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Reality Daydream

The Dream is Free, The Hustle Sold Separately

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DIY Leather Upholstered Storage Ottoman

August 24, 2015 by Bethany Sy

When you have a smallish living room like ours, every piece of furniture has to serve a function other than just being pretty.

The living room

Trust me, the monstrosity of an Exersauser (baby entertainment play-thing) isn’t my favorite feature of our main living space right now, but it serves a very important purpose… so it stays. At least for a few more months.

Anyway! We’ve been using that hexagon end table (that we made over a few years back with the white and gold swirls) as a coffee table… because I’m one of those people that just needs a coffee table. Otherwise when I’m sitting on the couch, I just feel so… so EXPOSED. Or like I’m not wearing a bra. It just doesn’t feel right.

But the white/gold swirly end table / coffee table was just standing in temporarily until we could find something we loved. What I really wanted was a leather ottoman with storage inside for blankets.

But those suckers are EXPENSIVE.

Ottoman inspiration

So I had it in my mind that SOMEDAY… I would DIY an upholstered ottoman for our living room. Then time passed, and it got pushed to the back burner. UNTIL The Leather Hide Store contacted us and asked us if we had any projects in the works that we needed leather for. Light bulb!

After browsing their selection of leathers and colors, we chose this Restoration Distressed Gold because we loved the caramel color and felt that it would accent our living room nicely, while still letting us accent it pops of color.

Time to get busy drawing things out! Because space is limited, I knew my ottoman would have to be substantially smaller than the ottoman in my inspiration photo, I still wanted it to be the same style.

After putting tape on the floor, we decided on dimensions for our ottoman.

Dimensions of leather tufted ottoman

Then it was time to cut some boards! Since the height of the base (box) for the ottoman was 15”, I needed to glue boards together. So I cut two of each length.

Cutting boards for the base of the ottoman

These got glued and clamped so they would be the width that we needed.

Gluing boards to be the width necessary for the DIY ottoman

Then we drilled pocket holes and assembled our box!

Assembling the base of the DIY ottoman!

Assembling the base of the DIY ottoman!

When we put the bottom of the box on, we put it 2” from the bottom so there would be a lip underneath. This would make the actual upholstery easier so that the batting and leather could wrap all the way up under the lip. You’ll get it in a sec.

I also chopped up a 2×4 into squares to put in the corners for added support when the feet go on later.

DIY Leather Upholstered Ottoman assembly

I used a forstner bit to drill 4 giant holes in the bottom of the ottoman base. The reason for this is BECAUSE… when I was a kid, my dad always told me a story about him and his little brother climbing into a trunk in the basement and getting locked in… screaming for help and running out of air. I wanted to make sure that if/when the girls are playing in this ottoman and inadvertently get trapped inside… THEY CAN STILL BREATH.

Forstner bit to drill breathing holes in DIY Ottoman

Time for upholstery! (cue the cold sweats). I’m pretty intimidated by upholstery projects… but the girls’ Fainting Couch Toddler Beds turned out decent. So I’m holding tight to that success story.

We laid out our leather hide back side up and started drawing out where we need to cut. Using the measurements from the base box, we added 3-4” on all sides so that the leather could be wrapped around and stapled. Since we needed a long strip to wrap around the base of the ottoman, we cut two strips that would need to be sewn together. Aint nothin’ wrong with a seam, right?

Cutting leather to size to upholster tufted ottoman

Nick loves a good challenge and jumped right into sewing that seam with upholstery thread (this post contains affiliate links!) and a hefty needle. It totally worked!

Sewing leather and prepping to upholster tufted ottoman

Sewing a leather seam for upholstering a tufted ottoman

We folded our batting in half for a little extra softness, and wrapped it around the outside of the wooden box. We stapled the batting around the top edge with about 3” to spare.

Building your own tufted ottoman is easy with this tutorial

Here’s a little visual of how we did the corners.

Details on upholstering a leather tufted ottoman

You know that when I’m saying ‘we’, I’m talking about my little helper… right?

Little upholstery helper

Now it’s time to do the same thing with the leather!

Upholstering an ottoman with leather

As for where the two ends of the leather come together on the side, we used these upholstery tack strips. I forgot to take a picture of this part! But they’re pretty self-explanatory.

We wrapped the leather up around the top edge of the wooden box, pulled tightly, and stapled it around the edge.

Upholstering a leather ottoman (with storage for blankets!)

At this point, the base of our ottoman is upholstered and finished! We added some wooden bun feet (pretty similar to this), and let the girls break it in!

DIY Leather tufted ottoman tutorial... PART !

I’ll be back soon (Update! CLICK HERE for part 2!) with the second half of this tutorial… but in an effort to save you from a sleepless night, I’ll just go ahead and show you how it turned out!

DIY Leather Tufted Ottoman TUTORIAL

Prettyyyyyy, RIGHT?! And now our blankets don’t end up just thrown in a corner of the living room! I love it when beauty and function have a strong and healthy marriage.

Click here for Part 2 (TUFTING!) of this ottoman tutorial!

I hope you come back for the second part of this tutorial! We’ll be tackling the lid and all that diamond tufting business. It’s not as hard as it looks! I promise!

Happy Monday!

Beth @ Sawdust and Embryos

Thanks for pinning!

TUTORIAL for making this leather diamond-tufted ottoman... complete with storage inside!

Huge thanks to The Leather Hide Store for partnering with us on this project! They provided us with leather, but didn’t compensate us or tell us what to say. All opinions are our own… as usual!

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About Bethany Sy

Nick and Bethany Sy are the creative free-spirits behind DIY/Lifestyle blog, Reality Daydream. They recently purchased a historic mansion and have been documenting the ups and downs of renovation and making this home their own... all while sharing tips and tutorials along the way! When they found themselves in the trenches of infertility, they started a journey that would prove to be their most important DIY project ever, and have 3 beautiful girls to show for it. <3

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Comments

  1. 13

    Suzanne says

    March 28, 2016 at 10:23 pm

    Planning on ordering some leather to do up one of these and would like to know how much extra you need to plan for to tuft the top. The link for the second part didn’the work for me. I love yours as well as the one on the picture (inspiration) you provided.

    Reply
    • 14

      Beth @ Reality Daydream says

      March 29, 2016 at 10:33 pm

      Suzanne, that’s so weird that the second link didn’t work for you! Here it is: https://realitydaydream.com/leather-upholstered-ottoman-diamond-tufting/

      Reply
  2. 15

    Beth @ Sawdust and Embryos says

    August 25, 2015 at 7:40 am

    Thank you Shoneeeee!! You totally SHOULD make one!

    Reply
  3. 16

    shonee says

    August 25, 2015 at 5:04 am

    It was so fun to get a sneak peek of this on Periscope! You guys totally rocked it! I love that you left the feet blond. Wanna make me one! haha! xox

    Reply
  4. 17

    Annet M says

    August 24, 2015 at 7:04 pm

    This is fabulous. I scoffed a bit at your small living room thought (but to be fair you said smallish). Ours is tiny and with two openings and a large window, so no real room to do anything. So it stays as is until I figure it out… which means our free (uncomfortable couch) my hubby’s Lazyboy recliner ($2 from an auction!) and a bunch of random, um, junk!
    If I started with an ottoman, I could build the space around it, right?! 🙂

    Reply
    • 18

      Beth @ Sawdust and Embryos says

      August 25, 2015 at 7:40 am

      Hehe! If it makes you feel any better Annet… our living room looks much bigger in photos than it actually is in real life. But I’m sure there are smaller living rooms out there, so I’m not complaining! If you build an ottoman with storage like this one… you can put all that junk INSIDE it! 🙂

      Reply
  5. 19

    Susan says

    August 24, 2015 at 10:33 am

    I love that! You did a wonderful job on it. Are you going to stain the feet?

    Reply
    • 20

      Beth @ Sawdust and Embryos says

      August 24, 2015 at 11:07 am

      I haven’t decided about the feet yet… I like that they contrast the leather, but I also don’t want them to look unfinished or forgotten. What do you think?

      Reply
      • 21

        Annet M says

        August 24, 2015 at 7:01 pm

        Hmm, I think they stand out a bit more than I’d like, I think a light stain would be be better than leaving them as is… just my 2c!

        Reply
      • 22

        Susan says

        August 27, 2015 at 10:38 am

        Maybe one of your paint jobs!

        Reply
  6. 23

    Paul Klinge says

    August 24, 2015 at 9:25 am

    Awesome project, Beth and Nick! I love it when Beth does all the cutting and drilling and Nick does the sewing. Can’t wait to see the rest of the tutorial so I can do a project like this in my dreams.

    Reply
    • 24

      Beth @ Sawdust and Embryos says

      August 24, 2015 at 9:50 am

      Haha I didn’t even THINK about how Nick did the sewing and I worked the power tools on this project. I guess sometimes we like to trade out rolls. 🙂

      Reply
  7. 25

    Suzanne says

    August 24, 2015 at 8:44 am

    Someone just calls and offers you leather? I’m soooo jealous right now! Nice job. Personally, I would’ve done the one in the picture, but love yours!

    Reply
    • 26

      Beth @ Sawdust and Embryos says

      August 24, 2015 at 9:53 am

      I love the one in the inspiration pic too… but that sucker would take up our ENTIRE LIVING ROOM! So that’s why we had to modify the dimensions to fit our personal needs. 🙂

      As for the free leather… YES! It ends up being such a blessing for us when companies want to partner on projects. It offsets our expenses, and if gives them free advertisement and exposure to other DIYers. Win WIN!

      Reply

Trackbacks

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We are Nick and Bethany! Welcome to our blog, Reality Daydream where we share our DIY adventures!
Click here for lots of art projects using only wood stain on furniture!!
Please feel free to share or pin my posts! You're welcome to use ONE of my images (no collages or pinnables) with a link back to the corresponding post. Please do not edit or crop that single image in any way. Improper use of my photos, ideas or words is a violation of copyright. Thank you!

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Attention: Almost any do-it-yourself project involves risk of some sort. Your tools, materials, and skills will vary, as will the conditions at your project site. Reality Daydream has made every effort to be complete and accurate in the instructions of the plans on this website. Reality Daydream will not assume any responsibility or liability for damages or losses sustained or incurred in the course of your project or in the use of the item you create. Always follow the manufacturer’s operating instructions in the use of tools, check and follow your local building codes, and observe all commonly accepted safety precautions.

 

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