Are you looking for a way to hide a litter box? I did a TOTAL MAKEOVER with this DIY and you can too! See how this project went from an old cabinet to a beautiful cat litter box furniture centerpiece!

If you found your way to this post, I’m betting that you have a furry feline friend of your own. Stick around while I tell you about mine and why we built this DIY litter box enclosure!

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When we decided to adopt a new cat just a few days after Christmas in 2015, I never knew we’d be driving away with TWO!

As far as I knew, they were all spoken for and we were heading to adopt only one of them. When we arrived, however, one of the little ones ended up not having a forever home.

So, we brought both home and now couldn’t imagine having just one of them!

Frosty and Bella made themselves right at home from that very first day… and still do as you can see.

Frosty ALWAYS wants to be in the middle of everything, including DIY home projects and be the first to play with toys we make them like this DIY Cat Kick Stick.

It’s safe to say he likes to get ALL the attention.

While I’ve been a “cat Mom” many times, being a Mom to two cats definitely comes with a few extra responsibilities.

First, just because the cats may be siblings – they can be VERY different. Bella and Frosty have two completely different personalities just like my daughters.

We’ve learned that they like very different things – different toys, different treats, different sleeping spots, and different types of attention.

But one way these cats are alike is they are both finicky, as the majority of cats are. Any time we change anything we have to do it slowly.

The same goes with cat litter or litter box placement. One thing that I learned when I started researching what I should know about having multiple cats is the fact that you should have a litter box for every cat that lives in your home.

This insures there’s ample space for each of them. In our home we decided to put one litter box upstairs and one downstairs.

But litter boxes are stinky, unsightly, and well, just plain gross in most cases. I have always struggled with litter being tracked all over the floors and it’s a huge pet peeve [yes, I totally meant that pun] of mine.

I also can’t stand to see an extra large cat litter box just sitting in the corner of a room. We tried multiple places upstairs but I never could find one that was just perfect… until we built our own cat litter box furniture!

What’s the purpose of a hidden cat litter box?

• The litter box can be put almost anywhere when it’s hidden. This cabinet is a beautiful piece of furniture now – thanks to this makeover – and you’d never know what’s actually inside!
• Litter box furniture actually helps control litter box odors. That’s one reason we use lidded cat litter boxes and then containing the box inside something else helps even more.
• Keeps litter tracking to a minimum. Our cat litter box enclosure is big enough to put one of these litter tracking mats inside.

Ready to build your own DIY litter box enclosure?

A quick search of cat litter box furniture will give you tons of options on how to hide a litter box and various cat litter box covers, but they can be quite expensive.

If you have that kind of money to spend on a litter box, skip the cabinet and go straight for the Robot Litter Box! We ended up putting one of these downstairs and it’s AWESOME! But if a Litter Robot isn’t in your budget, keep scrolling to learn how to make your own litter box furniture!

But we still need a litter box upstairs and we already had an old cabinet, the bottom piece of a 1980’s entertainment center, that I was using to hide the litter box out of sight, by strategically placing it beside the cabinet in our upstairs hallway.

Then I had an epiphany! Could I fit their extra large cat litter box INSIDE the cabinet?!

DIY Cat Litter Box Furniture Tutorial

It turns out I could!

But I was so tired of looking at that cabinet and it’s fake wood laminate that I decided to take a risk and see if I could paint it before I had my husband cut out the side, since I wasn’t completely sure if paint or primer would stick to the outside.

First, I filled all the old holes [that were used for shelves to hold VHS tapes!]. I removed the doors and hardware for easier painting and I started with a white primer. This is the primer I used.

Did I sand it first? Heck, no! I told you that building this DIY litter box enclosure is easy! It did take two full coats but it held just fine, even without sanding.

Once the primer dried, my husband took his jigsaw and cut out a large rectangle on one side of the cabinet. While you could probably get away with a smaller opening, we have an extra large cat litter box with a cover on the inside so it needed to be rather big.

Then I went to painting. I chose a lovely shade of a green that would accent our sitting area upstairs.

I planned on changing out the cabinet door hardware in the beginning, but I actually loved the old knobs with that shade of green so I kept it after all.

Tips for Transitioning Your Cat to their new Litter Box Enclosure

As I said, and you probably already know as a cat parent, cats are finicky so you definitely want to make this transition a slow and smooth one.

Before I even painted the cabinet, I began by putting the litter box inside of it, with the doors already removed.

First, facing the front so the cats didn’t even have to go inside the cabinet. After a couple of days, I turned the litter box so they actually had to step inside to get into the litter box.

Doing this slowly helps to cut down on the risk of accidents and your cats totally rejecting your new piece of furniture.

While you may not have a 1980’s Entertainment Center cabinet sitting in your home to upcycle into a cat litter box furniture piece, I’m willing to bet you can find one rather easily… and one that’s rather inexpensive too!

Browse yard sales, online sale sites like Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, and your Grandmother’s basement for some cool pieces to DIY and save yourself money AND the not-so-pretty sight of a litter box!

And since I know you are a cat parent, you might enjoy these other cat DIY projects I’ve done!

Make a Cat Grass Garden

Cat Gift Basket for New Pet Parents