Welcome to the 878th Metamorphosis Monday! Yesterday, I shared a Before and After that I recently implemented in my kitchen to solve a problem I’ve been having ever since I bought a stainless steel refrigerator. If you missed that post, you’ll find it here: How I Solved The Never-Ending Fridge Fingerprints Issue.
In today’s Met Monday post, I’m sharing a few ideas I’m considering for sprucing up the kitchen cabinets for Christmas and another change that’s taking place in the Butler’s Pantry, an upstairs bath, and the movie room. Have you seen these adorable knob covers? I want to add a few of these to my kitchen cabinets for the holidays. I think my grandchildren would love them, as do I. I believe they are a silicone-type knob that fits snugly over existing cabinet knobs. I was pretty set on the Peppermint motif…
…until I saw these adorable Gingerbread House knob covers! If you’re looking for an easy way to add a touch of Christmas to your kitchen, you’ll find both the peppermint and the gingerbread house knobs available here: Knob Covers for Christmas.
So…remember those mystery holes that I shared a week or so ago—the ones the kittens found in the Butler’s Pantry and the upstairs bath? Pretty sure those were left from the renovations that were done in those rooms so many years ago.
I have a repairman coming out tomorrow to fix all three holes. It will be so nice not to have to worry about keeping the doors shut to those two rooms after tomorrow.
While the repairman/handyman is here, if he has enough time, I’m going to ask him to install a kitty door into the door that goes into my laundry/furnace room in the basement. Initially, I was going to go with this adorable door. I love the face/cat ears on the front side and the tail on the back! Soooo cute! Notice how the tail perfectly fits up the center of the door! Ha! This cute kitty door is available here: Cute Kitty Door.
But then I came across this adorable fairy door that stole my heart. I like that it can be closed and locked since the kitties are a bit too small right now to go into the furnace/laundry room unattended. But once they are bigger and their litter box is kept in that room, I will permanently open the fairy door using a little slide mechanism that’s built into the door to keep it in the open position.
I ordered the fairy door to see how it looks in person, and I love it! It feels really well-made! I’m a little concerned about how it will fit in my laundry/furnace room door since this door has been previously cut off at the bottom to accommodate the lower ceiling that’s just over the door.
There’s a large soffit-like thing that runs the length of the ceiling in this 1938 home/basement, and it ends up just above the laundry room door at the other end of the room. You can see the soffit thingy in this photo of the movie room below. The door to the furnace/laundry room is at the other end of the basement, just under that large soffit thing, so that’s why it was shortened at some point.
I hope that won’t prevent this adorable fairy cat door from being installed into this 6-panel, hollow-core door.
All the original doors in this home are solid wood and heavy/thick. I can’t imagine trying to cut a hole for a cat door into any of those doors! First off, it would not be easy, jigsawing through solid wood. Secondly, I couldn’t bear to cut holes into 1938, 8-panel, solid wood doors. That would hurt my heart!
But if it will work on this already-shortened, relatively inexpensive hollow-core door, I will be very happy! This fairy kitty door is designed to work well in hollow-core doors, so hopefully it will work okay in this shortened door, even though the area where it will need to be installed isn’t flat due to the door having been shortened. There may have to be some caulking involved—not sure. I’ll share how it looks once it’s installed, if it’s installed. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will work! Have you ever installed a cat door in a non-flat portion of a door, and if so, how did it look? This fairy door has deep side panels that are meant to hide the hollow part of the door, so maybe that will help.
Looking forward to all the wonderful Before and Afters linked for this week’s Met Monday! Like to know when a new blog post is up? Subscribe for email updates (it’s free) and your email will never be shared. Subscribe for free email post updates here: Subscribe.
Metamorphosis Monday: Metamorphosis Monday is a party that’s all about Before and Afters. Please link up your Before and After projects, like DIY projects, room makeovers, craft projects, and even recipes. Please do not link up Table Settings; save those for our Tablescape Thursday party on Thursday. If you are participating in Met Monday, link your post to the party using the “permalink” to your MM post and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on the name of your post, then copy and paste the address (that shows in the address bar at the top of your blog) into the “URL” box for InLinkz when prompted.
I don’t know which is cuter, the fairy door or knob covers. Do you have a hot water heater in the furnace room?
I would put something up to keep them away because cats like to go behind things and go to sleep. I would not let my cats go in the garage, never to be found again. It’s a big multilevel “dollhouse” Only one litter box?
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Myrna, keep in mind that I’ve had cats my entire life so I am super familar with their ways, including their potty habits. Cats are really smart and once they are old enough, usually around 4-6 months, they know where their litter box is, and they don’t forget it. It could be at the top of a 5-story tower and they would know where it was, if only by scent alone. Cats are very clean animals and they normally do not go where they shouldn’t unless they are elderly and starting to suffer kidney failure or have arthritis, or are sick.
I had one very large litter box in my home in the basement in Georgia and my three kitties who lived to be 16, 17, and 18 years old, never went anywhere but in that litter box that I scooped out regularly.
Again, if a cat goes where they shouldn’t, that’s usually a sign that they are sick or have litter box aversion. I know someone who adopted a cat that suffered with anxiety and she had litter box aversion because the furnace scared her. Once they moved the litter box to a different spot in the basement, she has done great.
These two girls that I adopted at 7 weeks are afraid of nothing! They let me vacuum around them and so far, are not even a little afraid of the furnace in that room. In fact, every time I do laundry or go in that room, they dart in as quickly as possible, busting to explore it. They do that will all four rooms in the basement. They live for finding new places to explore!
When we are in the movie room, I often open the door to the laundry/furnace room and let them explore while I watch.They could probably go in there now by themselves, but I’m going to wait until they are a bit older and are not so curious about everything.
They currently have full reign of the house, all 3 floors (4 if you count the office, which is on its own level) including the sunroom. They are allowed to go anywhere they wish, except the laundry/furnace room. Once they are few months older, that room will no longer be off limits.
This is the extra-large litter box that I purchased for them for that room: https://amzn.to/48kLICo. You may remember it from when I shared it in a previous post. It’s currently in the laundry room and they love using it whenever I open the door to that room. If you have cats, I highly recommend a Litter Genie. I just purchased a newer version that is metal and I love it! It will be the one that goes in the basement once their litter box is permanently in that room.
Well, shame on you, Susan. Now I have ordered the Gingerbread House knob covers AND the Fall Leaves knob covers for next Fall! I couldn’t resist. You are definitely a bad influence!
I’m a bad influence on myself, too! 😉
Those are just the absolutely most precious kitties!!!! Love seeing photos of them. I would want to cuddle them all day! Thoroughly enjoy your blog.
Your little scoundrels are absolutely adorable! They will love their little door (and the knob covers if they are in paw-reach!) You know, that door doesn’t have to go in the middle stile, which could be problematic. It might go under one of the panels to the left or right, it might work better and look fine. (And you know that the soffit is most likely covering the main air supply duct from the furnace to the rooms.)
Oh that little kitty door is the cutest!! And the knob covers – who even knew those existed?! You find the most adorable things! It’ll be nice to have the holes filled too. Thanks so much for hosting. Hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving week!
Susan, super fun finds!!! All of them. Plus, adorable kitty pics. Happy Turkey Week!
I’ve enjoyed the knob covers, but that kitty door (fairy/hobbit) is adorable! (I was wishing you’d repost some of the kitty things you’ve found.) Like you, I’m getting those home projects done – seems never ending sometimes but so gratifying when something is done! Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving!
Love those knob covers!!!
Thanks so much for hosting this charming party!!! I truly do appreciate it as I do know the time involved with it….I hope you and your family are well and enjoying your week!
Hugs,
Deb
Debbie-Dabble Blog
I can’t wait to see that super cute fairy kitty door installed. The kitties are going to love it. We had 2 dogs & 2 cats years ago and I wish something that cute was available. We had to put an extra long metal hook & eye on the basement door to keep it open just enough for the cats to be able to go down there, but the dogs couldn’t follow them – privacy please! LOL