Some of you might remember this project from a few years ago, but I thought it was worth sharing again! Jayne from Like Kittysville designed this fabulous climbable Christmas tree for her kitties. Here’s what Jayne had to say:
For years I’ve missed using my vintage aluminum Christmas tree, but don’t miss the kitty havoc that was decimating the tree and its vintage ornaments. I wanted a tree that’s not just cat-proof but cat-inviting. This tree has a Jetsons space-age look but is quite practical. It can be climbed but not knocked over. It can hold gifts, which saves floor space. The ornaments are cheap and easily replaced.
The tree is made of a single sheet of MDF (medium-density fiberboard). Its pieces slide together without any hardware, yet the assembled tree is as sturdy as a bookshelf. Its flat back can be placed against a window or wall.
The five shelves feature staggered semicircular cutouts which allow kitties to jump from one shelf to another. The shelves could also hold cushions for kitty naps. Styrofoam balls are the ornaments shown, but any kitty toys could be hung from strings threaded through holes in the MDF. After Christmas the tree can be taken apart and stored flat.
Finished size: 6 feet tall x 4 feet wide x 2 feet deep. Stored size: 6 feet x 2 feet x 3 inches.
For do-it-yourselfers, Jayne has made the pattern and instructions for making the tree available for download, just click here to get the pdf. Thanks, Jayne!
That is so ingeneous! Stylish and beautiful, saves trees, and cat-attractive as well — what’s not to love, for the Christmas celebrators out there and their beloved cats?!!
Yes, I remember this. In fact, I was just thinking about it the other day! I thought “I wonder if I still have the instructions?”
Glad you posted it again. It’s wonderful.
Oh, I just had to comment on this! I used the posted plans and had a carpenter make this for us a few years ago. It was a surprise for my husband, who had a trip right before Christmas. We hadn’t put up our artificial tree for the several years prior because our 7 cats kept knocking it over. So my husband came home to this!
A few things I note: the carpenter said it was a bit difficult to fit together (I don’t know if that’s always the case or if they didn’t cut as precisely as they needed to), so he recommend we not take it apart again — plus then he painted it while together, so the paint dried that way and it would have been bad if we pulled it apart then.
I decorate it with small unbreakable wrapped gifts, and battery-operated tealights. Oddly, the cats really haven’t jumped on it much, but I have the comfort of knowing that they can if they want to, and they won’t hurt anything!
Thanks to the original creator for generously sharing the plans!
Thank you for this lovely tree! We are homeless right now (landlord sold building evicted all tenants) my Ziggy is being well cared for by friends until we are rehomed. As soon as we are together again Im going to make this for him! Merry Christmas and May Ceiling Cat bring us all A Better New Year!
I will be making two versions. One with green paint for the holiday season, and one with a nice neutral paint for the rest of the year. They will make a fine cat stacker for the corner of my integration space.
Thanks for sharing the design.
fostering in Mass-achoo-setts
very cute… this might be a tree I keep up all year.
what a cool idea. thanks for posting the pattern!!
genius!
The tree is great. The directions fall short of explaining where the cuts should be (no dimensions) on the shelves. It was a struggle but I finally got it close enough. Not for someone who is not experienced or suggest you have a geometry major assist.