Here’s a little Catification project that was featured in my latest book with Jackson Galaxy, Catify To Satisfy: Simple Solutions for Creating a Cat-Friendly Home. It’s a hidden kitty staircase that I built in my bedroom.

You can totally do this in your home, just take a look around for an unused space and get creative.

We installed some large wardrobe cabinets on one wall in our bedroom, leaving a space about 14 inches wide and 24 inches deep between the side of cabinet and the wall. I wanted to give the cats access to the top of the cabinets so I came up with the idea of the hidden staircase.

We also added a shelf running above the cabinets over to an existing cat tree that wasn’t getting much use. Here’s my master carpenter (and husband) Mark, helping with (okay, doing) the installation. You can also see where I planned out the hidden staircase on the wall using blue tape. I always use a LOT of blue tape when planning Catification projects. It really helps me visualize where things will go before starting to build.

You can see in the diagram above how the cats use the staircase. The shelves are staggered front to back, creating openings behind every other step so cats can go up and down. It took them no time at all to figure it out and they LOVE having access to the top of the cabinets, plus the cat tree now gets a lot of use as an alternative on/off ramp for this part of their Cat Superhighway.

We used painted plywood for the steps and the surface was a little slippery, especially for cats racing up and down, so I added some carpet tiles to the tops of the steps. This gives the cats plenty of traction when doing the midnight zoomies up and down the stairs.

I love FLOR carpet tiles, but you can also get carpet tiles at home improvement stores in the flooring department. Make sure to attach the carpet tiles to the steps with double sided carpet tape.

I often find cats sitting and even napping on the steps, since they make a great little hideaway, too. This project can be completely customized depending on the space you have to work with and the type of walls or other surfaces you are attaching the steps to. We used cleats on the wall and the side of the cabinet to support the steps, as you can see in the photo above. You could also use wall brackets to support the steps.

Read more about this project and get tons of ideas and inspiration for other great Catification projects in Catify To Satisfy: Simple Solutions for Creating a Cat-Friendly Home by Jackson Galaxy and Kate Benjamin available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers.

Read more of Kate’s cat style tips:

• Miniature Cat Lady Fashions for Barbie and Her Friends
• How to Create a Cat Climbing Wall With the Shelves You Own
• Top 10 Feline Fashion Trends of 2015
• Save Space in Style with These Wall-mounted Cat Scratchers

About the author: Kate Benjamin is the founder of the popular cat style blog Hauspanther.com. She specializes in helping people live stylishly with cats. You may have seen her on Jackson Galaxy’s show My Cat From Hell. Make sure to check out Kate and Jackson’s books Catification: Designing a Happy and Stylish Home for Your Cat (and You!) and Catify to Satisfy: Simple Solutions for Creating a Cat-friendly Home.