Ottoman Reupholster Makeover

 Having a blog has help me complete projects I've put on the back burner.  In March of this year I was at my local Deseret Industries causally shopping with my friend when I came upon these two forest green ottomans.  They were N-A-S-T-Y!  They smelled and had cat hair all over them.  I really liked the shape of them and how simple they were.  I thought, this would be a really great replacement for the Duncan Phyfe coffee table I already have in my living room because I wanted a more eclectic living room.  I could also use them for seating if we needed more seats in our living room!  They had function and style!  So I bought the two ottomans for $20 and put them in my garage for the time being.  

Four months later I was sick and tired of running into them whenever I would pull my car into the garage, they were taking up valuable real estate, and our living room is in desperate need of some decor.  This week I tackled the challenge of reupholstering my first pieces of furniture.  It wasn't too bad.  It took me all day, literally.  My mother-in-law was so kind to drive a hour to spend the entire day with Amelia so I could focus on this project and get it done!  Thanks Ann, I owe you one!  

This is what the two ottomans looked like before.

Drum roll.....  Here is what they look like now!   

 The first thing I did was cleaned off the nasty cat hair that was embedded into the fabric.  I carefully pulled apart the fabric by taking out each of the staples (long and tedious).  I did this by using an ice pick tool my husband had in his tool box and some dyke cutter to pull out any broken pieces of staples.  Remember to wear a pair of handy dandy leather gloves (these are a must!).  I tried to be as careful when taking apart the fabric because I needed it to be intact so I could trace the pattern.  Underneath the fabric was some cotton batting, I decided to keep it on instead of replacing it because it was in good condition and I didn't want to spend the extra money.  I purchased my chartreuse yellow fabric from Home Fabrics for $7 a yard!  What a screaming deal.  

To assemble the ottoman I had to sew two pieces of fabric that wrapped around the sides and then sew the top to it.  After I was done sewing the fabric, I slide it over the ottoman, then started to staple the fabric to the ottoman.  Make sure everything is taut before you staple and take your time with this. 

The trickiest part was installing the tack strips to the inner sides of the ottoman.  You wrap the fabric around the tack strip and then once in place hammer it in.  This is harder when you're a lone ranger likes I was, but it can be done.  Just be patient.  The first one I installed, one of the nails got bent, and it was being a stickler by  not going into the wood.  I cut out the nail and hot glued it to the fabric.  Having a hot glue gun on hand is really important when you reupholster anything.  

After I installed the tack strips to both sides, I started to nail the brass nail stud strips.  By purchasing the nail strips, you only have to hammer in a nail every five studs. Therefore making the process a lot easier then hammering each nail head.  I nailed the bottom portion of the ottoman because I liked the look of it the best.  And that's pretty much it!  It took me all day to complete one ottoman.  That's including getting distracted many times, watching glimpses of Kitchen Nightmares, going potty, getting hydrated, and fueling up on snacks.  

Supplies: 

two nasty ottomans 

2.5 yards of yellow chartreuse upholstery fabric 

two packages of brass nail stud trim 

stapler 

nails 

leather gloves 

ice pick tool or flat head screw driver to get staples out of wood

dyke tool to take out the broken pieces of staples