How to make a simple but custom ottoman

I finally got everything together to post my DIY ottoman project the other day and to my surprise the blogger was unavailable!  I am pretty new to blogging and I was so disappointed to see this, I can imagine how disappointed some the veteran bloggers were.  Well, thank goodness blogger is back!

Last week I was working on a tufted ottoman for my livingroom.  I needed a huge ottoman, 4ft. X 4ft. to be exact to cover the space I have.  I also wanted it tufted with burlap fabric.   All the ottomans of that size I saw in the stores were over $2,000, a little bit over my budget ($0 budget)!  During my daily surf on blogland, I came across a post on a tufted headboard by Kristi from addicted2decorating.com.  She is amazingly talented and has great diy projects for inspirations.  She has a step by step tutorial on a tufted headboard which I used for the ottoman, it is basically the same concept.

Here is the finish ottoman

Here is how I did it!

 I gathered all the material:

                                                - Plywood cut to desired size of the ottoman

                                                - Wooden legs I purchased at Home Depot

                                                -  3" foam cut to size of the plywood

                                                - Half ball cover buttons, I used 23

                                                - Nylon cord

                                                - Upholstery needle, I used 6" needle

                                                - Thick batting

                                                - Yard stick

                                                - Black sharpie marker

                                                - Measuring tape

                                                - Staple gun and staples

                                                - Spray adhesive

                                                - Fabric of your choice, I picked designer
                                                  burlap (it seemed less coarse)
                                                - Nail heads

First, I painted the wooden legs espresso bean color and then dry brushed them black, showing a little bit of brown undertone.  Then I wrapped all the buttons with the burlap material according to the instructions on the packaging, which is a little difficult because of its thickness.  You really need to use some muscles for that part.

 I then sprayed adhesive on the plywood and laid the foam on top.

 Mark where you want the buttons to go.

 Cover the foam with batting and staple.

I used gizzillian staples! Then I notched out inch and a half holes in the batting and foam for where the buttons will go through.

Make a triple knot on one end of the nylon cord and put it through the button and then put the needle through the other end.

Then thread the button through the material, foam and the plywood. 

Pull the cord tightly and staple it on the plywood.

 Then staple the material onto the plywood and add the brackets to the corners.

I then screwed on the legs.

I added nail heads staight across bottom edge.  Excuse the dog bone under table, my puppy leaves his toys all over the house, worse than my kids!

But, I didn't like the way it looked, it seemed to get lost.  So I staggered them and I liked it this way much better.

Here it is!  I am really happy the way it turned out!

I've linked this post to: 

funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com
addicted2decorating.com
missmustardseed.blogspot.com
   linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com