Goodbye Granny, Hello Chic!

My dear friend back at home has inherited a ton of awesome furniture from family over the years.  Every piece is in great condition.  You should see her dining room set, it's amazing!  The only exception is a heinous chair and ottoman she has in her living room.  Well, really the bones of the furniture are fine, it's the fabric that needs some serious updating. 
 
We went to the local Hancock Fabric store and found this amazing heavy duty upholstery fabric on clearance for $6.00 a yard!!  We bought all that was left on the bolt and at $18.61 later, we were in business.  Such a deal! 

Here are some progress pictures of the transformation along with a short recap of what I did to transform this grandma ottoman into something more modern and chic.

First, I ripped off the lovely skirt.  Yikes!

Then, I made a template for the top piece of fabric

I cut out the top piece and added 1" to each side to allow enough seam allowance.  Normally, I would only cut an extra 1/2" to 3/4", but I gave myself a little extra since the fabric was so thick.

Here I am sewing the piping for the top and bottom of the ottoman.  Here is a great tutorial on how this is done.

The following steps are not pictured (I was focused and forgot to take pictures...sorry!):
-Cut 2 pieces for the sides (1 long + 1 short = 1 piece). Sew them together at both ends.
-Sew the top piece and the piping together. (See previous link for instructions...I'm clearly not a good instructor!)
-Sew the top piece with the piping to the bottom piece. Make sure you pin this well. You don't want the 2 pieces of fabric to move on you...it will look dumb and uneven.

Staple each side, starting from the middle out to the ends.

Here is how I handled the corners...I folded them down and secured the fabric as I was applying the piping trim.  I thought it looked the best, but then again...I'm not an expert...but I worked for me.

I was a little unsure how I wanted to handle the bottom piping.  Looking back, I should not have cut off the excess like I'm showing in this picture.  It would have been much easier to staple with the extra fabric.  Alas...I made a few errors with the staple gun, even though I was VERY careful not to get my staples into the hard part of the piping as I secured it around the bottom edges.  I cut it off because I thought it would look the best around the corners.  In hindsight, I should have just cut off the excess around the corners and used a glue gun to secure.  Oh well, live and learn.

Tada!!!  Short side view

Yeah!  It looks SO MUCH BETTER!! 
Total cost for materials:  About $20
Total time investment:  About 3 hours

This was such a fun project...I decided to find an ottoman to recover for my own home.  I found a little gem at a local flea market for $20.  It's the perfect size and certainly the perfect price.  I can't wait to share that project as well!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Katherine