The Ottoman Empire

I decided the ottoman in our family room needed a little help.  This is a very old picture.  Ottoman looks ok from a distance. (Not sure why I felt the need to have all of our furniture crammed into the middle of the room like that, either.)

Up close, ottoman not so nice.  You could see the quilt batting I used sticking out from underneath; it was wobbly; and the little shelf thingy underneath was made of two boards that were uneven, so anything I put under there eventually toppled over.

So, I recovered it and added a skirt and more padding.  (More comfy for the feet, that way.)

I even got all handy and ripped out the old boards underneath and cut a piece of plywood to fit and made a nice, big, sturdy shelf and put our games under there.  Didn't paint it or anything, because the lovely skirt hides it all. 

(Actually, the reason I didn't paint it, is because while I sewed the cover, it's not just a slipcover; I stapled it on, which made it look better.  Then I decided to redo the shelf; so I had to do that with the fabric on and I figured I would get paint all over the fabric.  I also realized it wasn't hemmed to the right length - too long - after I had it stapled in place.  I thought I would just use liquid stitch and shorten the whole thing.  MESSY.  Had a brainstorm - decided to cut small squares of plywood and screw them into the bottom to add 1/4 of height.  But don't tell Scott, because I had him cut the whole thing down before I started the whole process.  Oops.  The little plywood feet make it really easy to slide across the rug, though, so, happy accident, I guess!!)

I texted Mom a picture when I was done and she said, "Did you do BOX PLEATS?!?" Because it is a little shocking that I pulled that off.  I am not much of a seamstress.

It turned out to be a little much color-wise (BAM-BIG ORANGE OTTOMAN), so I just put some stuff on it to tone it down a little. :)

And no more furniture crammed into the middle of the room.  Life's good.