I picked this ottoman up from the side of the road and it was extremely waterlogged.  During one of our rainy weeks, I kept passing it while I was walking the dog and I kept saying I would go back with my car and get it. After raining all week, I finally remembered it and went and scooped it up.

I started by taking the material off of the side. The tacks came up easily and I was ready to lift off the top piece of fabric.

I dreaded taking the faux leather material off and figured it would be really moldy since it sat out in the rain. Well, it was as you can see below. I put on some gloves, lifted off the foam and put it in the trash.

Then since the chipboard underneath was still wet, it sat up in my attic for several weeks to make sure it dried out. I finally took it out again and started to remove the tacks at the bottom. I had to use a combination of my needle nose pliers and a flat head screwdriver.  

When I got to the corners, little pieces of wood started coming out. I decided to tape them down and deal with it later.

Also, during this process I gook the felt protectors off the bottom of the feet.

Next came the part that I was dreading; sanding the legs. I started out sanding by hand with 80 grit sandpaper, then decided to use an old sander that my mother gave me. No shade to Craftsman, but it didn’t do a damn thing and almost shook my arm out of the socket. So I continued sanding by hand, but it wasn’t looking good.

 

I got it as best as I could and then decided to stain. I tried it out on one of the legs and it was very patchy.

The stain did not work so I decided to take it outside and spray paint it black. Not my first choice, but it works. A lot of ups and downs with this project but most of the time DIY is trial and error.

Now was the time to deal with the little pieces of wood that were falling out. I used wood glue and tape to hold them down until it dried.

I had an old piece of foam left over from so long ago that I couldn’t even remember where it came from. I cut it into two pieces and used spray adhesive to stick it to the top of the ottoman. After that, I used batting and used a double layer over that.

Now is the fun part. I used the compressor with my staple gun. It’s loud, but has so much power. I stapled the batting to the underside.

I wanted to use some really graphic black and white fabric I had, but it wasn’t wide enough. So I had to use this textured cream material. I turned it the wrong side out and pinned it down the edges of all four sides. Then I took it to the sewing machine, sewed along the pins and put it back on the ottoman to see how it fit. I had to make adjustments to all four sides but eventually I had it looking good.

I turned it to the right side and put it over the ottoman, then went back to the staple gun.

I stapled it all around. When I got to the corners, I folded the material in and eased it around the legs. After cutting off the excess fabric, it was time to put the felt protectors on the bottom of the feet. I had a rectangle of felt with a sticker on one side so I cut circles and stuck them to each of the four legs.

Finally, I was finished and I flipped it back over to check it out.  Not bad! I styled it with a few items and it looked really cute.

This ottoman had so many twists and turns and I never knew how it would turn out, but I think it turned out good. Not what was in my head, but sometimes you have to pivot. Let me know what you think and if you have any tips for me, please share.