New Ottoman for the Upstairs Living Room

Hello fuckers!

It dawned on me last week that it's been more than two months since I posted about the upstairs living room and that none of the things I said I was going to do were even started.  Oops.  It's been crazy busy at work- averaging about 80 hours a week the last few weeks and I've literally come home to eat and sleep.  But this past weekend I finally had the entire weekend to myself, no events.  You know what that meant! Time to build something!

About 2 months ago, maybe longer, I went in search of fabric for the coffee table/ottoman/bench/foot rest that I was going to build.  I was looking for something white and black with a print and stumbled upon an Ikat print from Walmart, of all places, that I thought would look really good as the top of the table.  I ordered two yards and it has sat in my linen closet since.  Insert face palm emoji.  

Well I finally took it out of there last week and tossed it onto the rug to see how well they would look together and I immediately hated it.  They were so not going to work- the rug is more of a creamy white whereas the fabric is stark white. The print on print was terrible.  Honestly, I have no idea what I was thinking when I ordered it.  Now I'm stuck with two yards of fabric that I'll probably never use.  Anyone want it?  Custom pillows? 

I immediately went online in search of a different fabric and came up with a black faux leather with just a hint of texture on it.  Simple and classic.  Now the plan for the table base had to change.  I originally was going to paint the legs black to make them look like metal and to coordinate with the black tv unit.  But I knew I didn't want black on both the top and bottom.  So gold it is!  Guys- I'm obsessed with this gold.  

Well Saturday the foam arrived and I headed to Menards to get the wood- oh and a garage space heater so I can stay warm in there during the cold months.  Then I headed to Joann's for batting.  That night I built the base and put the foam and batting on the plywood top.  

I had actually planned on making it bigger since I thought I had the space for it.  It's going in front of the L-shaped sectional.  I knew the measurements from the old brown storage ottoman I had there previously so I planned to make it slightly larger and more square than what was originally there.  I was thinking abut it being 36" X 30" but then I saw I had a piece of plywood already cut at 30" X 24" and just used that piece instead rather than cutting the larger sheet I had.  But in the end I'm glad I went with this size- it actually fits quite well in the space.  

Sunday I went in search of gold spray paint since Menards didn't have any.  I finally found what I was looking for 2 stores later and headed home to put three coats on.  I let it dry overnight and well into Monday.  When I got home from work I brought it inside and placed the top on it just to make sure it fit.  

It was pretty spot on. The new fabric arrived on Sunday so I ironed it to get rid of the creases since they folded the fabric rather than being smart and rolling it into a tube.  Oy.  Then got to work attaching it to the top.  

Janie sighting!

Then I again just placed it on the base to make sure everything looked alright.  

These above two photos you can kind of see the very simple texture on the leather.  

Once I attached the top to the base I brought it upstairs to see how well it went in the space. 

I can't wait to start on the wood art piece that is going on that very blank wall in the above photo.  

 I will say- I love the black leather mixed with the gold and how good it goes with the tv unit.  

For someone who tells me she doesn't like her photo being taken, she sure finds a way to get into a lot of them.  

It's funny- the ottoman looks taller/higher than the couch.  But it's not.  I think it's either the angle in which I took the photos or the light stone colored couch versus the black top on the ottoman.  Not too sure but they are the same height.  But the most important part of it all is that when I sit on the couch and put my feet up on it- it's so comfortable!!!  This couch and where I sit on it- I absolutely have to have something in front of me to prop my feet up on.  It's a really deep couch so it isn't comfortable leaving your knees bent/feet on the floor- especially when I mainly come up here to watch a movie or a game- i.e. multiple hours of sitting.  And if I lean on the couch arm and bring my legs up to my side on the seat, within minutes my knees are screaming in pain at me.  Far too much damage to them to try and tuck them to the side like that.  So they have to be in front, on a plush, faux leather ottoman apparently.  

If you are wondering, I built this one the exact same way I built the 3 benches I made for Janie that go at the foot of the beds.  This one is just a different size than the three of those.  But you can see the step by step of building on that post.  I think in total- this took me maybe 3 hours total to make over the course of 3 days.  The wood (and new heater) were "bought" using a rebate so I didn't pay anything for them.  The foam and batting were the most expensive coming in around $40 and the black leather fabric was $25.  Two cans of spray paint later for about $14 and total for the ottoman is $79!  Not too shabby!