Gray Ottoman

I really wanted an ottoman for my living room.  Couple of donated items and I'm ready to piece it together.  So I began with an end table, cut the legs down to size keeping in mind how tall the cushion was.  For sure wanted the ottoman height to be less than the wing back chair (which I plan to reupholster, as you may recall it's red....to see the status of that project click here).

After cutting all 4 legs off, I used the table saw for this and scared myself a bit...so be careful.  I also cut a piece of particle board into the same dimensions as the inner part of the table.  The particle board is what I'll use to attach the fabric and padding (old couch cushion), then I'll screw the table and particle board together (from underneath the table).

After the 1st coat of paint, I went with Annie Sloan's Old White chalk paint.  Because the table was so dark, I'll probably do 3-4 coats...also I plan to paint the wing back chair legs the same color.

I added a clear coat of polycrylic

I picked up sheets of cork at Sutherlands.  It came with 4 sheets.  I'm going to use this as a leg pad so my floors don't get scratched up.

I used an exacto knife to cut it to size and used E6000 glue to keep it in place.

So....anyone notice anything after I brought the soon to be ottoman upstairs?

Yeah....you're right...it's way too tall.  So I cut about 3" more off the bottom of the legs and will have to re-do the cork.

That looks a little better...

But on a positive note, my son was a big helper with picking out fabric.

(the bottom printed fabric is what I'll be using to cover the cushion)

I've been working on a dual project, this as well as the wing back chair.  When one isn't going so well...I switch to the other.

I've made ottomans before so this clearly won't be any big deal, right?

Wrong.  Well, my cat is a fan but I don't care for it.  It reminds me of the mushroom from Alice in Wonderland.

So next idea is to go with what I know.  I know that I love the way my tufted bench turned out so I'll just add some screws and do some faux tufting.  Please note this was also after trimming the cushion down more (big mistake).

I thought I would get real crafty by adding some decorative trim nails.  I got this holder for the trim nails that's supposed to allow you to hammer them in straight.  Well, the holder was too small for the nails and didn't really work.  So I made my own holder out of cardboard from a blog I saw....and that's what resulted in the picture below.  I even tried to drill pilot holes, alas nothing was working.

To make matters worse, I decided that I would get a strand of decorative nails (the kind that you only have to hammer in about every 5th one).  Although they were much simpler to use.....HOLY MOLY I can't stand the sight of this thing.  So it's time to stop and go back to the chair project.

So far this has been a "what not to do" kind of post.  Since I've been a negative nancy majority of this post let me say something positive.  I am thankful that I have 2 cushions so I can have another shot at making this great.

Round 3

I took everything apart again, and I covered the cushion with batting (used my spare couch cushion I picked up).

After that I worked on my buttons for the faux tufting.  I picked these button covers up from Walmart and they are much easier to use than the last ones I got at Joann's.

After that I used some fabric glue and did my 1, 2, 3 method.

1. Fabric glue on button
2. A wad of newspaper
3. Something heavy to weigh it down

Let it dry for 24 hours

For sure, we are on the right road now.

A couple of views

The cushion turned out absolutely enormous.  It's not my favorite...but maybe after the chair is finished it will pull it all together.  I'm so bummed about the trim nails, I really wanted to use them on both the chair and the ottoman.  I'm too nervous to try them again somewhere else.  Any thoughts or ideas feel free to leave a comment.