This is a beautiful shelf that complements our home.  The cats enjoy sitting on it, scratching their claws on the carpet and also they use it to get to the basement window sill so they can look outside.  Our basement studs are not standard, but it was no problem to drill extra holes where the studs are to secure the shelf.  Just as a side note, we have found that you cannot put two shelves too far apart if you want the cats to jump from one to the other.  Our cats are not so athletic.  The shelves need to be close so they can easily make it.