Ottoman Reupholstery

Threefinchsisters
by Threefinchsisters
4 Materials
$40
2 Hours
Easy

My husband acquired his grandmothers antique cedar chest but between multiple moves and so many dogs, it desperately needed an upgrade!


This is what the chest looked like after I removed what little was left of the upholstery on the top. It is a beautiful piece but definitely needs a little love!

If you have never reupholstered anything (like me!), it is so stinking easy! The first step was removing the top of the chest which was just attached by a few screws in 2 different hinges.

Next, this chest had a piece of plywood over the top, so I unscrewed that so that I could eventually wrap the new fabric around to hide the edges. I bought upholstery foam from amazon, cut it to size, and used a staple gun to staple it onto the plywood.

I found this staple gun at target, but you can get them pretty much anywhere! Walmart, amazon, craft stores...

For the upholstery, I used faux leather from amazon. It came in a large sheet that I cut into individual strips about 1.5 inches wide. I wanted the ottoman to have a woven leather top, but buying the precut leather strips was SUPER expensive. Cutting the faux leather was so easy with a basic pair of scissors. I originally bought a small rotary cutter to cut the strips with, but it was so much easier to use scissors.


My ottoman was about 1200 square inches, and I used a 1 yard sheet that was 54 x 36 inches with leftovers.

Don’t worry about making the strips perfectly straight. Once you weave them all together, you won’t notice any of the imperfections. I started my first strip in the middle. I just stapled one end to the underside of the plywood and pulled it tight across and stapled the other end.

I did this all the way down the entire ottoman. See the white upholstery fabric showing through? You won’t see it at all once everything is woven together so don’t stress!

Finally, I started weaving! All those weaving projects you hated in kindergarten are paying off now! Just alternate over-under all the way down going the opposite way of the strips you stapled down first.

After all the strips are woven together, this is what you get! Did you trust me on the upholstery foam not showing through? I told you it wouldn’t!

I trimmed off the excess leather from underneath so the plywood would attach more smoothly.

Then placed the plywood back on the top of the ottoman.

Just a few screws later and the top was finished!

This shows the pebbled texture of the faux leather up close. It is super soft and while it doesn’t necessarily feel like real leather, it doesn’t look like cheap pleather. You can definitely do this project with real leather but expect to pay a whole lot more.

What do you think?? Think you could do this at home too?? Check out https://www.instagram.com/reel/CRU4fa3jCY2/?utm_medium=copy_link to see a step by step video! And you can always check out @threefinchsisters on instagram to see more and grab links for any of the products used!!

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2 of 13 comments
  • Katen Katen on Jul 20, 2023

    Great idea. Made a unique piece. You don’t have to go to Amazon for vinyl, fabric stores, including many Walmarts sell. If you’d like to use as seat on chair remember you need stability as vinyl will stretch. And thank you for reminding me I’m old; I have similar grandma chest (given new to me!) lol. Thanks for reminding me to update my piece😊

  • Alice Alice on Jul 20, 2023

    I bet you could find an old, beat up leather jacket at a thrift shop, cut it up and use it for this as it is a fairly small amount, then it would be real leather but still very affordable.

    It does look very nice as is, a great way to be able to keep using a beloved piece.

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