The Ottoman Project

Remember when Craig and I went to buy a new chair and ottoman for the family room in May and the store ticked us off because they refused to throw in the pillow that matched the chair and ottoman supposedly on clearance at $1300? In fact, the cost went up to over $1500 once we wanted that pillow. Silly people! When we came home that day, I suddenly came to my senses and realized I could take the leather chair from the den that no one ever sits in, recover an older ottoman to coordinate with the existing furniture, and save a lot of money. So that's what I did.

I found the fabric for the ottoman and pillows on sale at JoAnn in late May. I think the sum total of the fabric came to $75. When we returned from Isla in July, the upholsterer had finished the ottoman -- labor, $150. After procrastinating,I finally got around to making the coordinating pillows on Friday. Actually, I made three pillows and found the rest of them at World Market. Here's the finished product.

I found the striped brown pillow to coordinate with the ottoman and leather chair at World Market.

I made the two brown faux leather pillows and striped pillow from the ottoman fabric for the sage green sofa to coordinate with the ottoman.

When I was browsing at World Market, I bought three other pillows to dress up the older leather sofa. I'm amazed that I was able to find the pillows to finish off the room at one store. That's a first for me. I usually look far and wide and never find what I'm looking for. Evidently, the colors in the ottoman are hot this year!


In the process of redoing upholstery, I also decided to paint some of the antique furniture. I picked out some paints from the Martha Stewart line at Home Depot and bought them in sample sizes for $2.99 apiece. I know I'm probably the last person in the world to realize that I can use the samples instead of buying a bigger can of paint. Martha has some great colors! I used okra on the old churn that sits by the leather sofa and still have over half of the sample size leftover.

I used October leaves on the bottom of this old trunk and wiped some of the okra over the lighter green top. I also bought a small sample of the color sealing wax that I used on a small bench and tray.

While I was shopping at World Market, I noticed a rag rug that ties all the colors together. I needed a new one for the kitchen! Sold!


After I finished putting everything together, I noticed that my shells and seaglass in the wooden bowl also coordinated.

All in all, I'm so glad I didn't go new. My sincere thanks to Norwood Furniture for being so stingy with your silly pillows! It made me think and allowed me to get creative and use what I already had. Craig and I have decided we don't want to add any more furniture to the heap when we'll probably be downsizing in a few years when he retires. Who knows! We could sell it all and end up singing the Mexican Hat Dance! The lesson is recycle!