DIY Storage Ottoman

Can you believe that I made this DIY Storage Ottman from a Home Depot Bucket? Well, I did, and I will show you how!This post was done for a Look for Less challenge. This is where you make a high end decor piece for LESS!

Here is the link to the YouTube video, and The look for less challenge

My inspiration for this piece was this Storage ottoman from Wayfair , which retails for $143.99 on sale!

I didn’t want to make mine boring blue. Nope I decided to make this storage ottoman vibrant with tiger stripes.

If you prefer to see this tutorial on video you can view it here

DIY Storage Ottoman Supplies:

• Home Depot Bucket (with lid) 

• Fabric

• Batting

• Foam

• Felt

• Poster Board

• Rustoleum Gold Metallic Spray Paint

• Spray Adhesive

I used this fabric from Fabricland. It is velboa.

Bottom Decorative Trim

The trim on the bottom of the storage ottoman is made from a doubled up piece of poster board painted in metallic gold spray paint. I cut 2 pieces of poster board measuring 3″along the long edge of  the poster board. It is painted with this paint. Put the cut and painted pieces aside for later. 

Bucket

The first thing you are going to need is a 5 gallon/ 22.75 litre bucket. You can use those leftover food buckets, but you will want to give it a very good scrub, if it’s got any food residue in it. I had one of these in my yard, that had stain in it. But I decided instead to purchase a clean new one from Home Depot. They came in orange and white. I actually wanted the white one, but since it was wayyyyy on the top shelf, I just went with the orange one, since it’s all getting covered up anyway. Remove the handle before proceeding. And make sure you get a lid, we are using that part too!

Batting

Batting will make the bucket nice and soft to the touch. Since the bucket has those raised edges around the top edge. I first added a layer of batting around the bucket and ended it just below the lines, making the level even, so that when I added then second layer of batting, it wouldn’t look uneven. All batting is applied using spray adhesive. The second layer covers the entire bucket, from rim to bottom.

Next apply packing tape to the bottom edge of the bucket, over top of the batting, at the same width as the poster board, so that once it is glued on, the  poster board is flush with the bottom of the bucket.

Fabric

I used  velboa fabric in a tiger print.  I cut a piece that was 15″ x 44″ (40 x 112 cm) to cover the bucket. using a sharpie draw a line  on the back side, 2.5″ from the edge on the long edge of the fabric. Use spray adhesive on the wrong side of the fabric, laid flat on the floor. Remember to put down some newsprint or something to catch the over spray. You don’t want spray adhesive on your rug or floor.

Just roll the batting covered bucket over the fabric. Align the top edge of the Home Depot bucket with the line that is marked on the back of the fabric. Note that if you get any wrinkles in your fabric, it is easy enough to peal it back and correct.  I find spray adhesive works better if you give it a minute to get tacky. To complete the top edge, turn the bucket right side up and press over those selvedge edges inside the bucket. You will already have spray adhesive on there from when the fabric was sprayed while laying on the ground. Add more adhesive if needed.

Inside Felt

Now that the outside of our bucket looks fabulous. It’s time to get rid of the halloween orange on the inside! I purchased black felt off of the bolt, at the fabric store. This ensures it is a long enough.  First I cut out a circle to fit inside the bottom. Just trace around the bottom of the bucket (outside) or a similarly sized circle and cut out Attach to the inside using spray adhesive. To do the sides of the bucket, first cut the felt to the correct width and length to wrap around the inside of the bucket. Mine was 14″ x 36″ (35.5 cm x 91.5 cm)  Note that you will be covering most of the turned under edges, Next roll up the felt. Apply spray adhesive to the inside of the bucket and then place the rolled up felt inside and simply unroll it.

Bottom Trim

Using packing tape, secure down the bottom selvedge edge of the fabric. Use spray adhesive to attach the poster board onto the taped section. Make sure that the bottom of the poster board is flush with the bottom of the bucket. Use hot glue or E-6000 to secure the ends. Note that this does not bear any weight, it is merely for decorative puposes.

The Lid

The lid will act as the top of our storage ottoman. It will also act as the seat if you want to use this as a vanity stool. I used a left-over piece of foam that I had on hand for the top. If you don’t have any you can pick it up at Walmart or here. Trace around the outside of the lid, and cut out the foam. I just used scissors to cut it out. Using spray adhesive secure the foam to the top side of the lid.  I cut a piece of 20′ x 20″ (50 x 50cm) fabric to cover the lid and foam. Pay attention to the pattern if you are using patterned fabric. Once you have centred and traced the outline for the lid. Trace a larger circle around the first circle. I used a dollar tree clear serving platter to make this circle.Cut the outermost circle. Apply spray adhesive to the wrong side of the fabric and place the lid, foam side down within the innermost circle and press the edges in place.

Side Panel for Lid

Cut a piece of fabric 4″ (10 cm) wide. Pay attention to the pattern so that it is going in the right direction to align with the top. If you have a long enough piece to go around the circumference of the lid, that’s great. But if you do not, you can use two pieces, like I did. Measure  out a 1/2″(1.5cm) margin on either side of the panel.

Spray the back side of the panel with glue and turn over the selvedge edges. Align the centre of the design so that it matches the centre top of the design as below.

Continue pressing the panel in place. Ensure that the top of the panel and the top of the lid are flush. There will be a small amount of overhang
on the under side edge of the lid. Tuck under the excess fabric on the bottom of the lid, into the channel on the underside of the lid. And finish it off with a circle of black felt to cover the last bit of orange on the underside of the lid.

The lid doesn’t snap back onto the top of the bucket, as everything is now covered in fabric. It does whit nicely atop the storage ottoman though. And it looks so high end!

My cost for this look for less challenge was $14. The breakdown of costs is as follows:

• Bucket: $5

• Fabric $6

• Felt $3

After

 

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