DIY Ottoman

My mom came down a couple weekends ago to help me get my house decorated.  Yes, we've lived here for a year and a half, and it's not like I didn't have anything on the walls, but there were a lot of rooms that were just incomplete.  I couldn't get myself motivated to get off the couch this morning and take pictures of our house (plus, not everything is done yet) so instead,I decided to share one of the other projects that my mom and i worked on... some ottomans for my craft room.

So this room is a work in progress.  It's the bonus room over our garage, so it's a big room.  We've got my craft table in one corner, a desk in another.  We also have a couch and a bunch of book shelves and a TV so it's a great multi-purpose room!

I've seen a bunch of DIY ottomans made out of IKEA side tables on Pinterest so I decided I'd give it a shot.  In case you want to try it, you can follow along.

What i used:
2 IKEA Lack side tables
2" foam squares (trimmed to be the same size at the table tops)
2 yards white muslin (54" wide)
2 yards home decor fabric (54" wide)
heavy duty staple gun with 1/4" staples
scissors

Make sure your fabrics have been ironed and cut them in half ( 1 yard x 54")

Put one square of muslin down on the floor and set the foam in the center of the fabric.

Set the table (top down without legs) on the foam.

Cut squares out of the corner of the fabric so eliminate bulk

Fold the muslin up and attach to table with staples - start with the middle of the fabric and then left and right.  Do this all the way around the bottom of the table until it looks like this:

You'll be able to see the foam and the table on the corner
edges, but this is ok!!

Use your scissors and poke holes in the muslin where the holes for the legs are located.

Next, lay out your home decor fabric (face down) and lay the table on to (face down).  If your fabric has a pattern, be sure you're centering the pattern as well as putting it on straight.

Fold the fabric up to ensure you have enough to staple (approximately 2 inches) and if you have more than that, you can trim it so it's easier to work with.

Fold up your first edge and attach with 5 staples across.  Do the same thin on the opposite side of the table.

On one of the edges that have not yet been attached, start by folding and attaching the corners so that they look like this:

My first instinct was to fold and wrap the rest of the fabric like a gift, which would have made it look like this:

Instead of using the more triangle like folds/angles, I used my fingers to slide the flaps folds wider and it squared the fabric off a little more.  Then I stapled in the middle first, and then along the rest of the fabric. 

Kind of hard to see, but the fold in the fabric is
very close to the corner edge of the table

Then i poked the hole again where the legs would go, and I reinforced the fabric between the hole and the edge of the table with an extra staple... it helps to hold the fabric in place while you're tightening the legs.

Be careful when putting the legs back on - you may have to hold the fabric down as the top of the legs get close to the bottom of the table, and you probably won't be able to tighten the legs all the way.

Here is the finished product:

I probably could have shortened the legs on the  tables just a little bit, but overall I think they look great and they are so comfortable!!  So, what do you think???

Coming soon - Valentine's decorations  : )