https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/foot-stool-makeover-no-sewing-machine-needed • Posted by Eszter P.
I have these black faux leather pieces of furniture in my living room that we bought off someone when we moved here. It seemed very practical at the time, as it's easy to clean and we have kids and pets... Over time the upholstery got badly worn and I got tired of the look (and the feel) of them. Buying new that is nice enough is beyond our budget plus I don't like to throw away perfectly usable stuff, so I decided to redo them, little by little. This is my first - and definitely the easiest - project, a kind of a warm-up exercise. Hope you like it.
I have these black faux leather pieces of furniture in my living room that we bought off someone when we moved here. It seemed very practical at the time, as it's easy to clean and we have kids and pets... Over time the upholstery got badly worn and I got tired of the look (and the feel) of them. Buying new that is nice enough is beyond our budget plus I don't like to throw away perfectly usable stuff, so I decided to redo them, little by little. This is my first - and definitely the easiest - project, a kind of a warm-up exercise. Hope you like it.
This is the ottoman we have; poor thing is ugly as sin but we use it a lot. It is extra seating, foot-rest, tray holder, cat sofa, kid trampoline, laptop stand and so on. Can't live a day without it! This is the kind of thing that is easy to get second-hand from garage sales or flea-markets - we got this one for free just for showing up at a moving sale!
The inspiration for this project was this image I found on the net. Fun, isn't it?
I bought this piece of faux fur from a nearby fabric store that has a great sale going on. A 1.25 m X 1.00 m piece is needed to finish this project. I payed $ 18.00 for it.
This is a close-up of the fur: no Mongolian sheep but long and soft and natural-looking. And faux, no poor creature had to give it's life for it! There are some funky bright-colored furs out there, those would be fun for a kid's or teen's room.
I draped the fabric over my cube arranging it symmetrically; two opposite sides are completely covered with a little bit of fabric reaching the floor. On the other two sides the fur is about 5 cm (2 inches) shorter than the cube.
On the sides where the fabric is shorter, I folded the loosely hanging corners over each other, envelope-style, pulled them taut and hand-stitched along the folded edge on top. With the needle I freed the hairs that got stuck under the thread, and I was done. The created pockets can be used as magazine-holders. With this method 5 of the six sides are covered; the cover is easily removable for cleaning and the ottoman is more stable without the soft fur fabric underneath.
Hint: For stitching the fur fabric one needs a large, tapestry-style needle and some really strong thread. I used a 6.0 lb strength fishing line, courtesy of husband's tackle box :). Stitching across all the furry layers wasn't the easiest thing to do, I felt I needed a few extra hands to keep everything taut while stitching. I even sustained some injuries (see pic), but the whole ordeal didn't take longer than 5 minutes.
There he is, among his yet-to-be-reupholstered friends.
Test drive; passed! :)