This room took a while to figure out, as many things changed from the first measurements and placement.
The picture on the right is what they started with, and the picture on the left is the finished version without our furniture.
1st version had a different plan. Two adjacent spaces should have housed the youngest of kittens. First space should have been a space with units for the tinniest of kittens with a small playground around. While the second, bigger space should have housed older kittens.
The main playground for older kittens
Kitten ward
Kitten holding pens ![]()
We toyed with different ideas, but as time went by, we all saw that the space wouldn't be working as we had all dreamed. There was nowhere else to put teenage kittens, while the younger ones were placed in private homes of the volunteers.
The space itself was a nightmare with many alterations done in a span of 2 and a half years. The funds and the workforce were all limited, and the old house was just leaking everywhere.
This will be the first registered cat shelter in our country, a privately owned one at that, as years of trying to work things out with the government and city leaders have gone nowhere.
So most of the work was done by a handful of volunteers, and with funds gathered through donations. It was a cheap house to buy, and for numerous reasons that kept coming up during the years of slow development.
Everything had to be ripped out and replaced. The floors had to be leveled and tiled, while the walls went through 2 transformations and were still causing issues. Finally, the decision was made to tile the most horrendous wall, and we could start work on cat furniture.
2nd version lost the use of the left wall, so we had to go with a simpler plan and made adjustments to the spacing of elements. The space was too grey and dark and needed some love and light, so we decided to change some of the colors and materials used, which turned out to be the right move.
We were nervous about tiles and how they all hold, knowing how lousy that wall has been before, but the setup is now up for almost a year and holding strong. Drilling through tiles was easier than we thought it would be, and the tiles themselves made it so much easier to clean and disinfect.
We combined units for normal-sized cats with a few items from our BigCat collection to give some more space for the cats that would love to cuddle up together.
On the far right was a smaller corner unit, but we decided to switch it with a new and bigger one, our Wally Sharp Tower. It made sense to put an item that could connect all the horizontal levels of the wall, while giving cats a great nap spot adjacent to the window.
Some of the intended items had to be moved elsewhere, like the BNB units that were moved to the other room. The bottom ramp wasn't put up due to the electric outlet in the way, but we may add another longer shelf adjacent to the outlet and attach the ramp to it.
The smaller room is yet to be furnished with our pieces. For the time being, we refurbished and made custom cushions for cat trees and towers that were put there in the transitioning period. Little changes tied the whole space together. The final layout of that small space is yet to be decided.
If you want to check out with what they started:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.7470678096277323&type=3
If you would like to donate:
Udruga 9 života Osijek
IBAN: HR3923400091110475218
REVOLUT: LT353250091478443704 (@unabt2a4)
PayPal: 9liveshr@gmail.com
