Then came the awesome antique piano bench that we got from my mom. Super neat looking, but not so sturdy. Couple of months and it collapsed, sending my laptop and one of the cats flying (no picture is available of this event, but you can imagine).
Next came this camping table, which is awesome but not meant to hold drinks or my husband’s legs. Or the cat.
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| He makes it work, but you know it won’t last long. |
Finally, the ottoman. Because really we needed a place for legs to rest, and cats to sleep. Not as much a table, but an ottoman instead. I searched for ottomans to buy in IKEA but they are super expensive and have very complicated names like Ektorp and Bosnäs. Ektorp is especially awesome, sounds like someone’s unfortunate middle name. However, I just needed a plain ole ottoman.
DYI time! Found a piece of 3/4″ plywood in the garage, approximately 18″x 24″. Turns out they sell awesome finished wooden legs in Lowes that are ready to screw in after you paint them, about $4.50 each. Bought some black acrylic paint from Michael’s, $2.99 and painted them.
I bought a square of foam from JoAnns that measured 22″ x 22″. The price was $12 but I had a 40% coupon (very useful!). Also bought a yard of thick, durable cotton in the quilting section to hold the foam in place. Finally I splurged on Southwestern-themed fabric that matched our placemats which my sister in lawn had made us for Christmas. They are awesome, and matching them with the ottoman adds a neat touch! The fabric was $11.50 a yard from Amazon, and I only needed one. After reading a lot of tutorials, I decided to skip the upholstery buttons and not tuft the ottoman, instead creating a smooth surface.
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| Materials also include Dremel with a 115 cutter bit, staple gun, epoxy, hammer, safety glasses. |
The most difficult part for me was attaching the legs, which is what I started with. It was important to have a very sturdy ottoman since people’s legs and also cats will be supported by it. I drilled small “craters” into the wood at the distance I wanted from the edge, and the depth of the bolts I was going to use to screw the legs into the wood. I then glued and hammered the bolts into place for extra re-enforcement with Epoxy.
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| One of the bolts came out later and I had to re-glue, so it may need a little re-adjustment. |
Then I cut the foam to the size of the plywood, laying an extra 2″ piece to make it long enough. I folded the quilting cotton so I had four layers, and laid it smoothly on the table. I placed the foam and plywood on top, making sure all the edges were aligned.
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| George was very involved in the process. |
For the next steps, you need another pair of hands. I’m sure you could do it alone, but it would be much harder. Pulling the cotton tight, staple along the edges until you have finished all four sides, leaving the corners free.
Then fold the corners neatly, or if you aren’t good at folding then get someone else who can do it. Staple securely making sure you don’t add too many staples or it will be hard to do the last layer. I recommend no more than two staples per corner. This is the bottom layer so looks don’t matter, you just want it to be neat so the top layer can stretch over it without lumps.
Finally, lay out the top fabric smoothly (you may need to iron it) and then place the ottoman on top. Repeat stapling process, making sure it is done neatly. Leave corners until you staple all the sides. Fold corners neatly and staple. We did a fold that involves pinching the fabric and then smoothing out the sides creating a tapered rectangle.
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| Not very good at describing how to do folds, but hopefully the picture helps. |
Screw the legs in, and you are done! Hello ottoman! Total price= $45.70. I did not include price of epoxy glue, plywood and other tools. This ottoman is custom made for our living room, and making it was fun married bonding time with power tools and staple guns! What else can you ask for?
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| Yes, it’s missing a leg because I had to glue the bolt back into the wood. |
