#37 Tufted cow print ottoman/stool

Materials used: Upholstery fabric, fabric-covered buttons, weed barrier, stuffing, 8″ furniture legs.

Back in February 2019 I picked up a second-rate occasional table made of a plywood top on what looked like a bar stool. I separated the top from the bottom and, in April 2019, transformed the bar stool bottom into a Bistro Table. More than two years later the second part of this 2-part transformation is finally complete! Initially I envisaged transforming this plywood circle into a large, framed mirror but I love it as an ottoman/stool instead.

I began by re-purposing another freebie found on our local Buy Nothing Facebook page: A very large Urban Outfitters floor pillow which yielded four trash bags of upholstery stuffing and enough heavy duty fabric to make a liner.

To get the legs and tufting buttons in the right places, I made a newspaper template.

Once I had cut and sewn the liner and outer cover I inverted them both and stuffed them with the upholstery filling.

I compacted the stuffing by sitting on the plywood while pulling the fabric taut and stapling it. When everything was secured in place I set about doing the tufting armed with some very large upholstery needles and band-aids. The fabric-covered buttons are secured on the back side by tying the thread through a regular button.

The finishing touches were felt pads on the legs and a fitted piece of weed barrier to cover the upholstering and the leg hardware. Who knew that stretchable weed barrier would be as good an alternative to cambric, if not better?