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Worn Navy & Carolina Blue | Simple By Lacey | Woodworking Craftsman | Minimalism

Updated: Feb 2, 2020

You had me at Meow! Here is our newest Reclaimed Wooden Litter Box. This beauty is finished in a Worn Navy stain with a Carolina blue entrance cover. It is now sitting in its new home, in North Topsail, North Carolina.

This Reclaimed Wooden Litter Box went through many phrases before coming to the present condition. When we first find this treasure a few months back, it had crumbling paint, stains all over it, and was being thrown out. Even though the exterior of the bench was not pretty, Richard and I could see the potential it could be one day. We had to have it, now we had to figure out what to do with it. The photo below is the original condition of the bench.


We got a order in for our Reclaimed Wooden Litter Box and as we were processing the order, the size of the box needed was the same size as this bench. We offered this bench as an alternative option from us creating the base ourselves. They fell in love with the overall look of the bench and could see the potential outcome, as Richard and I did when we first saw it. They had to have it and we could not wait to get started! The first stage of renovating was sanding the entire bench down and then giving it a base stain of Honey Teak.

Already this cute bench transformed from its original condition. Now we can finally see the beautiful raw wood and the pattern of the grains. Even though this is just stage one, the improvement is huge. The Honey Teak was the perfect base to apply. It enhanced all of the wood grains and made them pop. The bench looks like its glowing, in the above photo, displayed from our workshop.

Cutting the cat shape really brings the charm to the box! After I drew out the stencil for the shape, Richard used a plunge router and precisely cut out the cat silhouette. With only a half inch of clearance above and below the cutout, there was no room for error. Thankfully with Richards steady hand we did not have to worry! Now with the entrance hole in place you can really envision the end result. We still had a few more steps until we got there however.

The final stages included staining over the Honey Teak with a Worn Navy. The two stains together was magic. You can really enhance the swirls of the wood with a combination staining process. There are some spots that absorbed the Worn Navy completely and some spots that stayed mostly Honey Teak. The combination of the two colors for the overall look was perfection. It makes the Worn Navy look even more worn and rustic, which matches the beautiful beach scene of North Topsail. To help seal the colors and add a protection from the outdoor elements we topped it with a polyurethane.


One of the features of our Reclaimed Wooden Litter Boxes are the inside storage for extra litter and the scooper. For this storage section we decided as an added detail we would make a feature wall of reclaimed wood. We added this in as a surprise to our customer which was a lovely addition. The other key elements on the inside are the litter trapping mat and the rubber lined on wall. This helps with maintaining litter control and protecting the walls if your cat ever misses the box. This mat is able to be vacuumed or just shaken out and the walls can be easily wiped down. Even the entrance flap is made out of leather and is easily wiped down if anything is sprayed or spilled on to it. Also since it is leather it does not allow the cat hair to adhere to it as the cat continues to pass through it time after time.

These hinges were purchased from Home Depot and really fit the look. We loved the shape of them because they had just enough flare yet were still simple enough to not take away from the look of the box.

Our logo was the cherry on top of the cake. Simple by Lacey branded, our bench is now fully transformed. The logo and the entrance flap were the last two pieces to the puzzle.


We are flawed by the outcome and so was our customer. We delivered this item to them directly with our pickup truck. We spent the weekend in North Carolina and it was a wonderful time meeting her and being able to see the happiness in her face. Here at Simple by Lacey, we care about quality and customer satisfaction over money and time. We will be blogging our whole trip down to North Carolina and the different places we visited while we were there. Stay tuned to see and read up on our adventures. To place an order for your custom item contact us via our email SimplebyLacey@gmail.com. We can custom create any item you need, something for you, your pet, in your home, or even for your backyard.

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