Modern Wooden Cat Condo for Small Apartments | Stylish Cat Furniture Cats Actually Use
I Didn’t Mean to Become the Kind of Person Who Cares About Cat Furniture
If someone had told me three years ago that I would seriously study the relationship between "new cat condos cat tree" and home styles, I would probably have thought that person was crazy.
My previous requirements for cat furniture were very simple:
As long as the cat can sleep, that's fine.
Until Mochi showed up.
A British Shorthair with the temperament of a retired old man.
It doesn't like playing, socializing, or being held. Its greatest hobby is sitting by the bedroom door at midnight and staring at me as if I owed it money.
And one thing it is particularly good at is precisely targeting the most expensive items in the house.
The corner of the sofa.
Woolen shawl.
The Italian leather chair in my home office.
None of them escaped.
For a while, I even seriously suspected that it might have some kind of sensitivity to "expensive".
It was my first time buying a cat tree, and I was completely fooled by the pictures.
Really.
That classic grey plush cat tree.
The photos are particularly well taken.
Sunshine.
White wall.
A plush cat is lying gracefully on the topmost layer.
The entire scene looks like a page from a Nordic home decor magazine.
When the actual item was delivered, I was speechless.
That thing is huge.
And it somehow had the vibe of a 2009 pet clinic waiting room.
The most ridiculous thing is that Mochi doesn't even like to use it.
It would occasionally climb up and stay there for five minutes, then continue to burrow into the cardboard box.
Later, that cat tree gradually turned into:
- The place where I hang my clothes
- Cat hair collector
- The most unsightly thing in the living room
One day, my friend came to my house, stared at it for two seconds and said:
Why does this thing look like a children's play tower by the side of a highway?
I burst out laughing on the spot.
But indeed, I have begun to realize:
Many traditional cat trees are actually not suitable for today's homes at all.
Especially small-sized apartments.
A giant cat castle really doesn't fit in a New York apartment.
The apartment I'm living in now is not small.
But New York is a magical place.
No matter how big a house is, eventually one will feel that the space is not enough.
Especially after keeping a cat.
Cat litter box.
Air purifier.
Cat toys.
Scratching board.
Automatic feeder.
Add another cat tree that is two meters tall.
The whole house instantly felt like a pet boarding center.
And to be honest, the interior decoration styles of many people's homes have changed now.
People didn't pay much attention before.
Nowadays, more and more people are taking it seriously to do:
- Japandi
- warm minimalism
- organic modern
- mid-century
As a result, a big furry gray cat tree sitting in the middle of the living room, looking just like a renovation gone wrong.
Later on, I spent a lot of time obsessively browsing Pinterest to see how others dealt with cat furniture.
Then I found out that in many American households with cats, something has become quite popular:
Furniture-style cat condo.
The first time I saw it, I didn't even realize it was a cat's nest.
The cat bed at my friend's place looks like a proper piece of furniture.
Last winter, I went to my friend Emily's house for dinner.
She lives in Brooklyn.
The style of the home is particularly typical of a young New Yorker:
Old wooden floorboards, linen sofas, vinyl records, and warm yellow floor lamps.
Then I saw a very nice wooden bedside table beside her bed.
Walnut color.
There was a half-read magazine sitting on top.
There is also a half-drunk glass of red wine beside it.
When her Maine Coon suddenly emerged from inside, I was nearly startled.
"Wait a minute, is this actually a cat's nest?"
She was laughing so hard she couldn't stop.
Later she told me that many new cat condos nowadays are actually designed in the direction of "home furniture".
They're no longer designed just for cats.
But rather seriously consider:
Whether human beings are willing to look at it every day.
After I got home, I suddenly realized that I was more and more right.
Because in the past, many traditional cat trees often seemed like "pet equipment forced into the home".
But this wooden cat condo, on the contrary, will allow the cat to blend naturally into the space.
That feeling is particularly different.
British Shorthairs really love that "cave-like" feeling.
Later, I changed to a wooden enclosed cat condo.
Mochi went in on the first day.
The speed was so fast that it hurt me a little.
Because it didn't use that expensive cat tree seriously for half a year.
Later, I gradually discovered that British Shorthair cats actually really like:
- Semi-enclosed space
- Sheltered position
- Corner where people can be observed
- Quiet environment
Its favorite place is never an open area.
But rather:
- suitcase
- under beds
- wardrobe
- paper bag
- laundry basket
Cats are weird.
You might buy it a $300 cat tree, but it might not care.
But a Costco cardboard box can serve as a bed for a month.
So when I was choosing cat furniture later on, I began to pay special attention to "a sense of security".
It's not the case that the higher and more complex, the better.
It's actually the cat condos that offer a sense of enclosure that Mochi stays in for a longer time.
For the first time, I discovered that cat furniture can change the distance between cats and people.
This is something I never thought of before.
The old cat tree is placed beside the balcony.
So Mochi basically stayed there.
Stay far away from me.
But after I placed the new wooden cat condo beside my bed, it began to like getting closer to me more and more.
One early morning at around one o'clock, I was sitting at the kitchen counter modifying a jewelry sketch.
That day, I was drawing a ring with an emerald, but I wasn't satisfied after making four revisions.
The coffee has gone cold.
The whole room was extremely quiet.
Then Mochi suddenly poked its head out of the little wooden house to look at me.
The face was still that round and expressionless look.
But I don't know why, that moment really touched me.
Later, it began to get used to sleeping very close to me.
Sometimes when I get up in the middle of the night for a drink of water, it will still stretch out a paw drowsily.
This change is very small.
But it really will make you feel:
Oh, it's starting to treat this place as a "common space".
The most practical advantage of a wooden cat condo is that it won't get dirtier and dirtier.
No one ever told me this.
Those old-fashioned plush cat trees would really start to smell after being used for a long time.
Especially in summer.
Cat hair, dust and the moisture in the air all stuck together.
And it is very difficult to clean up thoroughly.
I even once vacuumed for forty minutes.
In the end, it still looked like a giant dandelion.
It was much better after it was changed to a wooden structure.
At least:
- It doesn't absorb much smell.
- It's easy to wipe clean.
- It doesn't trap hair easily.
- It doesn't look old very quickly.
Especially large cats.
when a cat like a British Shorthair with a solid, tank-like body jumps onto it, you will clearly feel:
Solid wood really is much more stable.
I used to be afraid that the old cat tree would fall apart every time Mochi jumped on it.
These days, a lot of cat furniture is starting to look more and more like regular furniture.
I recently discovered a rather interesting trend.
In the past, when people bought pet supplies, they took it for granted that they should "look like pet supplies".
It's not like that now.
Nowadays, many people actually hope:
The cat furniture itself is also a good-looking piece of furniture.
For instance, the ones that are very popular now:
- side table cat condo
- hidden cat house
- wooden cat furniture
- bedside cat condo
Essentially, they are all doing one thing:
Let the living space of cats truly integrate into human living spaces.
When I later came across some wooden cat condos in the style of Mewzoom, I could clearly sense that they were no longer very much like traditional pet brands.
More like home design.
Especially the design that can serve as a side table and also provide a cozy sleeping spot for cats is becoming increasingly common in American apartments nowadays.
Because people are starting to hate the idea that keeping a cat means the house has to look messy.
When I'm buying cat furniture now, I only look at three things.
First, will the cat really use it?
This is the most important.
No matter how good-looking it is, it's all in vain if the cat doesn't use it.
Second, can it be kept at home for a long time?
It's not "just bought and looks good".
But it's that after half a year you still don't get tired of it.
Many things seem fresh when they first arrive home.
Later on, the more I looked at it, the more annoyed I became.
Cat furniture is particularly easy.
Thirdly, can it make both people and cats comfortable?
This is very difficult.
Because many products only take one side into consideration.
But a truly good design should be one where:
Cats enjoy staying.
And people are willing to look at it every day.
This is the most difficult part.
After keeping cats for a long time, I have gained a new understanding of "home".
I used to think that home was a person's space.
Later, it was found that it wasn't.
At least for cat owners, it's not entirely so.
Mochi's daily routine now is really funny.
Start patrolling the bedroom at 6:30 in the morning.
Sleeps all afternoon like it's in a coma.
At eleven o'clock in the evening, it would climb into that wooden cat condo punctually.
Occasionally, only a round face would be revealed.
It's like they are watching me.
Sometimes I work very late. When I look up and see it curled up there, I suddenly feel that the whole room is particularly quiet.
That feeling is actually hard to describe.
It might be:
You've finally found a way to make the cat's presence in your life comfortable.
Rather than "stow" it away in some corner.