DIY hat box cat bed for “Hug Your Cat Day”

_{Some items have been gifted}

It’s Hug Your Cat Day! No, I didn’t know such a day existed either until I googled it earlier this week. As if I need an excuse to hug my cats..! I think it just means that they have to allow me to hug them today. I’m expecting purrs and nudges rather than the usual ‘nooo mummy’ push-away, and the ‘too much’ scrabble when I hug Cookie and Muffin today. Although, have they been told that it’s Hug Your Human Day? I tried to have a word with Cookie about it this morning, but she seemed more interested in the cat crispies I was pouring out for her breakfast. Maybe the hugs will come later today? Perhaps they’re going to surprise me with a bombardment of double-cat fluffiness? I like to think they have been brewing a plan, just like they do on Mother’s Day…

Anyway, in partial celebration of Hug Your Cat Day on 4th June 2015, I’ve made my little furries a special somewhere to sit. Usually they hop into the caravan and settle down on top of whatever sewing project I’m working on so I’d like to encourage them to find a space of their own to sleep by making-over an old hat box and turning it into a cat bed just for them. A good friend gave me the hat box a while ago and challenged me to use it in a DIY project. I loved the shape and the vintageyness of the box so I knew it would be perfect for a makeover. I thought of using it as storage in my caravan but when I left it alone for a few minutes while I pondered my fabric-and-colour combinations, Muffin hopped into it and curled up. That’s when the idea struck me – all cats love to sit in boxes, suitcases, bags and anything round – yes, I’ve tried the masking-tape circle on the floor trick and yes they did sit in it! I decided there and then to turn my hat box into a cat bed and set to work on turning it into a bed fit for my princesses.  I began by cleaning the box and cutting out the loose parts of the lining fabric before laying it out on a sheet of cardboard, ready to spray paint. I used my go-to surface primer from Rust-oleum and coated the hat box inside and out with two thin layers of primer.

Once this was completely dry I started to spray the box a gorgeous shade of bright yellow. This colour is called ‘Sun Yellow’ and is from the Rust-oleum Painters Touch range. Again I applied two fine coats of the yellow spray paint, which dried to a beautiful sunshine shade. For the fabric, I actually found these spotty tea-towels in the pound shop and thought that they would be the perfect match for the bright yellow box. I bought 6 tea-towels (they were in packs of two) and cut two of them in half to line around the inside edges of the hat box. I used PVA glue, which I find is always an easy way to attach fabric to any hard surface and I stuck the fabric around the box with the hemmed tea-towel edge at the top – saving me time on sewing a neat edge! I cut out a circle to line the inside of the lid and left the box to dry completely overnight.  I measured the base of the box and I cut two further circles out of two tea-towels in order to create a padded cushion for the cats to sit on – they are so pampered! I stitched the circles together, leaving an opening at the bottom so that I could stuff it. I had an old square cushion pad which I decided to cut open and use the filling to fill the circle cushion. When this was looking suitably puffy, I stitched the opening up and popped the cushion into the base of the hat box. Literally minutes later – before I’d even finished cleaning up my sewing stuff – Muffin had hopped into the box and was investigating her new bed. She obligingly posed for a couple of photos and then turned her back on me as if to say, ‘enough now mummy, I want to sleep’.  She curled her vast fluffiness around and a big yawn signified that it was nap time, so I left her to it. Cookie also tried out the box later that day, after Muffin had been persuaded out of it with the promise of dinner. I think there’s no higher accolade than a cat’s approval so I’m going to consider my hat box cat bed a success! This cat bed could actually be made in an old suitcase, a storage hamper or even just a cardboard box and it’s such an easy DIY to do. Let me know if you have a go at making a cat bed for your kitties – I’d love to see your photos to please tweet me a pic to @Cassiefairy.

PIN THIS PROJECT FOR LATER…!

Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂