spray painting carpet cat tree?

[volia]

First off, I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this, so please let me know or move this if it's not.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to come across a cat tree that a older couple had up on craig's list. This tree was a diy project that they made for their foster kittens, which they no longer needed after they were adopted. It was a steal at $30. It has 4 levels and covered in left over carpet and also comes apart to help move it around. Anyways, we just moved a month ago and our new house has a plant shelf above the kitchen. After Sadie (my indoor 8ish year old cat) jumped down to the plant shelf twice from the second floor and couldn't get back up we decided to put the tree up there, so now she can get up and down without any issues (the shelf is wide enough that it bottom doesn't hang down). Our only problem is while this is great for Sadie, it doesn't look the best, it's old, the wrong color for the wall paint and unfinished on the bottom (which is what you see from below). We don't have a ton of money to spend on getting/making a new one so we are trying to come up with ways to make it look better. One idea is to spray paint it to look a bit better with the rest of the house and of course from below. From there we were thinking of putting some black cardstock over the side of it and making a cityscape theme for the wall with that looking like a building with windows and whatnot, while leveling the bottom open for her to get in and out and explore. 

My biggest worry here is if this is safe for the cat? Also, will she still use it as her scratching post after the paint? At the moment it's the only one we have found that she will use. If it's not safe I'm sure we could come up with another idea. We want it to look good, but more then that we want her to be safe and happy... Thank you for any help you guys can give me.

 

[feralvr]

I know how cat trees can begin to look quite old after many years time! I have a few too. I would discourage you from painting any cat tree. Even if the paint were to say "non-toxic", I still would not feel comfortable doing so. I also think the cats would no longer use the cat tree even after the paint were to dry. Cats love old, shabby cat trees and making a huge change like that may take away the joy and security of the old cat tree. You could try re-wrapping some of the tree with new sisal rope (and then sprinkling catnip on the sisal to encourage new scratching) or even replace some of the carpeted pieces with new carpet or even a berber type covering. I guess if there is wood sections you want to freshen up - then I would think painting those areas would be alright? :dk: But still, I think the smell, even after it has dried, may dissuade the cats from using it for awhile, anyway.

I love DIY cat trees though. They are fun to build from scratch and save a lot of money doing it that way too.