Diamond Tufted Ottoman, Take One.

Hi there Mumsy!

Just sitting over here, marinating in all my rookie-ness.

My ottoman with the lovely diamond tufting is mostly finished. Who'da thought the easiest part would be the tufting? Not this rookie.

I followed Kristi's fantastic, totally boss, diamond-tufted upholstered headboard tutorial over at Addicted 2 Decorating to make the tufted top of the ottoman.

The box? Well, I winged that.

I wanted an ottoman that was 18 inches high and I didn't want the height to be all legs. The thing has to be sturdy enough for teenaged butts to be parked on it. So, long, wobbly legs just wouldn't do.

I made the base a 24"W by 48"L by 12"H box and I'm planning to add 2" high bun feet down there just as soon as I can get Big T to look away from the bank account long enough to buy them.

(Wee bit o'sticker shock on those dang feet. I probably need to shop around some more because the bun feet I found at HD were about $10 a piece, not including the mounting hardware to screw them in.) 

The tufted top/lid adds another 4 inches of height, which includes the 1/2 mdf, 3 inches of foam and the double layer of batting, as Kristi recommends. Bringing the height to 18 inches (eventually).

Building the box:



Cool and groovy clamps.
Not sure what I was protecting the tabletop from with the cardboard there. I actually like dinged up tables. Like you can't tell.



After I plowed through about 8 thousand Spax screws and a half a bottle of glue to build the box (Big T would say it's "over-engineered" or "riddled with redundancies", take your pick), I used spray adhesive to apply a layer of batting to the outside.

Now, part of the reason this is Take One in the Diamond Tufted Ottoman adventure is because the fabric I chose is all wrong. I was weak and shallow and picked a linen blend because it's all the rage. Well, ACTUAL linen is all the rage but you know I wasn't spending that amount of moolah to make something that will surely be farted upon. So, linen blend it was. Lovely linen blend, with that goofy, crinkly texture and a Just Right color. But, no, not Just Right. Right? Feet and butts all over a delicate oatmeal-colored linen blend?

Weak. And. Shallow.

I'm looking forward to learning from my mistakes by moving this ottoman to a bedroom and making another one in a much sturdier fabric, like a Sunbrella with a pattern.

Alls I'm saying is; stay tuned, Ma, there's gonna be a Take Two.

Alrighty then. On to the top/lid.

Following Kristi's tutorial, I used spray adhesive to stick the foam to the mdf. Then I created the button layout and removed the foam at the button locations using a hole-saw drill attachment (by hand, not with the drill) and my sharpest scissors.   

I put 2 layers of batting over the foam and the fabric on top.

Let the tufting begin!



Horizontal rows first:

Then, the diagonals, to create those pretty diamonds:

Making neat folds and stapling to the back:

Check out those button switchbacks.





After I finished tufting the top and upholstering the box, I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to put the thing together. So I just set the top on the box and here she is, with no feet:

Since this picture was taken I've added a skirt and hinged the top to make a blanket chest.

I'll get a picture of that up, lickety split.

But, I'm looking forward to building another one. This time I'm going to use a Kreg pocket hole jig or the new brad nailer my awesome brother just gave me (thanks Johnny!) to construct the base and a much sturdier fabric.

The tufted top really was the cinch-iest part of the whole thing because Kristi's tutorial (as well as the comments at the end of her tutorial) takes the guesswork out of it.

Now, c'mon over and put your feet up, Ma!

I'll get the Diet Cokes.

-Amanda

Linking, gratefully: