What's that they say about necessity?

Ah, yes. It's the mother of invention. Well, I can't say I really invented anything, but the fact that my cats torn the every living you-know-what out of the ottoman liner made it necessary for me to replace it.



I've got cats, see. And these cats have claws, see. (I don't know why I'm talking like a gangster from an old movie, so I'll stop.) And cats with claws like to scratch things. They're *mostly* good about where they scratch since they do like to use the officially designated kitty scratching cardboard thingies, but sometimes... they go after the furniture. (see pics below with loveseat in the background - notice the lovely scratch marks along the bottom *sigh*)

I really didn't care that they torn up the ottoman liner. It's a cheapo piece of furniture from Target and you couldn't really tell the bottom was ripped out. That is, until the liner became so frayed that chunks of it were hanging down. The really funny thing is that once they'd scratched it up enough, the cats realized they could GET INSIDE.

Oh, there's not much a kitty likes more than a little hiding place in which to hang out and/or sleep. They all took turns in there until it became just too darn holey. I watched as Malcom climbed in—and then kept having an arm or leg come popping through one of the many holes. He gave up, and I finally caved.

I'd been meaning to rip out the useless liner for a while and after witnessing Malcom's frustration, I went to work. I had some random pieces of heavy fabric stashed away and found just about the perfect match. Although the ottoman is brown, the sofa and loveseat are a mustard yellow, so I figured it would work just fine. Plus, you can't really see it anyway.




So from the top, you have your basic ottoman. Nothing special.


But bend down a bit, and you can see this:


The tell-tale bump. A kitty has found the newly refinished secret hiding place.


Oh, Malcom was a happy kitty.