Ottomans Part Three!

Remember these beauties Candace recovered a few years ago?

Well 4 boys later.....she was ready to toss them in her house purge she did over Christmas.
Of course I was more than happy to be her charitable recipient.

I found some really cute and super thick quality upholstrey material at Home Fabrics for about $20.  It's a gorgeous houndstooth pattern that is almost a taupe/dark grey color on a creamy white.  An hour later I now have these!

I didn't try to make a pattern from her old material~I just measured each of the sides so every thing would be a crisp square.

One thing I did do was seam around a square piece to cover the bottom.  I hate that black cloth that most furniture pieces have on the bottom~besides where do you find that stuff and why does it rip so easy?

This was super easy and makes the ottomans look even more finished.

What do you think?

Phoebe

Callie

Now if they survive these two kittens.....that's another story.  

Yes, I'm feeling like an animal hoarder.  This is what happens when your daughter baby sits the neighbors cat who also happens to be pregnant....and then she baby sits the kittens......it was bound to happen.  They were her birthday present and I told her "these are the last pets we will ever have while she lives under our roof."  And yes, those are Build A Bear outfits~they fit little real kitties too!

Tale of Two Ottomans...Before & After

 Several months ago I had the luck of picking up some used model home furnishings that were being sold. 

 I think I paid 10 or 15 dollars for both of the ottomans. That's a deal! 

They are practically brand new and it was NOT a terrible experience tearing off the old fabric and finding tons of cooties. :)  I have some scary stories! 

 

Here's a view of underneath. 

 Look how they finished it off with hard backing and simple square feet. 

 

These guys are serious...heavy duty....burlapy tough ottomans.  Probably would be great in a cabin or with some western decor. 

 I wanted to feminize them a bit....:) 

The screws were stripped so I had to pry...then hammer them off.  I busted almost all of the legs, and did some damage to the frame. Oops!

 

I love taking things apart.....it always intrigues me how something was built.  Looking at this picture...I think these might be simple to build.  2x2's and hardboard would build the frame.  I think I see some ottomans in Nicole's future... :)

 

The foam was in good condition.

 

What do you think...easy to build? 

 

 

It looks like they used spray adhesive to attach thin foam on all four sides. 

 

With all of my previous projects, I usually pick apart the upholstery and make a paper pattern or pin right to the new fabric and cut.  I didn't like the look of the new fabric with the old look...it was a little sloppy.

So, I pinned and fitted it like you would a slip cover, then pulled it off to sew. 

 

The corners are always a pain in my side....I would like to take an upholstery class just to learn how to ease corners!  The crinkles always sneak in- darn it!

I sewed all the sides together, had to unpick a few times and finally got the look I was going for. 

 

Since I ruined all the feet taking it apart, 

 I chopped up a pine board and spray painted the new feet brown.

 

I usually prefer staples, but noticed the original upholsterers used small tack nails.  I had some cut tacks in my tool box and thought I would give it a try. 

They were great!  Power staplers are still easier but this was fun to try something different.  Nails were used to put the hardboard back on and they worked like a charm . 

I put the feet back on using long screws and they sat super straight because of the hardboard on the bottom. 

From past experience the feet were always crooked because of the layers of fabric and stapling. 

Smart idea to use hardboard!

 

Here they are!

Let's take a peek again at the before.....

 

  

 I couldn't catch a good picture of the fabric inside- it's kind of a gloomy day.

I found the fabric at Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon.  Finding fabric I really liked was difficult, this choice came close to having all the colors I wanted. It took a little over two yards and I think I have enough left over to make a few pillows.

  

Here's  a clearer picture outside, I love the combination of the colors in the fabric.

 There's a mix of cream, brown, green and bits of turquoise. 

 

And... here are two feet and two great reasons 

why I'm heading out to purchase one large can of Scotch Guard! :)

Sharing with these great parties~

  And, Tools are For Women Too!

PB Ottoman Copycat

About four or five years ago, my friend Angela and I decided to copy Pottery Barn's ottoman.  The only building we had ever done involved a simple train table for our Thomas the Train lovin boys. After we built the tables, we thought we could build anything. (scary!)  We studied the magazine, the dimensions, the fabric...and the legs.  I remember walking into the Pottery Barn store and touching and feeling the REAL ottoman.  I measured the height against my leg, trying not to look like a CRAZY lady in the store!

Image from Pottery Barn

We had the hardware store make our major cuts and Angela's husband cut our legs out of a 4x4. She sanded the legs for many hours trying to make them smooth.  We knew we needed a box topped with upholstery foam, but we were unsure of how to attach the legs.  We asked the guy in Lowe's  and he said that on piano legs, they sometimes attatch the legs using large dowels.  You know, it worked! We chose a suede fabric for upholstery, sewed, and it was beautiful.

My boys have trashed it since and it was time for a new cover.      

So sad.

I ripped off the old upholstery and began sewing a new one!

This is the old back. (oh ,all the work it took to make that!)

This is the frame.  It's basically a box made out of plywood, with (4x6's?) glued & screwed in the corners.  We drilled out the dowel size in the legs to later insert.

This is my first quilt top I made and it taught me so much about the basics of quilting!  My expert MIL patiently taught me how to cut squares and piece them together, making sure that I matched seams up evenly.  It eventually led me to think that I could quilt upholstery fabric!

I found in Home Fabrics a couple of months ago,  faux leather that is sewable.  I thought it would be fun to try on the ottoman.  Only thing is...there's no room for error!  You can't unpick vinyl, it leaves holes! Over the last few weeks I have cautiously sewed this together. If I were to do it again, I would probably pick microfiber or upholstery fabric instead.  I could not round the corners like I wanted to, because I couldn't unpick and fix it.  It's also a little too vinylish....I think I prefer the feel of fabric.

I pulled out my old pattern.  I think I may have been smarter four years ago.  Is it true that with each baby you lose a little of your brain cells?  It took me forever to decipher my old pattern!!!

I cut out each of the squares using my templates.  The templates help keep the squares accurate, which is imortant when quilting. (btw...I'm NOT an experienced quilter....just learned the basics!)

Matching seams carefully, sew each square together.

Here's a picture of the piecing process.

After the top was all done, I put it on the ottoman to make sure it fit. I didn't remember it this time...but the pattern was a wee bit to big.  It makes it harder to have nice corners when you upholster, because it bunches from the extra fabric.

I was going to make my own buttons like last time....but the make- your -own buttons are really, really crummy! I went searching all over town for true upholstery buttons and had no luck.  I found these buttons in a fabric store already made.  Only problem was that they were a shade off.  So, I colored them walnut with a stain pen.  Just right!

Here's a close up of the leg.  I never glued mine in just in case I wanted to change something.  I'm glad I didn't!

I didn't have popsicle sticks to wrap the string around for the buttons, so I improvised with pencils.  (TRUE upholsterers and carpenters are probably dying with my technique!)

I cut and stained trim pieces to finish off the edges.

I nailed the trim on with the nail gun. You like those PENCILS? :)

Anyway, that was a reeeaallly long post.  Hope it was helpful to anyone that wants to attempt to build and upholster an ottoman. There's probably a better way to make it, but this thing has made it for four years with little boys catapulting off it.