We had an old IKEA chest from the 90's that we didn't like. It was practical for storing winter gear (helmets, knitted hats and gloves, overalls, boots etc). But it was made from laquered pine, which (to us) was fugly.
We tried to give it away through different ads, but nobody was interested. Picture below is not my OC, it's another give-away ad (they probably considered it fugly too).
Below pics are ours:
As I was preparing to throw it into the "burnables" bin, one of my kids asked me: "Can't we reuse it as a cat litter box?" I didn't like wasting usable things, so we decided to reuse and reinvent it.
First we took the lid and chest apart, cut out a hole where the cats could enter, sanded and then primed:
Then we painted it in our preferred paint colour, reassembled it, added water proof lining (glued and caulked) and a litter mat. We also tested the fit and looks of the intended litter box:
This is how it looked when the lid was closed, masking tape is still attached as we wanted the caulk to finish curing while the cats were eager to explore their new litter box:
The cats totally approved, they loved the box, and with daily emptying/cleaning there was barely any smell in our entry hallway. Even visitors didn't notice the box or any smell.
Thank you. We were really pleased with it. We had a friend who was getting a cat who couldn't keep a litter box in their bathroom, so a few months ago she got "our cat litter chest" for her cat, and she and the new cat still love it. The next time I see a chest like this for free pick up, I will probably do another one.