DIY Coffee Table Ottoman

For some time now I have had this idea in the back of my head.  Our girls love to sit on our little ottoman while watching Saturday morning cartoons.  Its so cute, but the ottoman is quite small so they don't have a ton of room (never mind that mommy would like to put her feet up there too).

I have seen where ingenius people around blogland have taken old coffee tables and turned them into ottomans.  So with that idea in the back of my head whenever I am out and about at a thrift store/garage sale/habitat store I just browse to see if they have anything that will work.

When I first saw this inspiration I fell in love.  The tufts, the curvy legs, the practical yet pretty factor.

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And this on was right up my alley as well.  I mean who doesn't like the storage aspect this one has for books, puzzles, games or even just as an awesome "tent/house" for some little girls dolls.

This one sells for $1170 (YIKES) but is no longer available

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So when I walked into Habitat Store last week and saw this guy I was pretty excited.  I got even more excited when I saw it was $13 and it was 20% off day!  And yes this picture is not quite a before as I had already taken off the top (which was missing its glass insert) and painted the base coat...I am so horrible at before pictures!

I painted a base coat of white and then did a light grey on top - very messily I might add and lightly distressed the entire thing.

I am not only horrible at before pictures, but apparently in between ones as well.  So I will just try to quickly explain the process. 

Next came the top.  I used the original top thingy (looks more like a frame now...hmmm could do something cool with that) as a template and had Scott cut out a solid square board for my new base from some wood  we had lying around.  I called JoAnn's to get a price on foam and holy crap batman that stuff is EX PEN SIVE!  Like $60 a yard expensive and so not in my budget for a cheap diy coffee table ottoman.  So after brainstorming and searching the web I decided to give foam mattress covers a shot (you know those egg shell looking things you put on your mattress to make the softer).  I picked up 2 full size ones from Walmart and I also grabbed some buttom making kits since I wanted this to be a tufted ottoman.  And lastly I ran to Target to grab this shower curtain to use as my fabric.  Target has such a cute selection of shower curtains and they would be perfect for this project as they are usually 72 in x 72 in.

I took the mattress pads and cute them to size.  Then with the extra I wrapped all 4 sides of my board so there wouldn't be any hard or sharp edges.  I just used our trusty old staple gun to keep those in place.  Once I had my 4 layers of mattress foam on the board I wrapped it in some batting I had lying around and stapled that down nice and tight.  After that I arranged by buttons on top where I wanted them and marked the top of my seat.  I used scissors to cut the foam and once that was cut I used a drill to drill down through the base board so I could run my needle through.  Then I layed the fabric on top - just centering it over the entire seat.  I have to say I have never done a tufted anything so I just kind of learned as I went.  Once I had all the buttons done, I pulled the fabric tight and stapled to the bottom (and had a decent size blister from the staple gun) and then we screwed it to the base and now have this...

Here is a close up of the fabric.  I was kind of scared when I picked this out, but it was perfect as there was no rhyme or reason to the pattern, which meant I didn't have to be super duper careful (and end up pulling my hair out) when doing the tufting.

I may or may not have spent a considerable time last night lovingly running my hands over the top with a goofy smile on my face (as Scott seriously just laughed at me).  If it had been big enough I swear I would have slept on it :).  The best part - both girls can fit on it and lay down.  Okay here is a quick cost breakdown...

Table:  $11

Paint:  Free - on hand

Board for seat:  Free - on hand

Foam mattress pads:  $20 for 2

Button kits:  $6 for 3

Shower Curtain:  $20

Upholstery Needle:  $2

Thread:  Free - on hand

1 Bizillion staples:  Free - on hand

TOTAL:  $59

Whooo Hooo that totally beats $1,170 and I think ours has more character (which equates to "will hide dirt better" which is always important with two little ones under 5!).

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