Upcycled Projects Seen on Today's Homeowner

I’ve got a fun (and different) project for you that was featured on this past weekend’s episode of Today’s Homeowner TV!

The episode was all about upcycling and recycling! 2 of my favorite topics! I love recycling anything and everything I can, and part of that is reusing or upcycling things for a new life. Anyone who has an affinity for cats can appreciate this.

We turned this old hutch…

Into a hidden litter box dresser for an only-child kitty cat…

Upcycling at its finest!

It is a secret of mine to be a fun-loving “crazy cat lady”. But since my husband and I agreed to not have any pets, this dream will never happen. So I’m living vicariously through other crazy cat ladies who aren’t ashamed of their status.

The homeowner, Marilyn, of course got her inspiration from Pinterest. But we took it up a notch with its very own vent fan. More on that later.

After removing the top portion of the hutch, we cut a hole in the side of the remaining chest to the specs of a cat door. Then the whole thing was painted a grayish black color. Almost looked like chalkboard paint!

The cat door was installed, new cabinet and drawer pulls were added, and we even installed a motion-detector light to the inside of one of the doors. The cat walks in, light comes in! After a pre-determined about of inactivity the light goes off until next time! Oh and it’s battery-powered too.

The really cool part of the whole “cat commode” is the room-to-room ventilation we added in the back. It’s a fan hooked to a switch that the homeowners can use to “clear the air” for a few minutes. It exhausts into the garage. No worrying about the laundry room and adjoining guest bathroom being stinky from Angel the cat.

Since Marilyn was a conservation teacher before retiring, we couldn’t leave her house without helping make her everyday recycling a little easier. And that’s where the G-P-A above the kitty hutch comes in.

Dad created some simple chutes out of thin lauan that went into the wall between the laundry room and the garage. Of course, in the garage are 3 trash cans to catch the recyclables. We then used 3 more cat doors to close off the chutes. I printed the letters on printer paper and decoupaged them on the doors using matte finish Mod Podge.

I thought it was especially clever that since Marilyn is a former teacher, the letters not only stand for Glass, Plastic, and Aluminum, but also for Grade Point Average! 🙂

Since the airing of this episode, we have received a few notes stating that putting openings in a wall between a living space and a closed-in garage is against code. While this is not the case in every state, it’s advised to do so at your own risk. And whether or not you have cat doors in your wall, NEVER leave your car running in an attached garage with the garage door closed! Carbon Monoxide is odorless and can poison you without giving you time to react!

For more details on these projects, click to head over to TodaysHomeowner.com!

Thanks for Checking In! ~ Chelsea