You want your cats to be happy and fulfill their need to reach high places. You want your cats NOT to scratch your furniture. You also want your home to be pretty…and most traditional scratching posts and cat trees just…aren’t.

We’ve compiled some ideas that beat the cat tree status quo – turning something your cats need anyway into conversation starters with guests and loved new hangouts for your kitties so they can literally climb your walls.

You’ll be “scratching” your head that you thought store-bought cat trees were the only way to go!

1. Urban Pet Haus Wave Wall-Mounted Cat Perch If your decor leans more modern or minimalist, you’ll love these cat tree shelves. They come with traction pads, and you could attach a sisal rug behind them to the wall for scratching. Yes, you’ll need a few to make a good jungle gym for your cats, so it’s not the cheapest option. But the varying sizes and shapes (single curves and waves) will interest your eyes as much as your cat. Find them here!

2. LACK Shelves from IKEA With a couple of these bad boys, something to help paws grip and claws scratch, and changing the shelf positions a bit, you’ll spend a little over 100 bucks and have a very cool wall system for your cat to climb. If you’re handy, you might want to just build something simple like this yourself. Find them here!

3. EKBY Shelves from IKEA For a little more effort on your part, you can still get your IKEA fix and an inexpensive cat tree system with shelves, brackets, carpet, and a few other supplies. The sky is the limit with how high and wide your cat can explore with this option. Get the 5-step tutorial here: Get the tutorial here!

4. Modular Display Shelves Shelves like these abound right now in retail stores like Target and Amazon, and they pull double duty to integrate into your decor by acting as display shelves. (We’d just recommend not putting breakables on these shelves for when kitty gets a little over-excited!) They can scratch the carpet on the tops if you add some and even curl up in one. You can also make your own if you’re so inclined with circular doorways between. Get the tutorial here!

5. Homemade Colorblocked Post If you (or your cat) prefers the traditional post-type means of scratching and climbing, or if you’re more limited on space, this sisal post might be the one for you. You can dye some rope whatever color you like and fashion a pretty post that matches your home. Get the tutorial here!

If you love this type of stuff as much as we do (even if you enjoy looking at ideas more than actually bringing them to fruition), make sure to follow 2PawsUp on Pinterest!