Wow, that looks fantastic. And I'm definitely agreeing with people saying they'd do this even if their couch wasn't all clawed up. I'd love to do this to one of those cheap, plain loveseats from Ikea...
Also, poor kitty

. I hope she'll get over her loss! Knowing cats, though, she'll probably just find something else in the house to claw at instead (especially if it's not designed for clawing).