Sometimes you find cheap and easy solutions for things without even trying. Today I was over at a friends house where the cats’ favorite spots include a stereo equipment box that’s sitting next to the living room window. Note that the cat tree is sitting right next to the box (that’s what the pieces of carpet at the front of the photo are), but they prefer the box at the moment.
The box has been sitting there for the past six months, and my friend says he will probably never move it because it makes the cats happy. Being somewhat of a style snob, I would probably go crazy with a cardboard-box-as-cat-tree as a permanent fixture in my home, but it’s certainly cheaper and more effortless than any solutions I’ve come up with.