DIY OTTOMAN FROM A COFFEE TABLE

5 Materials
$30.00
4-5 Hours
Easy
Making your own DIY ottoman isn’t very hard – but it’s not always budget friendly. But we wanted one, so I had to figure out how to do it on the cheap. I started mine with a coffee table I found at Goodwill – but you could definitely make your own and start there. Either way, making your own DIY ottoman is a great way to add a little comfort to your space.
I thought long and hard about building my own base, until I found this coffee table at Goodwill for $10 – which was cheaper than building one, score!
I wasn’t a fan of the orange-toned wood, so I gave it a couple of coats of flat white spray paint to give it a more cottage look.


If I were smarter, I would have run it though my table saw to shave 2 inches off each end before painting – but sometimes my brain gets ahead of itself, so I had to wait until mine was dry,  all good, though, because after covering it, you won’t see a thing!
This is my big secret – the foam mattress pad. Typically to buy a huge old chunk of foam from the fabric store, it would have been about $100, plus you still need the batting & spray. But a mattress pad is only $10.00 – that’s a big savings! I actually had the spray adhesive on hand, but you only need a little – and you’ll also need some quilt batting.
Spray a layer of adhesive to keep the foam in place securely
The mattress pad was large enough for 3 layers, so the first layer is with the wavy side down. Then spray adhesive and put the second layer wavy side up, sprayed again and put wavy side down, so it was smooth on top. Somehow I didn’t have photos of the other two layers – oops! Just remember that you want the top smooth. Then trim each layer all the way around to make it all neat.
Then cover the whole thing with 2 or 3 layers of quilt batting.. I attached it from the bottom side with an air gun stapler.
Although there are a million and one tutorials on how to make an ottoman from a coffee table, each of them that I saw was tufted or not tailored. I wanted it to have piping, so I made a slipcover for the top, but then stapled it on the lip of the table from underneath so it was smooth and even. I have a tutorial for making slip covers on my site :)
And that's how I made an ottoman from a coffee table.
Gina @ The Shabby Creek Cottage
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Cathy C Cathy C on Jul 28, 2021

    Easier to me! Sorry

  • Can56115167 Can56115167 on Jul 01, 2022

    This is a great project. I have done this years back, but I just used a Home Depot wide board (they will cut to you specification) and four decorative chair legs of choice. It turned out great. I did not sew a cover, I just stapled the fabric underneath the board.

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