So, the other day, I noticed my cat, Whiskers, was looking a bit bored with his usual spots. He’s got this old armchair he likes, but even that seemed dull to him. I figured maybe he needed something new, something… round? Don’t ask me why round, it just popped into my head. Maybe because cats like to curl up.
I had a bunch of cardboard boxes kicking around from some online orders. Big ones. Thought I could probably cobble something together. Didn’t want to spend money, you know? Just use what’s here. So, I grabbed the boxes, a utility knife, and some packing tape I found in a drawer. Also found some old wood glue, hoped it wasn’t totally dried out.
Getting Started
First job was cutting out the base. A circle. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Cutting a decent circle out of thick cardboard with a utility knife is a pain. Mine ended up looking a bit wobbly, more like an egg, but hey, close enough. Then I needed walls. I figured I’d cut long strips of cardboard. The height? Measured the cat roughly when he was curled up, added a bit. Maybe about a foot high?
Getting those walls to curve around the base was the next challenge. I tried scoring one side of the cardboard strips, hoping they’d bend easier. It sort of worked. Lots of fiddling and adjusting. I started taping the wall strip to the edge of the base piece. Used loads of tape. Then I smeared some of that old wood glue along the seam inside, hoping it would add some strength once it dried. It was messy work. Got glue on my fingers, on the floor… the usual.
I didn’t make one continuous wall piece, that seemed too hard to bend. I cut maybe three or four sections and taped them together around the base. So, it wasn’t a perfect cylinder, more like a many-sided polygon pretending to be a circle. But standing back, it looked kinda like a round box. A rustic round box.
The Finishing Touches (Sort Of)
It looked a bit bare, just plain cardboard. I thought about painting it, but honestly, couldn’t be bothered. Whiskers wouldn’t care about the color. Comfort is key for cats, right? So, I rummaged through the linen closet and found an old, soft fleece blanket that we don’t use anymore. Folded it up a few times and stuffed it inside. Made a nice little cushion lining the bottom and sides a bit.
The whole thing felt reasonably solid once the glue had set for a while. Not strong enough for me to sit on, obviously, but definitely sturdy enough for a cat.
The Moment of Truth
Okay, so I put the finished round-ish box down in the living room, near a sunny spot Whiskers likes. He eyed it suspiciously from across the room for a good ten minutes. Typical cat. Then he sauntered over, gave it a good sniff all around the outside. Then peeked inside. Sniffed the blanket. Then, he carefully stepped in, turned around a couple of times, and plopped down. Curled up perfectly. Success!
You know, it’s funny. I spend all day working with complicated stuff, digital things, things you can’t really touch. Building this stupid, wobbly cardboard box… it felt good. Like I’d actually made something real. Didn’t have to debug it, didn’t need an update, just a box. Sometimes you just need to cut up some cardboard and glue it together, reminds you that not everything has to be lines of code or spreadsheets. Simple stuff works too. Anyway, Whiskers seems happy, so I guess it was worth the slightly sticky fingers and the not-quite-round shape.
