The post (unfinished porch railing piece @ Lowes $4) was originally added as a place to attach the bottom of the inside brackets. Ultimately, the 10 inch shelves didn’t allow that but attaching the brackets just under the shelves provided enough support. I left the post in place for looks as well as a place to give this New Orleans Cat House a ‘legal address. That was done using a strip of white contact paper trimmed using decorative edge scrapbook scissors. Once in place, I painted the strip with some antique white tempera paint to age it.