That’s not a title I ever thought I would be typing out. HAHA! As you know, Paisley redid her side of the room and it is FIRE. Della doesn’t care as much about her side of the room, BUT she did want to give it a fresh coat of paint.
During this process, I had a brilliant idea and decided to do a little something special for Della’s side too. Let’s take a look at that picture again. So you see the little door?
That used to go to a laundry chute that’s no longer there. In fact, there’s a whole opening that’s not being used behind this space! So I set out to make a secret cat house on the other side of her wall. STAY WITH ME!
The girl LOVES her cats, and I was pretty confident this would work.
We measured, created a template out of cardboard, and built a wooden box to affix to the studs behind the wall! This is not a tutorial, because most people don’t have a vacant laundry chute off a little room with access via a full-size door. (this used to be a bathroom that we demoed and will someday connect to the other bathroom behind it)
It would have been easier to paint and stencil BEFORE assembling and installing this house, but here we are. You live and you learn. Luckily I have a nimble little helper that can bend and stretch in ways my old self cannot.
Do you see that cuuuute little light fixture? It’s a little trinket dish I found at Walmart, and an rechargeable LED light that has a remote!
We furnished with a little dresser (that’s actually an old jewelry box from the thrift store), a knock-off American Girl bed that we spray painted brown, and a vintage doily from my stash for a rug. CAN YOU HANDLE THE CUTENESS.
Here it is from the outside looking in. WHAT A VIBE!
And to be even more extra, we put up a cat jungle gym all over the walls for them to frolic about. We even covered that unused door with a wall of carpet for the cats to climb up (which they do).
While there’s plenty of room in the cat house for both of our cats, Della can rearrange or take out furniture as she pleases! She already is planning to decorate for the seasons, and will be keeping her eye out for the perfect little Christmas tree to put in this upcoming holiday season!
I hope you follow us on Instagram (@Realitydaydream) because we will absolutely be sharing updates.
Head over to Instagram to see the whole process unfold in a Story Highlight that I saved in my profile, called “cat house”.
And if you love mini houses, you might also love the project I shared when I redid my childhood dollhouse for the twins when they were toddlers. Still one of my favorite projects of all time!
~Bethany
Swan says
Ok, so, not a tutorial, but how did you turn a trinket dish into a ‘lamp shade’? Is it just glued because the LED is pressure activated? Or is there a lighting kit involved? Sweet project either way; looks great and reportedly makes Dell happy. I look forward to seeing the holiday decor. God bless y’all.
Bethany Sy says
I used 3M double-sided adhesive strips to keep the trinket dish in place on the “ceiling”. Then the light bulb comes with a little magnetic place with adhesive on one side that I pressed into place on the trinket dish. That way we can take the bulb off whenever we need to charge it, and the trinket dish stays in place. Does that make sense??
Swan says
Sure does, thanks! I’ve had a larger glass bowl I’ve been wanting to transform into a ceiling fixture for some time now, but I’m leery of my skills at drilling into glass to accommodate a light kit. This glimpse ‘behind your magic’ lets me know I probably shouldn’t use tape for that project, but maybe something smaller and less breakable. Thanks for the info!