival of said bookshelves, I have been searching for a sassy not-so-cat-bed-looking cat bed to replace her perch. In my search I stumbled upon this super creative and sass pet bed on Etsy, but it was not tall enough and it does not fit into my budget. So I decided that I would dig deep into my “I secretly want to have a show on HGTV” file and make it myself.
I already had a vintage suitcase (complete with tattered travel tags and luggage stickers) and found some old parts of a staircase railing at my favorite salvage yard  for $10 (do yourself a favor and go – it is a wonderland of things just waiting to made into something fabulous – Alejandro is the name of the owner and he is delightful!). I also happened to have an old “antiquing paint kit”, an extra pillow, some scrap wood, sand paper, drill and a super-cute unused shower curtain (not pictured). I was ready to go!

I started out working on the legs that will keep Lu a safe distance from the pups. I washed them off with soap and water, dried them and measured how tall I wanted them to be. When I asked my love if he had a saw, I was expecting an old school handsaw – clearly I was wrong, he busted out a serious power saw and insisted that he help (I was very appreciative). He helped me cut the legs and then I was ready to paint. The antiquing kit was older than I thought and therefore did not really cover the best, but I decided that I liked the distressed look and went with it.

While the legs were drying I took the suitcase apart at the hinges and placed the scrap wood (which I got cut at the Home Depot) in the bottom. This gave me a solid base to attach the legs to (another brilliant suggestion by my love – as you can tell, this was quickly becoming a group project.). Once the legs were dry and the wood secure we attached the legs with a drill and long screws.

Almost done…I made a basic pillowcase out of the cloth shower curtain that I had (sturdy and washable) and stuffed it with an old pillow. Pillow went in the suitcase and poof I had my sassy not-so-cat-bed-looking cat bed. I placed it over by the current box perch so that Lucy would be able to get used to it over the next week or so. I thought it needed one more fancy touch so I used an adorable bird tag from Mommy Holly, busted out the good old typewriter and made Lucy her own tag to go with the tattered ones on the suitcase. As of now she is not sure about the whole thing, but give her a few days and she will be hooked, I am sure of it! I am hoping to cut the legs down a bit more once she gets used to it and the dogs are a little less interested in her.

So there you have it…a fancy bed for a fancy cat! I can still picture our happy AND snuggly family (hey, a girl can hope, can’t she??). It has been so splendid to fill in for Fancy Kimmie today, thanks for reading! Feel free come visit me in my crazy world sometime…Happy Monday everyone!!!