After checking Pinterest and searching every furniture site online, we came up with an idea. We made our own.
We had been updating our family room and just needed ottomans for the sofas and the dead space in the room. This project came out fantastic, meets all our needs!
We found durable upholstery fabric that a company had discontinued use--price was super low. Pallets were free! Paint was off the oops shelf at local hardware store. Foam is 6 inch super dense--we got on special. We used 1 inch plywood to adhere foam to (spray adhesive) and we had to purchase screws. We measured the height of our sofas and then made ottomans 2 inches shorter (we actually ended up 2.5 in. shorter--works well).
I watched hours of video on upholstering an ottoman. We measured several times to be sure we had enough fabric to staple onto the board. Begin by placing one staple in the middle of each side, pulling taut the fabric--this helps keep the fabric in place. If you staple all one side first, it will offset the pattern and could leave you short of fabric on the opposite sides.
Once the tops were finished, we moved onto the pallets. We choose not to make them "clean & finished" in looks. We did not sand or re-structure our pallets as many people do. It is an option--take apart the pallets, sand them down and "rebuild" them for a finished look. We just painted them completely--using a primer & paint combo, to be sure that anything that had been on the pallets would not be exposed. This took the longest as the weather changed and we had days of cold and rain. :( We used a roller and brushes to get a good cover over all the pallets--we used 4, we got them as close to size as possible--pallets are not all equal in quality or size.
My darling husband mounted the 3 parts together: cushion, middle pallet and bottom pallet. We then put "feet" on the bottom--we just used scrap wood to make them. And finally we put felt bottoms on so the wood floors would be saved from unwanted scratches.
Oh, we saved more than $700 by doing DIY :)
