Painting the Cat Exercise Wheel

One of the funnest things I have for the cat/kid bedroom is the cat exercise wheel.  While I bought it for function, it wasn’t quite what we needed for style.  Luckily, there were some easy ways to adjust it to meet our needs.  I ordered this Cat Wheel from Vevor.

The first step, of course, was to assemble the wheel.  It was fairly simple unboxing it and following the instructions in the packaging. The wheel itself is divided into three parts, and getting each segment put together was a little like putting together a stair bannister.  Lots of finicky work.

Even though it looks like one piece, it’s really two, which makes it a little easier to work with when changing the color.  The first step, was to sand everything that would be painted.  Since I didn’t want the paint to hang it up, I didn’t paint every face.  The inside of the wheel under the carpet and the inside of the base I left as is.  I wanted to keep its ability to free spin as open as possible, and to make sure nothing prevented the carpet from staying in place.  Since it was designed to adhere to the original varnish, I left that intact.

When I knew what faces would be painted, I sanded.  And sanded.

Then it was strategically getting the faces of each piece primed.  I used BIN shellac based primer, as it is one of the best bonding primers for this kind of application.  I primed the base first, then 2/3 of the wheel, making sure 1/3 remained seated on the base as to not get wet paint where it shouldn’t be on the wheels.  BIN doesn’t take long to dry, so I got the remaining 1/3 done in very little time.

Paint

Since my kid is having a “Heavy Metal Cat Party” Bedroom, we’re painting a lot of what is in the bedroom black.  Essentially, all of the cat things will blend right in with this tuxedo kitten.  I’m using Sherwin Williams Emerald line in Tricorn Black #6258 (our house black).  This paint is extremely durable and works well in high traffic areas, so it should hold up well to cats doing cat things.

Much like the primer, I painted everything in stages.  This took a lot of time, because the BIN primer I had on hand was white.  So the blackening took three coats.  Now, we just need to train the little guy to get more comfortable strolling on the wheel.  Luckily, this one came with a cat teaser... if I can get that freed from the toddlers.