DIY: Upholstered Ottoman/Coffee Table

Well hello there, and happy Friday!  Today I'm going to share a project with you that has been a loooong time in the making.

I haven't had any sort of a coffee table in our family room for several years now.  This is mainly because my children have inherited my clutziness (word?) and manage to beat themselves up on anything with corners.  It's not really that I'm clumsy, it's just that furniture and other items tend to jump out in front of me.  Two weeks ago, I was attacked by a Cheerios box, and still have the giant bruise on my thigh to prove it.  Truly.

Anyway, I decided it was high time for a coffee table, but decided an upholstered one would be best due to our propensity for bumping into things.

I really had my eye on this one from West Elm, but I didn't love that it's $600:

So.  I hit the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and found a coffee table for $25. (I'm a terrible blogger because I didn't take a proper "before" photo.  Here's what the legs looked like before.  They were a glossy green:

Here was the top before.  I don't know how to describe the color.  Muddy coffee?  And a bad paint job.  You can see I've already painted the legs here:

So.  I started by spray-painting the legs a glossy brown. (Well, actually I didn't START there.  I started by trying to strip the paint off the legs.  It ended badly.)  It took two coats of brown paint, and then I spray-painted a coat of glossy enamel over it.

Then, using spray-adhesive, I added 2-inch foam to the top of the table, as well as around the apron:

Then, I covered the whole thing in batting:

And stapled my fabric around it.  I've never upholstered before, so this tutorial was super-helpful.  The corners were the hardest part.  I wound up doing hospital-corners.

It's DEFINITELY not perfect.  I have to beef up the batting in some spots.  I'm also planning on going back and trying to rework the corners.  (Also, I CANNOT get a photo with a clean house.  That's just reality, folks.  There are also always going to be toys on the floor.  And there are always semi-dressed kids in the background.  Cuz that's how I roll.)

But, for now, it works!  What do you think?

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