Aby-a-Day – 27 July: Evolution of a Catio (Fashion Friday)

When I first moved here in 2016, Björn’s balcony was a rather Spartan affair.

There was only a wooden bench, a makeshift cat tree made from natural tree parts, a basket and…not much else.

It was pretty barren. Once my things came from the States, we put my redwood burl table out there, and my floor-to-ceiling cat tree bumped Björn’s old cat tree out there as well. The balcony was open to the elements, so we couldn’t keep much else out there, but we put a tarp over the table, and it was fine out there. And so were the cats…until Jacoby taught himself to jump off the balcony. After that, we had to keep the balcony door closed until we could get it glassed in.

Finally, May last year, we got the balcony glassed in. Jake was out there in a heartbeat.

So was Pyret. The basket on the bench was her favourite spot…

…which is one reason we kept her body there until we could get her cremated.

For a while after it was glassed in, we used it as storage for the chairs until we could get it organised.

Angel didn’t mind. She had sun and a cushy place to nap. She was good.

Even now, you can usually find her in one of the chairs on the balcony.

Either a chair, or the cubby in the cat tree.

Alfred…well, he tries to fit in there sometimes, too.

Logan also really loved the cubby.

Logan loved the balcony.

He spent a lot of time out there in the sun before he died.

Jake and Freddy love being out there, too…but they’re usually trying to work out a way to escape.

We got the basic layout of the balcony done last summer after the glass was installed, and we hung curtains and icicle and fairy lights, which actually give enough light to read by, but this year we have been focusing on really getting it set up to be a catio. I fell in love with this artificial pine tree at IKEA, and I found a reindeer hide for 125kr (around $14, about 1/10 what they should cost) which I love…but which sheds too much to live in the apartment. It looks great out on the balcony, though!

One of the biggest things we did this year is lay down wooden tiles.

Those tiles made a HUGE difference in the overall feel of the balcony. It feels warmer and more homey – more like a part of the house rather than “outside.” There was just one more thing we needed to do…and you’ll see what we did tomorrow!