Hi friends! Today I've got an awesome ottoman transformation to share with you! It's a two-fer, actually - I'm going to show you how to recover an ottoman using your own homemade fabric pattern! The overall vision was inspired from browsing Urban Outfitters' Apartment section. I've been loving their use of geometric patterns and color!
I actually had recovered my ottoman, (a $5 thrift store find last year), once before. The first time around I used a curtain on clearance from Target, but the pattern quickly started to rub me the wrong way. I recovered it before I painted the walls in the space, before gathering accent pillows, before finding a decent rug, and after I accomplished all those tid-bits that pull a space together, the fabric just wasn't working. So, I decided to start over again! (Isn't it totally worth putting a bit of time into something to make it right for you and your home?!)
Here is the true before - hard to tell here, but that leather looks and feels more like a basketball and is tearing away at the seams. But it's so sturdy and such a fantastic size...and Good Golly, Miss Molly! It was $5!!! Which reminds me, I had a lot of comments about my Before / After feature on Apartment Therapy, (see their facebook page for the 100+ comments) about the $15 price tag of my piece. I have two things to say:
1) Prices like this on good, solid pieces are not frequently or easily found; it takes work, and 2) You do need to have a good eye. It's a bit of luck, yes, but with a little practice, you do start to see things that no one else does. You see things as they can be, not as they are. Such was the case with this basketball-made ottoman!
I keep this piece in the basement and we are in desperate need of some more color down there! Since the basement is in a bit of transition right now, (which is coming together so stinkin' awesome I can't wait to share with you), I brought my ottoman upstairs for some after pictures. Love how it looks in the living room, too!
Have you ever seen such a happy looking ottoman?!
Here's the whole low-down for this project:
The real step one for this project, (which I didn't get a picture of), is removing the legs. Just turn the piece upside-down and unscrew them. They should come off pretty easily.
Next, remove your tuft buttons:
Then, remove your existing fabric. Mine was in such bad condition it actually pulled off pretty easily, and where it didn't, I just used regular scissors to cut it off.
Next, recover the ottoman with your new fabric. I used a plain white bed sheet, folded over so its double layered. This is most easily done by placing the piece upside down on the fabric, then attaching the fabric to the underside, (which is facing up at this point), with a staple gun.
Okay, so I miss-numbered my steps. I was definitely putting this tutorial together while playing balloon volleyball with my three goofballs. Multi-task fail! Anyways, now you can apply your design! I cut a triangle of cardboard, (from a diaper box, go figure), and used a gold metallic marker to trace the design.
Gold metallic marker found at A.C. Moore for $1.39
Almost finished!
Let's take a look back at the original piece....
And NOW!
Oh yes, and the legs! Right after I removed them I took them outside, layed them on cardboard, and gave them all a coat of spray paint. They were done drying by the time I was finished with the recovering!
This transformation was just too fun. Creating my own pattern on the fabric really makes the piece feel completely unique!
Thank you all for stopping by! Happy weekend!
~Chelsea
This post was originally published on Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.