I knew we had irregularly spaced studs so was prepared for a tricky installation process. Ended up mounting and painting a bunch of 2 x 1 boards to the existing studs, then bolting the playground structure to those. It was harder than I thought it would be (old houses, am I right?) and added another $100 to the cost by the time I got done buying paint and stuff. All of this struggle was essentially self-inflicted, so I’m not blaming Catastrophic Creations for that.
However, putting the structure up sucked, to be perfectly frank. Getting the screws into the bracket thingys was so stressful. If I had it to do again, I would have replaced the screws that came with the product for something 3x stronger, bc trust me, if you’re using a drill with a screwdriver bit, you WILL be at risk of stripping those screws. In particular, the ones that are inserted underneath the brackets — nightmare. It’s nice that the piece is constructed to hide the **** head, but best of luck getting the angle right so the **** actually goes in all the way. Otherwise installation was a snap. But there were 15 of those dang brackets! I’m pretty happy with how it all came out. We didn’t get everything perfect and pretty, but I think the cats will love it (they’re taking some time to adjust to it, which isn’t too surprising). Idk if I’d do it again. It was so much money and stress. I did have room for pressure mounted floor-to-ceiling cat trees and probably that’s what I should have done. That said, this product is inarguably gorgeous — real wood, solid, aesthetic. So maybe once I’ve stopped feeling salty about the install I won’t have as many regrets!
Oh, and we are “saving” the floating sisal posts to install one by one over the next year or so, to extend the novelty factor.
Cats figured out it was a delivery for them before the box was opened. It was hard to keep them out of the room during the installation process. We will need to order a few more items when the kitten (not in the picture) gets bigger and more confident around heights, so we can mount a cat bed at the top to finish the original idea we had for it. We appreciate a thoughtful design and options for different setups.
The customer service was great, very helpful. The exchange and return of the items we could not use were very easy processes.
Hi Anna, we're thrilled to hear the cats love their new lounge! I love to see them exploring it! It's great that the design options worked well for you, and we're glad our customer service made everything smooth. We look forward to helping with your future setups. Thanks for sharing your experience! -Elexis
I love the design and look of this shelf and our cats love it too!
Hi Alyssa,
We are so glad to hear that your cats love it! They are adorable in this picture! Feel free to reach out if there is anything we can do for you! -Elexis
I’ll be honest. I bought this for my 1 year old kitten who decided he’d prefer to jump to the cabinet tops than his regular cat tree. However, this was the best purchase I could have made for him. He and his sister love this thing. While we intended to put it in our living room to deter him from the kitchen cabinets (open concept home), it was slightly too short for above the window. Make sure you find and measure all the stud distances before you purchase. I ran into non-standard distances between the studs surrounding my window, and the bridge ended up too short. We were able to use it as the foundation for their cat wall in our basement and can’t wait to purchase more!
Hi Morgan,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! Your cat is adorable and your Bridge is looking great! We are so glad to hear that the Bridge has been a good foundation point for your cat wall. Feel free to reach out if there is anything we can do for you! -Elexis
They love it! It took a bit to warm up to them, but now they know and love their new feeding bowls. And the bowls are up and out of the dogs’ reach!
Hi Dave,
I am so happy to hear that your cats have warmed up to their new furniture and are enjoying it! Your installation looks great and we love to hear that the Feeder Bowls have been a helpful addition. We look forward to seeing any future additions you may consider. - Alexandria
I wanted to hang some climbing furniture in my living room but didn’t have a lot of space. I originally looked at buying a scratching post, wooden bridge, and hammock separately but buying those parts individually is WAY more expensive and was about the same price as the entire expedition set (which also includes multiple other platforms and the scratching post and bridge are larger). Buying the condo sets is a much better deal as the price-per-component is far less. Thankfully, the set is extremely modular and I made a custom layout to fit my space. I didn’t use the entire set and put all of the extra components in storage and hope to use them once I move into a larger place that can accommodate more. I absolutely love the aesthetic and build-quality and my cat, Willow, has already found her new favorite lounge spot!
Hi Jonathan, Willow is absolutely adorable! Your setup looks fantastic, and we're so happy to hear that your cat is enjoying her new favorite lounge spot. Thanks for sharing your experience! -Elexis