Upholstering An Ottoman

I decided the other night (at 9:30p.m./ bless the hubs little heart) that I wanted to rearrange the living room a little. Our sofa was an "L" shape, one side having a chaise lounge. And with a baby swing and bouncer next to the end of the chaise, we had about one foot of space to get at our dining table. Not convenient. Luckily, our Ikea sofa allows us to remove the end of the sofa so that's exactly what we did. Here is our sofa in its original formation:

And here is what it looks like now...

Because our Little Miss is well on her way to darting around the house, I wanted our "coffee table" to be safe for her, functional us, and nice to look at. Since our new ottoman was part of the sofa, it already had legs and was somewhat padded. Here is the end result of transforming this could-be useless piece into a conversation starter: (So happy!)

The very first thing I did was iron my fabric just to work out all those ugly creases. I used a high heat setting because my fabric was made of 100% cotton. (Always check what the fabric is made of before ironing!)
I wanted to add more padding not only to fill out the ottoman more on top, but also to protect Maddy. Laying the batting out flat on the floor, I placed the ottoman in the center, making sure that all sides wrapped around.

And those funny looking legs? Those are temporary until I can find ones I like! Pulling tightly, I made my way around the floor, stapling as I went. The staples are about 2 inches apart. I folded the corners as I would a present, again pulling tightly so it's not excessively bulky. I then trimmed the excess batting so it would not interfere with the legs.

After all of my stapling was complete for the batting, I flipped the ottoman over to make sure the top looked good and wasn't wrinkled.

Then it was time for the fabric! I decided to purchase outdoor quality fabric because it still felt soft, but it would be slightly more durable with the kiddos. Laying that flat on the floor, just like I did with the batting, I placed the ottoman in the center and made sure that all sides of the fabric wrapped around the sides of the ottoman. Starting with one side, I pulled the fabric tight and stapled the fabric across the inside of the ottoman about 3 inches from each end. After stapling the first side, I moved to the opposing side of the ottoman and began to staple there. Eventually, all the sides were then stapled.

The corners I had to play with in order to get the right fold so the fabric wasn't bunched looking. I folded the corners similar to how I folded the batting. Then I stapled the crap out of it so the fabric would not come loose over time. Finishing all the corners, my ottoman is complete! I screwed the temporary legs back in and until I find new ones, those will have to do.

 

A look again at the finished product. I really like it and it looks like Little Miss does too!

  
Budget Breakdown:
Fabric from Joann's: 60% off sale made the fabric $6.99/yard = $15.00
Batting: $6.99
Ottoman base: already owned
Ottoman feet: already owned
Staple gun w/ staples: $12.00

Total Cost: $33.99