Meow: cats, condos, and crap

I know - an eye catching title right? A little mysterious, a little disgusting - like me I suppose.

Anyway, this is kind of an elaboration on a little project that we put together last year when we were living in the apartment, but it was always a plan for the condo, and now that we're here, I'm going to share how well it works, whether you have a cat or not (although it might help if you have one).

So, even before Michelle and I moved in together, Marty (her, and now our cat) posed two problems to me (who, being allergic, never had a cat): one being the obvious allergies, and two being the smell that everyone associates with having a cat in your house. I did NOT want either of those things.

We got over the allergies (I posted about it here), and I don't know if it's that I've slowly adjusted my immune system to Marty's dander, or we are just really clean, but it's worked.

That 'smell' however, came along with other things, all having to do with a cat litter box.

As much as it's nice to not have to take a cat for walks (although, being a dog person, I tried many times), you have a little animal in your home that doesn't know how to flush its waste down the toilet, and the usual means is something that looks like this:

Pretty much a plastic bin

I don't think anyone LIKES the way these look, they are just the cheapest and easiest things you can get. We, however, started off with a covered version of this (below), and it worked in the sense that it (along with the pine litter that we use) really kept the smell away. 

The bigger issue eventually became the fact that it took up valuable space in our one bathroom (which although it's bigger, we still only have). So - after some internet searches, and multiple ideas - Michelle and I decided to try out something a little different, and convert a piece of furniture into a hiding place for Marty's litter - pretty much give her a bathroom that we could hide in plain sight. 

What we came up with, was something that provided us with some seating, and a piece that MOST people don't even realize is more than a bench when they're here...

Just a bench right?

On one side, we cut a hole (I made it cat-shaped, just for fun), and added a plastic flap, to further reduce any smell that might make its way out.

The entryway

Inside - it's no spa, but it does what it needs to. We converted a rubbermaid container of the right height into a glorified plastic litter box, to stop any stray litter from spilling over the sides, added a re-purposed shoe mat for her to walk over on the way out so that she doesn't tread out litter. To stop the smell, we put the litter on the furthest end from the door, and keep a small reservoir of baking soda inside at all times.

The inside

Overall, I would say it's worked, and given us some space back, and when you live in a 1 bedroom condo, isn't that as good as gold?