I made this scratching post last year with my daughter and yesterday I replaced the carpet because my cat had destroyed the carpet. He loves his scratching post and I love he isn’t scratching my furniture.

Fortunately, I live in the country and had all the necessary supplies to make this scratching post. So, it was basically free for me to make.

If you do not have the carpet, you can get a remnant piece of carpet at a local carpet store for just a few dollars.

These are the details of how I made the post. Of course, you can improvise.

You will need:

12 inch square 5/8 inch thick wood

12x 16 inch piece of carpet (thicker carpet is better)

2 ft long 4×4

2 ft plus 4 inches (28 inches) x 20 inch piece of carpet

20 nails.. (6 short nails going thru 5/8 inch wood)

hammer

carpet cutter or serrated knife

First, we will cover the base (12 inch board) with the 12 x 16 inch carpet. Lie the carpet upside down and center the 12 inch base board on it. Wrap the carpet around the board and leave the same amount of carpet on each side so the base will sit evenly. I nailed 3 shorts nails on each side of the carpet to attach it making sure the nail did not thru the other side.

Then I sat the 4×4 on its end. I centered the base board upside down (on top of the 4×4) so the wood side was facing me. I then nailed one long nail in the middle of the base board to attach the base to the 4×4. Once I verified that the base and 4×4 were centered, I nailed four more nails into the wooded base to secure the base to the 4×4.

Now flip the post over and you will have a carpeted base and a bare post. I guess you could carpet the two individual pieces and then nail them together but that’s not how I did it.

Next you are going to attach the carpet to the post. Stand the 20 x 28 inch carpet up next to the 24 inch post with the extra four inches extended at the top. Attach the carpet on one side by nailing one nail at the base and work your way up putting another nail in the center and then one up at the top of the board. It’s like wrapping a present. lol After I was sure I had it evenly wrapped, I added another two nails. Now pull the carpet around the 4×4 and overlap over the carpet. Again, start at the base and attach with a nail at the base. Pull the carpet tightly and attach a nail in the center.

Before I finished nailing the top nail, I cut the carpet that was extended at the top in order to make flaps to wrap across the top. I sliced each corner downward about 3 1/2 inches or so (until it will lie down on the top of the board). Now you can finish nailing the last nail on the side and fold the flaps over. I folded the four flaps over each other and then nailed two nails to keep it in place. Then I went back and secured the side with two  additional nails.

Make sure you hammer the nails in as deep as you can so your cat will not catch his nails on the nails. I nailed  the nails in so deep that you can barely see them. I used thick carpet.

Within two minutes my cat was scratching on the post. In fact, I have already taken the carpet off the post and replaced it.