Our New Tufted Ottoman - Tutorial Part 1

 

I have been wanting to make a tufted ottoman for months now. I was a little scared to try it though. Once I made our farmhouse table and upholstered bench I decided to go ahead and give it a try. When Jon and I bought our first home I loved brown. Pretty much everything I bought or painted was in the brown or ivory color family. When we moved here I was in love with gray and was able to add gray into new rooms, like Lillie's room and our room, but obviously couldn't start from scratch when it came to most of our downstairs furniture. Over the last four years, though, I have slowly been adding more and more gray into our downstairs. When we first moved here we had a makeshift coffee table in this spot. Then eventually I made a slipcover for our ottoman that was a nice fix for a little while but it still had a bit more of a shabby chic feel than I wanted. As our dining room has gone more rustic with the farmhouse table, I knew I wanted to add something with a bit more formality in here. I initially wanted to find a little bit darker of a gray fabric, but this was all I could find and I have to say in the end I really ended up liking the color!

I am going to break this tutorial up into two posts. Today I will show you how to cover the buttons and then tomorrow how to actually make it. Most button kits will have some kind of instructions on them but I am a visual person so I know it can be helpful to "see" step-by-step how to make them. This was the first time I had ever done this and I have to tell you it was so much easier than I anticipated. I was prepared for it to be a nightmare but it was oddly quite fun! Jon was sitting on the couch breaking down film when I was doing this the other night and I just kept saying over and over, "I can't believe how much fun this is!" He seemed a bit baffled at my excitement over a button, though. =)

This is what I purchased at JoAnn's. I needed 11 buttons so I got a 10 pack and a 3 pack. That turned out to be good because Lola ran off with one of my buttons while I was doing this and we still haven't found it so I'm glad I had a couple extra.

Included was a template for what size you need to cut your fabric to. First I cut out a little square and then I cut it to match this circle (the outer circle). 

Next I just placed the fabric on top of the little mold thing that also came in the pack and then the button top on top of the fabric.

Then I pushed the button down into the mold like this:

Then I popped the back of the button in as well. They provided a tool to push it in, but I found it easier using my fingers. 

And then just pop it out of the mold and there you have it!

I told you it was easy!

We are also excited to announce the winner of our Crafted By Kerstin giveaway:

Congratulations to Bre!

We've sent Kerstin your e-mail address and she will be in touch with you to collect your prize!

I hope you all have a blessed Monday!