Monday 25 November 2013

Repairing the sun lounge

The sun came out today, so I took the opportunity to do a little job. Another one crossed off the list. These wooden shelves came free of charge from the B & Q warehouse where I used to work. Luckily they fitted into my estate car for transportation home. I must have had them for six years, no sign of rot yet, and they make a handy storage area for garden paraphernalia.
I tacked some thick plastic sheeting on the back, and the sides and top are covered with shrink wrap, that's like a giant roll of cling film. I last did it about a year ago, and now it needs replacing, so the old was stripped off, and the new wrapped around it.
 I tilted it forward and laid it front down on the ground, then went round and round it with the wrap, lots of times so it is quite thick. This stuff is tough, and lasts ages. I have three rolls of it, acquired from various places. If you see any at a car boot sale, buy it, it has lots of uses.

The blue basket trays make comfy beds for the cats, lined with an old curtain. This part of the garden gets most sun, and this makes a cosy little hideaway. I put the beds on different shelves because they are not best friends. They tolerate each other, but often eye each other up with suspicion.

 Heidi is watching all this activity from a distance.

Then she decides she likes the look of the upper level.
That's two happy cats now that their sun lounge has been repaired.
Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip

13 comments:

  1. Love it! Mind if I copy it for our multifarious moggies? I have some spare shelves, I have some mushroom & fruit trays & plenty of old curtains & blankets, even a sunny spot or two that isn't filled with edible plants; now to hunt for some shrink-wrap! (Though pro-tem I have some clear tarp and/or a large roll of bubble wrap.) Anything that encourages the old girls out into the garden when the weather's not tropical would be a Good Thing...

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    1. Go for it, they will love a sheltered spot. Mine use it in the rain as well, as it's waterproof and the beds stay dry.

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  2. That's a very clever idea. You are such an inventor!!

    How do the cats get up? Do they jump straight into the narrow ledge?

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    1. Hi. They jump straight up to the third shelf up, and then onto the top shelf if they want to go higher. Sometimes they use this to get onto the garage roof. There is a six foot high wooden fence at the bottom of the garden, they can easily climb that to visit the garden on the other side.

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  3. Bless em, how sweet. We use that cling film/shrink wrap for wrapping around unitainers and it is very strong stuff. Great use for it.

    X x

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  4. What a thoughtful thing to do, Ilona! Love it :)

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  5. What a great place for your cats to get some warm sunshine as well as shelter comfortably from the rain. Cats do love baskets and soft linings!

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  6. Would your left over rubber mattress bits work for any of the covering?
    Liz

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    1. Hi Liz. Yes the rubber mattress could be used for this. I have used the shrink wrap because it gives the cats all round vision, they can see most of the garden and some of the house from their vantage points.

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  7. One of our cats would often be seen sunbathing on top of the roof of a house! I don't know how she used to get up there. People who left their downstairs windows open would come home and find her lying on their bed! When we lived in Edinburgh, I once got off the bus to find a small crowd gathered round our tenement looking up. There was cat, sunbathing on the window sill, 3 floors up. She had managed to push the window handle up and let herself out. Loved her but she was a horror.

    I think your cats will love their refurbished sun lounge. Well done.

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  8. What happy cats....they have a sun lounge all for themselves!!

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  9. Hey Ilona, all you now have to provide for those lazy cats is a small TV to watch, lol.

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