This most recent DIY project was super easy and quite the transformation. Typically Jon helps me a lot with the labor part of my DIY projects, but I was tackle this whole thing mostly by myself.

A couple of months ago I stumbled upon a cheesy 80’s tufted bench. I was so excited when I saw it at my local thrift store and even more excited that it was only $48!

It sat in my office for awhile due to my crazy schedule, but a couple of weeks ago we had some free time and I decided to tackle it and get a finished product over to my very understanding client aka Mom. My mom makes for the best client, because she lets me do what ever I wish. Only downside for her is that paying clients come first so Mom normally has to wait a bit.

Here are the easy steps for my completely no sew skirted ottoman. I was all about the stapler gun and fabric glue with this project.

Step 1: I decided that I wanted to have a contrasting fabric on the liner pleats so I used two types of fabric. If you are tackling this yourself it’s up to you to decide if you want one or two fabric. I removed the cushion from the base and then measured all of the sides by getting the height and length. I then added an additional 2 inches to each measurement so that I had some room for hemming and for stapling the fabric to the top.

Step 2: Once my pieces were cut and ironed I got to work on hemming my sides so they wouldn’t fray. On the main side pieces (coral) I hemmed the two ends and bottom piece. On the inner pleat sections I used a canvas which wasn’t fraying so I simply hemmed the bottom. Since this was no sew I simply folded over the fabric and used fabric glue to make my faux hem. In order to have it set better I ironed over the hem.

{Seriously, how cute is my assistant? He was loving this project and kept trying to use all of the fabric like a blanket.}

Step 3: In order to get crisp corners on your faux hemming job then cut the corner fabric on a diagonal. Small step, but makes a big difference.

Step 4: Once your fabric pieces are hemmed you start building your skirt. It’s best to staple the corner (inner pleats) first. We did a contrasting fabric here so that’s where the stripes went.

Step 5: Once the corners are done you can start stapling the side pieces. For us that was the coral pieces.

We made sure we stapled all of the fabric to the top of the wood base not the sides so that you couldn’t see any of the staples.

Step 6: Our 80’s bench was tufted, which was amazing, but also an additional step. Typically I purchase button kits at JoAnn’s and make the buttons. It’s always a pain so I decided to make things a bit easier on myself and just reuse the buttons I had already. I simply cut a small piece of fabric (large enough to cover the button and fold under) and then glued the button and applied fabric. It held perfectly and so much easier and faster.

At this point the skirted section was done and tufted buttons were recovered so all I needed to do was recover the cushion. I simply followed these steps for recovering the cushion and getting a crisp corner.

Peek at the contrasting inner pleat:

{ Sometimes even professionals forget about little details. I totally forgot the ottoman would be on a rug and didn’t account for that when I was cutting my fabric with measurements off of the bench on a wood floor. So, I have a slight puddle. }

Peek into the almost finished master bedroom:

The perfect pop on the rug! Love the punch of coral. So, are you ready to tackle the next 80’s bench you stumble upon?