From human house to cat house. "Before" photos of the upstairs.

New NYS regulations state that rescues must be registered, and the rescue must permit access to a state agent at any time. As I travel frequently for work, I've decided I can't maintain the separate building any longer. While I currently have wonderful caretakers, the barn space operates correctly on a very slim margin. It requires two visits a day at a minimum, just for cleanliness. Temperature must be monitored. Windows have to be opened and closed. When we have a deep freeze, additional heat sources must be added and checked. The cost of electricity is astronomical ($300 a month in the winter).

It just isn't worth it, when I have an entire upstairs that is essentially vacant. I'd always hoped I would find an housemate who likes cats as much as I, but as that hasn't happened in the four years I've had my ears open, and given how much I love privacy, it's time to renovate and move the cats on inside.

There are three rooms, plus a hallway, two closets, and a sizable landing. Pepper and Timea currently have the run of the upstairs as well as the option to come downstairs, and they are the cleanest, least destructive cats in the whole world. However, for a regular cat space, the carpets and any non-cat-tolerant furniture need to go. I've slowly been selling things off so the upstairs is beginning to look quite drab. The entire upstairs will need waterproof paint, and when I have some money for frivolous things, I thought vinyl wall murals (the removable type) might be used to protect the walls, and could be pulled right down and replaced if they get torn or dirtied.

This room has newish carpet that I can store and use to re-cover cat scratching poles as needed, or I can use part of it downstairs. It's only about a year old. The futon and the Poang chair are both cat-friendly. The futon can get a waterproof cover, and the Poang chair cushions are washable and also fairly cheap to replace ($30). This room needs trim so cats don't dig at the corners, a new vinyl floor (thank goodness floor vinyl is much improved in the past 2-3 years), and I have a glass door that needs to be cut and hung.

This middle room needs trim, a new closet door, and new vinyl flooring. The carpet tile is only two years old and was a major mistake. A stretching cat can pull it right up. However it is clean, and can be cut with scissors, so will be good to keep and line the bottoms of the bed platforms on cat furniture. Ultimately this room, and the room to follow, will be gutted and the wall between them torn out. This is the "new" section of the house (1920?) and I'd like to remove the ceiling and take it right up to the peak, with plywood and sheetrock.

This is the end room which is right off the middle room. It needs to have the ceiling papered (I already have this), trim, a closet door, and a new vinyl floor. I also need to decide where I'm going to move the bed, which is a family heirloom. I'd love to put it on the landing, but I believe it is too tall, sadly. We'll see. When this and the middle room are eventually gutted, the windows will come out and be replaced by a sliding door, for when a deck balcony and stairs are added outside. Other than new flooring and some replacement windows downstairs, these are the only improvements I plan for this house before I eventually sell it to someone young and adventurous in a decade or so. The new roof pretty much tapped me out savings-wise, and I don't see any sense in putting in an expensive kitchen or bathroom(s) at the expense of my future retirement. It's not like this will ever be a $200,000 house, no matter how many improvements are made (200K in this region is a very nice house).

So off we go. Periodically I'll post updated photos. I really want the basic work done by the end of this month, since I travel again in February and I want the cats out of the barn space then. I can't risk another below-zero week while traveling.

I must say it will be nice not to have to trek outside watching for bears after dark to visit the cats in the evening!

The barn space can still be used to isolate new cats (which means I'll still need to fix some things out there and keep it maintained) and also a a depot for traps and cages to lend to others. I assume the downstairs could also be used by cat owners whom we are helping with spay/neuter, if they don't have space to recover them post-surgery at home. For the most part, however, it will not be hosting any felines.

I'm also working out an SOP for other foster homes (I assume technically they could be visited as well) and I'm putting all my cat medical records in Excel. Currently each cat has their own paper folder. If someone were to ask to see records, I'd really rather pull one Excel file for their initial look-see, than plopping a pile of folders in front of someone.

Nothing like a little regulatory incentive to bring me into the 21st century.