My DIY Ottoman Upholstery Project
Do you have a piece of furniture you love but it’s starting to show its age? Maybe it’s peeling, stained, or just outdated—but you can’t bring yourself to replace it? That was me with our family room ottoman! I have always liked the looks of this ottoman and have had it for years. However, all of a sudden the top started peeling and there was no return.
My fix had been to cover the ottoman with a blanket! I’m hoping to look for new family room furniture sometime in the near future, so it wasn’t yet time to replace the ottoman. And I haven’t ever taken on an upholstery project, so I avoided that solution for quite a while! However, when the Christmas decorations came down this year and there were pieces of the top of the ottoman all over the living room floor, I decided it was time for the ottoman makeover!
Ottoman Upholstery Solutions
I did a few quick searches on YouTube for video tutorials regarding how to reupholster an ottoman to see how and if I might be able to tackle this project. My biggest concern was how does one wrap the corners?! I watched the following two videos and found them very helpful (in case you also want to try a reupholstery project!): https://youtu.be/onNjOIb5U4U?si=eNjU-LOQwAbRbB4D and https://youtu.be/v__8Tn_zkbs?si=fOIicC7wQ_ArWYt-. I was intimidated at first, but these step-by-step videos helped give me the confidence to go for it. Thank you to both of these lovely ladies for the tips and tricks on how to upholster an ottoman!
Steps I took for the ottoman makeover:
- Found a neutral fabric at the local craft store.
- Removed the top of the ottoman.
- Added batting from an old blanket to help smooth out the tufted surface.
- Wrapped the batting with the new fabric and began securing the material with staples.
- Watched one of the videos above many more times until I felt I had the process down for the type of corner I was hoping to create!
- Worked my way around the ottoman top with the stapler until it was all securely fastened!
Below are the before and after images from the ottoman project. The finished project isn’t perfect; however, it brings me SO MUCH JOY every day to see this updated ottoman WITHOUT a peeling top and a sense of accomplishment knowing I was able to fix this challenge on my own!
Have you ever tried reupholstering furniture? If not, what’s one DIY project you’ve been meaning to tackle? Let me know in the comments and give it a try! You will be so happy you did!
