Cat proofing

Tanya blogged about buying new slipcovers and a commenter noted that it was a good way to disguise cat-attacked furniture. I've had a little experience with that myself.
This is my living room couch. It's leather. We bought it about seven years ago, right about the same time we got our cat Molly. See that skirt under the seat cushions? It's not original.

I was at work one Saturday when my husband called me. "You won't believe what Molly is doing." Well, I've had a lot of cats in my life. I knew she could be doing just about anything. "What?" I asked with some trepidation.

"She's digging her back claws into the sofa and pulling herself along the front of it. I can't make her stop!"

I could just visualize what the cat was up to. And I could visualize what it would do to the leather sofa. The nearly new leather sofa.

"Distract her," I replied. Hah.

Over the next week she continued to play her new fun game. Dig those back claws into the front of the sofa, scoot along the rug the length of the furniture. Turn. Repeat.

Next Saturday, I was at the fabric store, a swatch of leather in my hand that we received when we ordered the couch. I was looking for any upholstery fabric that wasn't too stiff to sew on my DSW. I found a piece that was fairly close to the couch color. At home, I cut a pattern from the couch that would follow the lines of the pillows and make a faux skirt on the front.

It's attached by large safety pins to the seat bed under the cushions and to the cambric dust cover under the couch. It sticks out in these pictures because the leather is more reflective and photographs lighter than the actual color, but behind the coffee table you barely notice it.

After I spent an entire afternoon constructing and installing this cat proofing, she never tried to claw the sofa again. Figures.