Last Spring / Summer time we spent a lot of time gathering objects / furniture to refurbish to make our new home complete, unfortunately I don’t have before and after photos so I will explain the processes and include finished photos. One of the first projects was jazzing up an ottoman, I found it on freecycle so that was a bonus!

Materials
Length of fabric
Staple gun
Thick foam
Sandpaper
White Paint & Brush
Hammer & Nails
Plyboard
Ottoman!

Firstly I unscrewed the hinges of the lid and removed it, then stripped off the old fabric and foam as it was in a bad way. Only to discover the board used on top of the lid was cracked, so I measured a new piece of thicker plyboard to replace this (assuming it would be sat on and would need to be more robust). I nailed the new top in place on the lids frame.

Then I sanded down the lid and the base and wiped it down. Next I repainted the base – sides, bottom and legs (with a little help from a friend!) with white wood gloss paint.

Next I covered the lid in foam, slightly larger than the wood so once it was upholstered the wood wouldn’t stick out. I laid fabric over the top of the foam and turned it upside down to pull the fabric tight and staple gun the fabric round underneath the lid (with a lot of help from Adam), I stapled the opposite ends first then the sides, then filled in the gaps so it was completely tight and even.

Once the paint was dry, I screwed the hinges back into another spot on the lid and base, to make sure it was stronger.

Hey presto, shiny new ottoman!