Fed up with your cat making mincemeat of your crafting materials? Don't want to buy yet another toy to help deal with those scratching urges?
Marianne Kirby has written a great how-to for sprucing up an old scratching post that's already been ripped to smithereens by your pet's darling paws. You'll never need buy another one, and there's far less waste.
Follow the jump for pics and instructions.
[Via Reclaimed Whimsy]
First, remove the staples that are holding the carpet to the post. A pair of plyers comes in useful for this.
Use your scrap to measure out a new piece of carpet.
We got our carpet at Home Depot - we got a roll that measures 12ft by 1ft for under five dollars and now we have more carpet for creating a cat wonderland - if we can ever decide where to put something like that.
Use a box cutter to cut the new piece of carpet. It is a lot easier to cut most carpets from the backside, just as if you were cutting monster fur. Remember to have something sturdy, like a scrap of wood, under your carpet when you are cutting or you might wind up having to repair your floor. That would be bad.
Make sure your piece of new carpet fits. Use a heavy duty staple gun to attach the new carpet. Staple vertically along the new seam. Try to sink the staples into the pile of the carpet.
Then, if your cats roll that way, rub the carpet with catnip and sit back to let them explore it.
If you don't have a scratching post, consider getting a 4x4 post from Home Depot and covering it with carpet. You don't need to make a stand but even that isn't difficult.
Providing your cats with a scratching surface will help prevent them from scratching up your furniture of carpets, and will keep them a lot happier. Both of which are good things.
For more of Marianne's creations, visit her Etsy shop Reclaimed Whimsy
