Tufted Ottoman

I have been a fan of the "Little Green Notebook" blog for quite some time. And felt especially inspired by this post. Did we need a tufted ottoman? Why no, no we didn't. But you know, for a grand total of $30ish dollars, why not give it a whirl?

I found this coffee table last spring or summer at My Shoppe. I considered it, with this project in mind, but wasn't sure I was really going to give the project a whirl. And then decided, what the heck. Fifteen dollars for a coffee table wasn't going to break the bank. And when I went back to get it (click on picture to enlarge), it was marked down to $7.50. SOLD!
Flash forward eight months to last night when I was spending yet another exciting (but you know, actually kind of soothing) Friday night at our house tooling through another new favorite blog: Emily A. Clark's. She, too, had a post on upholstered ottomans which jump-started my urge to FINALLY complete this project. So, out came the coffee table this morning and the Sharpie marker and my trusty level/yardstick to measure out all those little holes for the tufting part.

Then, with a can of spray adhesive (already had) and two twin-size foam mattress pads cut to the size of the table (24x36), I created the cushy part of the ottoman-to-be. I had gone to the foam place we used when filming the Trading Spaces episode only to find that it is never opened. Despite signs to the contrary. This foam made do and it was probably just as cheap as getting some cut for me.

And then all I did was wrap it up like a present with my trusty staple gun. I bought this fabric at the amazing 1502 fabric store in High Point last summer on a fun fabric trip with my sister with this project in mind. Alas, I was side tracked by many more projects in the meantime. The pictures do not do this fabric justice. It is gorgeous! The background is kind of a grey-black.

Sad news on the tufting part. You really do need to do that part before you actually staple it to the base. Because when you try to start it at that point, it is just waaay to thick. I now have 18 buttons times 2 (for the top and the underneath part) ready to go, no needle long enough to go all the way through. And no sewing store open at this hour on a Saturday night. I have to say, though, that if the tufting doesn't take place, I'm still pretty satisfied with the way this project turned out.