Build a village that celebrates your life experiences - from travel destinations to a custom-crafted replica of your home and everything in between.

All About Us

 
Ah ha! Didn't anyone tell you curiosity killed the cat?
But still, you came to our About Page...curious! Lucky for you, you're human.
 
[Short-version About Us in 5 Bullet Points]
 
  • We make little wooden replicas of buildings [including your own home], landmarks, and scenes to help you remember the good times in your life.
  • We design and print the front of our 3/4" thick wood with colorful details, and the back includes written facts or your story.
  • Cat's Meow Village is so named because our black cat mascot, Casper, is hiding on every piece! Crafter-turned-Founder, Faline Jones, has a thing for cats!
  • You buy the Cat's Meows that have meaning for you [including your own home] and display them around your home or office.
  • Rest assured, you are doing business with a woman-owned, pure American company over 40 (LOL). We're right around the corner in Wooster, Ohio!
  •  
 
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[Long-version, when you have more time to dig in the dirt]
 
Little did Faline Jones know all those years ago on the farm with her swarm of cats, that someday her love of crafts would catapult her into a Village with a cat as mascot! (more about that cat below)
 

Hi there, welcome to The Cat’s Meow Village. We're a small company birthed in Wooster, Ohio in 1982 from one simple wooden house Faline cut out on her grandfather’s saw in the loft of the hog barn.

Faline with her grandfather, Rudy Mullet, cutting on the bandsaw he built from scratch.

 

It’s over 40 years later, and Jones with her “crew” continue to craft "little wooden buildings" of local, national, and international landmarks that spark memories and kindle smiles on the faces of neighbors just like you.

Faline holds her first handpainted house along with the last one that was retired 5 years later.

Cat's Meow Village owner and creator, Faline Jones

 

We help you celebrate memories with unique wooden replicas of the places and times you love.

Celebrate and remember your favorite places by including our 3/4" thick wooden keepsakes in your home décor. A few favorite spots where Cat’s Meows like to reside are: perched on top of your window and door trim or wainscoting, tucked into your bookshelves, displayed on your work desk, or sprawled across your fireplace mantle. Our Black Cat Daily Blog includes many stories on how your neighbors decorate with the Village in their homes.

 

Photo of Faline's beloved cat, Casper, posing in a tree.

And what's with the cat?

Faline mixed her love of cats into the village by adding a black cat mascot to every design. This trademark cat, in either a laying or sitting position, is fondly known as Casper (a tribute to Faline's cat shown here). Keep your eyes open for Casper as you explore our website!  And if you want to hear Casper's side of the story + more about Faline...

 

We believe in supporting our community and the ones that surround our Village, both physically and virtually. Faline designates the sales of various Cat’s Meow designs to support specific causes. Check out our Rescue Cats and Bible Stories currently supporting causes close to Faline’s heart. Plus, during Adopt-A-Cat Month in June, we donate 1% of online sales to help kitties at our local Wayne County Humane Society.

 

 

If you could pick just one?

With so many famous and not-so-famous landmarks around the globe, which one would you say brings a smile and warm memories to mind? Exactly…that’s what we thought…there's too many to pick just one.

 

And our Village reflects the larger world, too, so it can be a little confusing when you first start exploring. Let’s try to break it down neighborhood by neighborhood. Paw through our Search For The PURRfect Cat's Meow magazine to take some of the mystery out of our Village.

 

We’ve saved the best for last! It’s our CATillac!

Example of a personal home recreated into a Cat's Meow keepsakeExample of the front and back of a personal home we handcrafted for the home owner.

Did you know you can have your very own custom Cat’s Meow created by us?

 

Every day we work with neighbors just like you to craft a keepsake representing your special place in time.

Ordering is easy online:

  1. Upload your photos and describe the details
  2. Write your story for the back
  3. And select the quantity you want to purchase (as low as 1)

Our "design architects" draw up your design, then our crew constructs your replica, and around six weeks later your Cat’s Meow creation arrives at your doorstep wrapped in pawprint tissue paper! (time varies due to demand throughout the year)

 

Maybe you want to create your own home just for you,

  • or what about the family homestead for your siblings
  • or the vacation home
  • your first home
  • or all the houses you've lived in 
  • your children's homes

 

With so many memories, there’s sure to be others you want to share a special Cat’s Meow with. How exciting would it be to see a family member’s eyes sparkle when you gift them a keepsake wrapped in love?

 

"Hello! I wanted to let you know that I just got my custom-made Cat's Meow of my home and I'm absolutely in love. I'm so excited, it looks so perfect! I can't wait to show it off to family and friends! Thanks so much! ~Marla S.

 

We do even more than personal homes, though! Our Cat's Meows make great fundraisers and commemoratives for:

 

Today, our workshop with a crew of 14 enjoy "traveling the world" as we handcraft and ship Cat's Meow replicas of landmarks around the globe.

(Q) Now, what could be better than traveling the world each day while we work?

(A) Knowing that real-life adventurers, like you, are enjoying memories of special places when you admire your very own purrsonal Village!

 

 

Comments

Where do you sell the cats meow in Indiana. Thanks Kim
Hi Kim, unfortunately we don't have any retail stores in Indiana these days. If you are searching for retail locations, go to this link: https://www.catsmeow.com/find-a-retailer to see who's out there. In the meantime, we have tons and tons of Cat's Meows available on our website. And, we always accept suggestion for new product designs.
My wife is a commercial artist who like to visit the production side of your business. We hope to visit in the near future so would she be allowed to observe and ask questions of your staff? I am interested in the inventory of different Cats Meow creations you might have available in your store. I visited the store a number of years ago and was impressed with the “special items” made for your distributors. Thank you, Frank Scalzi -a long time collector.
Hello Frank, we would love to have you and your artistic wife visit. You will get a complete tour of production, and then you can shop in our inventory room. We only stock the items you see on our website. We create custom items for our retail stores, but we do not stock any of those for general purchase. You'll need to pick those up at the various store locations across the country. You can see a list of those by clicking on the link "Shopping List Of Customs" at the bottom of our website...or you can use this link to get to the same place: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RFbQ6kf5AF3uCkbdNnKRg9_egiHYf4nfRASeoDl_QPg/edit?pli=1#gid=953958063
My husband and I are world travelers and lighthouse fans. I can tell that over most door and window frames are lighthouses and many bookshelves also. Other rooms have our foreign travel Cat's Meows. It is so much fun to look up and remember the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben or Greece. I also have them situated on bookshelves with my other travel momentos and books. I also really look forward to Halloween when I pull out all my Halloween collections from the 1990s to this year. I carry a small notebook when I travel so I can keep an eye out for older Cat's Meows that might be for sale in some small shop. Love everything you make.
Ahhh, thanks Susan for sharing about your world travels and how Cat's Meows help you keep the memories! Here's to many more travels.
I have quite a large collection of Cats Meows which I loved collecting for many years. However, we have recently downsized and I am not able to keep them. Is there anywhere that I could donate them? Ellen Hendrix, Franklin TN
Hello Ellen, Thanks for being an active Cat's Meow neighbor all these years! We totally understand the downsizing issue. We recommend you look for local second-hand stores that support great causes to donate you Village pieces to. That way when they are purchased the 2nd time around, they will still be doing good!
I am originally from Maryland, but live in Tallahassee, Florida now. I received some Ocean City, Md Cat's Meow Village pieces years ago and I just love them. I am 66 years old now and have known about these for years. Such great memories I had in Ocean City and in Maryland. I still have relatives there. When I look at these special pieces, they take me back to my childhood and all of the great memories. I am so impressed how beautiful and detailed. I just saw Jesus in the sand piece.. I used to see that when I was younger. Thank you for all you do and I just love all of it.
Hello Jan, We love hearing stories like yours! So glad the Village can stir-up great memories for you!
Just writing to say thank you for creating the beautiful Satterthwaite House Cats Meow collectible for our preservation group, Patterson Farm Preservation, Inc. We are having a very successful fundraiser, with some supporters purchasing multiples for gifting. Placing re-orders is easy (we’ve sold three shipments so far). Your staff is a pleasure to do business with. We’re happy to support the employment of our neighbors in Ohio.
Gosh! took me a while to find this, but once I remembered the black cat that adorned everyone... Growing up, my mom used to collect these in mid-late 80's. The iconic pieces from our town to places in the state of MA were just so fun to look at and dream about. Sooo glad you guys are still around - now, ready to make a few custom ones for the next generation! All the best to you, Cat's Meow!
I have a collection of Cat's Meow. I was married In St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Richmond, In. I'm curious if you have ever been commissioner to make St. Andrew's Church?
Hello Debbie, We have created some Richmond, IN pieces for a store many years ago, but we don't have St. Andrew's Catholic Church on that list. If you wish to have us create a replica, you would order it through our Create Your Own Home order page. https://www.catsmeow.com/create-your-own/i-want-create-cats-meow-my-home
I have a Nebraska collection mostly Lincoln, are there still houses available in Nebraska? I can’t find anyone that sells them anymore. I absolutely love my collection.
Hello Cherie, We currently don't have a retail store location in Nebraska, therefore no new Nebraska Cat's Meows at this point. Over time you could check our Find A Retailer link (https://www.catsmeow.com/find-a-retailer) to see where Cat's Meows are being sold around the country.
I have been a collector since the 1980s. I just found a 1992 Howey House Bed & Breakfast Music Box. It is signed on the bottom "Hugh & Maxine 1993 - Silver Bells." It is so cool and still plays beautifully. I didn't know that you guys did music boxes and can't find any information about it on the internet. Can you give me any information about my treasure? Thanks, Donna
Hi Donna, Mewow, you have a very unique Cat's Meow! Way back in the early 90's Hugh and Maxine (retired friends of mine) "tinkered around" with some of my Cat's Meows. They actually made some music box and clock ones + they would assemble 2 Cat's Meows together to create napkin holders. They worked with my seconds at that point in time to make all their goodies, and we sold them at local stores and at our workshop. You truly do have a treasure made by some sweet old friends of mine. Enjoy!! Faline
Can you remake pieces that's not on your website? I live in Fredericksburg and I'm having trouble finding finding pieces like chatham manor or belmont.
Hello Patrick, Fredericksburg, Va is filled with wonderful historic buildings! A Cat's Meow dream village for sure! We used to have a few retail stores located in that town who offered a lot of local Cat's Meow replicas. Sadly, there are no more retail stores carrying Cat's Meows there, but we still have all the designs in our file drawers. We do offer to make "onesies" of past designs at varying price options depending on how old the design is and if we are able to recreate it in current times with our newer printing methods. Best thing to do is email or call us with your question so we can search our files and give you exact answers for each item you are looking for. PS - there are times when old designs are requested, and I also decide to reintroduce that collection in my online store if I think it would have a wide appeal. Faline
Hi, My Mom collected Cat’s Meow, and I also did for a few years in the early 1990’s. I am a graduate of Berry College. My question is have you done any pieces of Berry College in Rome, GA? If not, if our alumni were interested in requesting you design one who would I connect to discuss? Thank you so much! Marcia McConnell
Hello Marcia, Love hearing about your mother and you collecting Cat's Meows!! Purring here! When I search my files, I find a "clock tower" listed from Rome, GA. That is all I see in our files. We would love to work with your alumni to create Berry College items. We do this a lot and the Cat's Meows are always a hit with alumni members. To get started you can email cmv@catsmeow.com with your thoughts and we'll hook you up with a purrson who will help you through the process. Purrs, Faline
Do you still have a store in Wooster?
Hello Joyce, thanks for asking. We no longer have the store at our factory location, but we do welcome anyone to stop by our factory/workshop to visit with us in production and shop around in our inventory room. You can still buy product here when you visit. We are at the workshop Mon-Fri 9-4pm. And our location is: 2163 Great Trails Drive, Wooster, Ohio 44691.
I have some Cat's Meow pieces from many years ago. Some of them are water damaged. Is there a repair service available?
Hello Anne, That's too bad. Water damage is beyond repairable as it damages the wood. We hate to be the bearers of bad news.
I was in Bob Evans several years ago. They had a green, white and red barn that said Bob Evans New Homestyle Pasta on it. I said, “When you are done with that, can I have it”. Another day I was there it was given to me. No cat on the front, but there is one on the back. Date was 2006.
Hi Sue, you got your paws on a custom design we were commissioned to create for Bob Evans! Purrrrs to you!
How do I safely clean my cat's meow buildings?
The best way to dust off your Cat's Meows is with a 2-4" wide clean paintbrush. If you need to clean off marks, we don't recommend using soaps, but a soft wet cloth with very light rubbing might do the job. We also use a lot of spit around here at the workshop (LOL), so you can try licking your finger, then rubbing the soiled spot (just don't use a heavy hand doing it).

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