Cat walk

Custom carpentry work in Jackson Heights, New York brought a one-of-a-kind elevated cat walkway to life inside this lively home. The project centered on a wall-mounted bridge system spanning an existing structural column and arched doorway opening — a tight, geometry-driven build that required careful planning before a single piece of wood was cut. The before state showed the bones of the idea already taking shape: sisal-wrapped scratching posts and wall-mounted perches were in place, but the critical connecting bridge piece — the element that would link the launch platform on one side to the landing platform on the other — was missing entirely.

The fabrication drawings tell the story of the precision involved. The main bridge piece was engineered as a single board running approximately 26 inches overall, with two angled miter cuts — a 45-degree inward cut and a 45-degree outward cut — flanking a 3-inch corner section to navigate the column's geometry. The launch platform called for a rectangular 10-inch-deep by 12-to-14-inch-wide shelf, while the landing platform required a half-circle notch cut to fit cleanly around the sisal pole's 10-to-12-inch diameter. Getting all three pieces to meet flush, level, and structurally sound across an irregular wall plane was the central challenge of this Jackson Heights custom carpentry job.

The finished installation shows the bridge seated cleanly between the two platforms, sitting proud of the arched column and flush against the wall-mounted hardware. The natural wood tones of the shelf complement the existing sisal wrapping and warm oak perches throughout the space, and the piece reads as intentional and integrated rather than afterthought. The dark hardwood floors and crown molding of this home gave the work a high bar for fit and finish — and the completed bridge meets it.

The result is a fully continuous elevated pathway that allows the cats to travel from one side of the column opening to the other at height, with every transition — launch shelf, angled bridge, semicircle landing — cut and fitted to function as a single cohesive structure.