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We had this long blank wall in our entryway that was begging for some decor. We don’t have many good places for Ellie’s litter box in our house, so I thought this would be the perfect place to hide it.
The first thing we did when we moved in was put up a coat rack/picture frame ledge here, that was very functional but it just looked so messy because it was rarely ever “perfectly styled” like you would see in a magazine.
I was worried about the smell of the litter box when you first come in the door, but if it is scooped every day it is fine. We also only have 1 cat which helps.
I drew up some plans and got to work building a bench box that would fit the litter box we had.
Most of this was put together with pocket holes, this is what I ended up with on the end of day 1. I don’t have exact plans for this build because it was one of my first builds and wasn’t as sturdy as I would have liked.
I cut down 1x2s to use as the wood slats and painted the sides of them before installing, that way I’d only have to worry about painting the front of them after installation instead of painting in between the slats. I didn’t want it to be a solid box because I wanted light to be able to go in through the slats so Ellie could see.
I didn’t want to drill a million pocket holes because I had this tiny pocket hole jig back then and it would have taken forever, so I used a nail gun sideways instead. I wouldn’t recommend. I made sure to keep my fingers far away from where I was shooting the nails in at.
If I did this build again, I’d use pocket holes. I had these slats pop out every once in a while and the whole bench just wasn’t that sturdy. But I’m so glad I built this, I learned a lot in the process!
Once those were all installed I spray painted this bench in an antique white spray paint.
I put the top together with picket holes as well using 1x5x8 common board cut down to size, making it big enough for some of the top to hang off about an inch on the front and sides.
I distressed the top before staining it to make it look warn. I used a wire brush attachment for my drill and a hammer. I used Special Walnut stain for the top.
I used a sheet of 1/2in plywood for the bottom. I cut it down to the exact size of the bottom.
I attached it with corner brackets on the inside.
In order for the back to be strong enough to hold the top with hinges, I added some back supports to make it stronger. I didn’t add wood slats to the back because it would be against the wall.
I caulked the inside of the bottom to make it stronger and so litter wouldn’t fall out of the bottom.
The top was just attached with these hinges. I tried ordering some soft close hinges for the top but the way I built this with the wood slats, they didn’t work. But this lasted us a few years and worked great for the litter box! Mia was able to scoop it easily every day.
I left the coat rack for now, but just tried to keep the big coats in the coat closet instead of on this rack.
You’ll notice I replaced the builder chandelier with this beaded chandelier I found at World Market. I still love it to this day!
Before the entryway, the litter box was in our master bathroom under our built in shelving space. No matter how many mats we put in front of it or how much the Roomba ran there would still be litter on the floor when you stepped out of the shower and it sticks to you like clay. So frustrating! I obviously didn’t want it in our dining room and definitely not the living room where we spend the most time. The laundry room would be a good spot if ours was big enough, but it’s just big enough for our washer and dryer and that’s about it.
I know there are big opinion about litter boxes. Where you should put them, where you should NOT put them. As long as Mia stays on top of scooping it and the litter gets changed out every month this works for us without smelling like a litter box as soon as you walk in my door. I do have to get on to Mia sometimes because she “forgets”. They also have furniture you can buy to house/hide the litter box.
Where do you keep your litter box?
Entryway links can be found here.
Next up, I replaced this litter box bench with a whole built-in, mud room style.
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