Laura, a regular Apartment Therapy reader was on the hunt for an affordable ottoman. When nothing suitable turned up, she took matters into her own hands and went the DIY route. Here is her story...and the great looking finished results…
Laura writes: I wanted to share my simple and cheap ottoman makeover. After hunting for a large upholstered ottoman for months, I got frustrated that I couldn't find anything for less than $800 and decided to give up on finding something in the stores. I found a cheap ottoman on craigslist for $40, purchased 1.5 yards of fabric for $15 and got wood legs from Home Depot and stained them for about $30. I stapled the fabric on, used a button kit from Joann Fabric to button tuft the top, and then used fabric fuse to secure the edges so my kids wouldn't wreck it in two days. So far it is holding up well against a 1.5 and 3.5 year old - who love to jump to and from the couch. And I saved about $700 that I can now spend somewhere else in the house!
Thanks, Laura!
Images: Laura
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Beautifully done, and worthy of being featured,
BRAVO!
AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. this is the kind of before and after i WANT to see.
Gorgeous! Does she have a tutorial by any chance?
Very nice job! Looks fantastic!
holy wow, that's good.
Excellent! Gorgeous 'after'!
LIKE!
We're in the market for an ottoman about that size, and are certainly not prepared to spend a ton of money. We'll think about going this route for sure!
Impressive! Well done, Laura.
HUGE IMPROVEMENT!
Kudos!!!
I found an ottoman at a furniture resale shop that I recovered in an afternoon. After putting the thing back together, I realized it was pretty much a bunch of 2x4's with legs, batting, and fabric. It was more convenient to just pay the $15 at the store for it, but if you've got some scrap lying around and a handy person in your household, I can't see building your own too much more trouble.
Brilliant!
yayyy! beautiful!
Love it!
Great transformation!
Beautiful!
Excellent work! Good job! :-D
Sweeet! I spent just under $200 for my large square damask-patterned ottoman, mainly because I've tried buttoning before and wanted to stab my eyes out. Good on ya.
It's gorgeous!
you win for the best before and after. The legs are fantastic!
I did the same thing on a little smaller scale years ago. It's easy and affordable and can be made with just about any type of material. I've included a link to making one from a coffee table, but you can do the same thing with thick plywood and legs from HD or anywhere.
http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2009/03/make-ottoman-from-coffee-table.html
Great job! Good for you for doing it yourself, and saving a bundle.
fabolous!!!
Simply A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!
Along the same lines, I made a window seat bench by taking an unused but sturdy coffee table, cutting some three inch foam to fit the top, and stapling fabric over it, mitering the corners like making a bed. If I ever want the coffee table back, it's just a matter of pulling the staples. (Be sure the legs of the table are strong enough for sitting: my table is oak and has big legs.)
OH nice! Why didn't I think of that? I actually have a "nice" ottoman, but my dog has eaten a few of the buttons off, so the tufting is undone. (He thought they were snacks.) I could just recover the whole thing using staples (sans the buttons.)
good job, laura, really beautiful!
this looks great, way better than my solution of throwing a run over my old one.
love it! Great work.
Well done. It looks great! After seeing this I spent way too long searching through CL for an ottoman that I could do this to.
I feel like I should warn you to watch your kids with those buttons. A few days after I finished reupholstering a chair my two year old pulled really hard on one of the buttons and popped it off. It is pretty much impossible to fix it without taking the whole thing apart and has been unattractively attached with a safety pin every since. Ugh. So make sure they're attached really well!
I wish I knew someone like you to do this for me. This is fantastic.
:D!
Where did you get the feet? Last time someone modified an ikea couch with tapered feet and said they were from a hardware store—just any old hardware store would have cute replacement feet?
love the fabric! where'd you find it?
Fab in every respect! Go Laura!
Very, very nice!
I have long believed that there is some ottoman cartel who practice extreme forms of collusion to inflate prices. Ottomans are one of the most simple pieces of furniture but just seem seem to be impossible to find inexpensively. I plan to make one ... one day.
love this...such a fun fabric
Very beautiful!
OMG !!!! AWESOME. In New York City an upholsterer would charge you about $200 or more ! for just the labor and you would still have to buy the fabric and legs. And look, you did a great and very professional looking job on your own. MAGNFIQUE. And that is a REALLY nice fabric.
There is no part of this makeover that isn't an awesome improvement. Top marks!
uh, WOW!!
Very neat project! I might have to keep my eye out on Craigslist now.
The fabric is gorgeous indeed!
If you are still looking for its name it's Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush Home Dec Woodcut- Saffron.
Going to upholster my ottoman right away!