Storage Ottoman DIY
It’s been a while since I’ve even thought about sitting down to blog. Life lately has been about survival and not much else. Besides that, I have been working 40+ hours and creativity isn’t what is on my mind when I get home.
We recently moved to a new rent house because we needed to downsize to cut back on our monthly costs. It’s amazing how much stuff you accumulate when you have room for it. There is so much that I don’t need, don’t really use, and can live without. It’s been an adjustment essentially losing two rooms. We have had to be creative with storage solutions for our bedroom/office (which has no closet). We sold some furniture that just wouldn’t fit in the new place. I am not done organizing… not sure if I will ever truly be done doing that, but things are unpacked and every weekend I get a little closer to everything having a home (even if that home is the trash).
There was a spot between the living room and the dining room that we decided needed a chair. I like the big overstuffed, over-sized chairs, but the space is so small anything that big would just overpower the living room. Every chair that I looked up online was around $200. That wasn’t going to happen. I found a few on Facebook Marketplace that had potential, but we decided to look at some thrift stores before committing to any Facebook purchases. We wanted to make sure that we were getting the best deal possible. I am so glad that we did! We found this chair and ottoman at Habitat Re-store.
I love it. It is right next to the window where the morning sun comes through. Steve got me this computer tray/stand for my laptop so I can work in my new chair and it folds up and is light enough that I can take it up stairs to the futon if I really need the privacy. The only thing missing was some more storage space!!! After a quick Google search for how to turn an ottoman into a storage ottoman, we found a YouTube video that made it look super simple. All we needed was a board and some glue.
When I separated the seems and removed the fabric on the bottom, it looked different than in the video and that had me concerned. I have an amazing husband though, and he figured out how to create more space and make it strong enough that if the grandkids bounce around on it, they aren’t going to fall through or break it.
So here is how we did it. First, I followed the directions on the video by removing the bottom upholstery fabric. Only I discovered that there was another layer of fabric and not an empty box. So instead of removing that as well, I decided to remove the cushioned top. I used my rotary wheel to cut the seem between the fabric and was careful to only cut the thread and not the fabric.
The next thing I discovered was….. more fabric! Where is the the empty box like in the video? It was under a layer of padding and webbing that was holding up the cushion. It wasn’t as deep as I had hoped. The video has you attaching the bottom board on the inside to the ottoman. We removed that second layer of upholstery fabric and attached it on the bottom instead. By doing this, we created at least another 2 inches of storage space.
When I was stapling the sides, I had a little trouble with the corners. There wasn’t enough fabric to pinch into the corner. I used some left over fabric scraps and sewed them around the padding and secured the stitching in the corner so it didn’t unravel later. I am by no means the best sewer. I know enough to get by, so this is not pretty. The padding is covered and tacked down; that was the goal.
We also had to remove the two 1x4’s that were supporting the webbing. We thought about keeping them as dividers but they really cut it up too much and I wouldn’t have been able to store anything (maybe baby clothes).
Even though I was concerned when I found things to be so different when I started, it turned out way better than I imagined. Plus there is the added bonus of feeling really crafty, accomplished, and organized!!!
