No shop team is complete without a few furry helpers! Whether they wander in as strays or follow you to the garage from your house, they like to hang out with you as you tinker away on your projects. So why not create a cozy and safe place for them to enjoy your companionship!

The idea for a cat hotel came from a mother of two young girls after spending their summer volunteering at a local animal shelter. The bond they formed with their new feline friends inspired them to do something special for them to make their time at the shelter feel more like home until the day comes to be adopted into a fur-ever family.

With flat screen TVs now hanging on walls, there’s not much need for bulky entertainment centers so they’re easy to find either for free online or inexpensively at a thrift store.

The goal was to create a structure that the cats could sleep and play on so they cut some fun peek-a-boo holes on the sides of the unit with a hand jigjaw and removed one of the bottom doors to open up the small side nooks.

In the large TV area, rather than just add some shelves they decided to give the area more functionality with two posts that not only served as attachment points for cat hammocks but also as scratching posts once wrapped in rope.

You can either sew together your own hammocks with fun prints or simply use an old pillow case folded in half. Eye hooks and carabiner clips secure the hammocks against the posts and side walls.

From there you can get as creative as you want with paint and carpet patches to line each cubby. The girls chose a bright lime green color scheme and stenciled fun playroom-themed designs along each surface. The hotel was an instant hit at the shelter the the cats immediately checked-in to their new home and tried out all the play areas!

For more details on building your own cat hotel, check out the write up on Handmade Pretties!