Great grandad builds puurfect matchstick home for pampered puss

Mike Nunns with his cat house made from 25,000 matches

Matchstick mad Mike Nunns, 71, spent more than 500 painstaking hours building the dream home for cat, Diesel, 100 matches at a time.

The luxury digs comprise of a TV, window box, spacious bed and furniture – all using matches – as well as a comfortable foam mattress.

There’s just one problem – 13-year-old Diesel still prefers to kip in Mike’s bed.

Mike, of Burns Close, Chesterfield, said: “She has had a couple of sleeps in it, but she still prefers my bed.

“Every morning I wake up with her asleep on me.”

But that doesn’t bother Mike. The project was a labour of love for the former lorry driver, who has been making matchstick creations for the last 12 years.

He has made around 30 clocks, jewellery boxes, windmills, and many more.

Mike, who is dad to three, grandad to ten and great grandfather to four, said: “It’s just a hobby of mine, I love it.

“You’ve got to have an awful lot of patience, though, as you can only stick around 100 matches down at a time.”

To make his matchstick models, Mike makes templates using thin cardboard. He then sticks matches to either side, before sanding them down, varnishing and then assembling them together.

Mike said: “The first thing I made was a model aeroplane, which was from a kit. As soon as I’d built it I thought ‘I could make my own templates’ and that was the start of it.”

He has sold his creations to people all over the world, including America and Thailand, and his works are proving extremely popular.

However, striking up a sleeping deal with Diesel is still proving a hot issue.