Litter Box Problems & Barn Door Solutions

No shocker here.  Our electrician didn't show again yesterday...even though, for the millionth time, he told our GC that he was at our house working.  So, since I have no progress post for you I wanted to discuss a small dilemma we had to work through for our house.  {And no worries, it's not that kind of litter box problem.}

In my “Surpriseee!” post I mentioned a certain little furry friend that completes me and Pete’s family. 

This spoiled little guy has his very own automatic litter box that takes up a pretty good amount of floor space and also needs an electrical outlet.

In our townhouse we kept it in our basement, tucked into a corner of our laundry area.  While living with our in-laws, we have it tucked away in the office.  In our new home we had a couple ideas of where it could go.

I am not the biggest fan of having the litter box out in the main living area…especially since our space is all very open and there are no nooks or corners to hide it away in.  I didn’t want to put it in the guest bedrooms because they aren’t the largest of spaces, and I don’t think having a litter box in there is too welcoming for anyone who is staying the night.  I definitely considered using the floor space in one of our large linen closets so that it could be on the main floor, but in the end, I didn’t want to give up the storage space, have to put an electrical outlet in the closet and cut a hole in the door for “kitty access”.

Pretty much the best, and only realistic solution, would be to put it in the basement.  This idea was at the top of our list, but one thing bothered us…we’d have to keep the basement door open, or at least ajar, so that Perny could get into and out of the basement whenever he wanted.  I didn’t like the idea of having a door opened up into the space, especially since our coat closet door was right next to it.  It created a lot of visual clutter, and I could see many people (including myself) shutting the door out of habit when they walk by and see it open.


Weirdly small coat closet door and basement doorway...the door has been taken off the hinges by our workers.



Another view.



And again.

 So there was our problem...next we had to come up with a solution.

Enter the beautiful barn door.

I fell in love with adding a rustic, unexpected design element in a modern space when I saw Candice Olsen add an interior barn door on her show Candice Tells All.

From here.

My Mom brought up the fact that we could put a barn door on a track and use it to cover both the coat closet and basement doors.  This would eliminate the need to leave a door wide open for our cat to access the basement and it would also be a great design element on that long entrance wall.  No longer would we need to have two doors smashed next to each other.

I was sold, but I was a little nervous that my hubby might not be.  I started googling interior barn door images to help me try and plead my case to Pete.  Here are a couple examples of what I showed to him...


From here.



From here.



From here.



From here.



From here.



The visual aids worked...Pete gave the idea a big thumbs up!  I was so excited.  Our contractor agreed to make the door for us and I started searching the Internet for a track system.  I came across the Box Rail Sliding Hardware Kit from RealSlidingHardware.com. 

Since our door needs to cover a space of about 5 1/2 feet, we need one of their longer tracks...12 feet to be exact.  Luckily, the wall this will be attached to is plenty long.

I know this type of design element might not be for everyone, but we are very excited to get it made and installed in our home!

{And I apologize if the whole cat/litter box discussion isn't your thing.  I know cats might not be everyone's jam, but it just so happens to be a dilemma of ours when moving into a new place.  What can I say...we are a sucker for this little guy!}

Yes, Perny had just received a haircut in this picture...he was getting ready to move from the townhouse to my in-laws!