I have been wanting an ottoman for the living room for quite some time. Not just any ottoman though, one that could act as storage in some way and would lighten up the space with a fun fabric. Originally, I was thinking that Pete and I could easily assemble one with a wood palette, and I would opt for a blue ikat fabric. But the other weekend we were given a crate by a friend that just so happened to be a comparable size to the ottoman we were dreaming up in our heads. It wasn't what I had once envisioned, but when given lemons, why not make lemonade...and in this case when given a crate, why not make an ottoman??
Lucky for us, we already had leftover foam, scrap wood, and stain from previous projects. Taking all that into consideration, the only purchase we needed to make to complete our ottoman was fabric. With our good fortune in mind, we decided to make our adopted crate into an ottoman. So our first 'to-'do' on this project was finding the right material for covering the foam. We selected a woven textile with a neutral pattern, and although not the blue ikat pattern I had been hoping for, it fits our style and furniture. Not to mention it will match any future items we decide to place in a future living room. So our ottoman will easily transition from room to room with it's simple cream color scheme and I can't complain about that. The best part...there was just enough fabric left on the spool to fit our dimensions and it only cost us $2.34. We lucked out big time. Our entire ottoman cost us under three dollars and we are thrilled!
So after rearranging some wood slats, sanding it down, building a top piece with scrap wood, staining, covering the foam with fabric, and screwing it all together, we completed our ottoman over a three day period. It now sits in our living room perfectly nestled between the couch and chair. And after staring at the fabric long enough, in combination with how it accents our stained wood, I'm in love with it and glad we picked it. Although, the ottoman's height is slightly too tall (because of the height of our foam), we are happy as can be with the finished product (umm...hello we spent hardly any money on it!). The finishing touches will come with some woven wood baskets for storage placed underneath the top, foam layer. Not only did we get a place to rest our feet, but we also got extra seating if needed and some cute storage!
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| After slats were rearranged and before it was stained or sanded. |
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| After staining...we've come up with our own special blend of two stains to get this color (it's my fave!) |
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| Our foam top. We covered it with white fabric first before putting on our patterned fabric. It's a good way to keep the foam from showing through your chosen fabric. Not to mention it's great reinforcement. |
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| A perfect addition! |
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| Who wouldn't want to rest their feet on this?! |
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