Cat Condo

Step 6 Attaching the Shelves

Now it is time to attach the L brackets to the bottoms of the holes. The L brackets will provide support for the shelves. We purchased brackets that are 1.5 inches, but longer might be better. What we did, is we tore away some of the carpet at the bottom of the holes, on both the inside and outside of the tube. We then marked where we needed holes for the brackets, and used the drill to make these holes. We found some small bolts, and nuts to fit these bolts, and attached the brackets with them. We then glued the carpet back in place, to cover the brackets and screws, leaving just the tops of the brackets exposed.

The next thing we did was cut the shelves. This was easy enough, because ours were all 7 inch squares. We used the radial arm saw to cut them. Once they were cut, we cut carpet for them also. We left enough extra carpet that it can cover the outside edges of the wood, just as we did on the base, but on one outside edge, we left enough carpet to cover the bottom of the shelf as well. So we attached the carpet to all sides of the shelf, except for the bottom. Next, we placed the shelf on top of the L brackets that were sticking out of the hole. We pushed the shelf about an inch inside of the hole, to make it a little sturdier. We then drilled holes in the bottom of the shelf, for the brackets, and we attached the brackets to the bottom of the shelf with small screws. Then we took the extra carpet, and pulled it tight against one edge of the shelf and tube, and then in the middle, and then the other edge, and made marks, so that we could cut it in a semi-circular shape. Then we used the staples to attach it to the bottom of the shelf. We repeated these steps for all three shelves.