DIY Ottoman: 3 Easy How-to Elements For Unique Personality

A DIY Ottoman is a fun way to add to personality to any space!

It’s super easy to make a diy ottoman from cute beverage crates or a drawers. Yesterday, I showed you how I made a cute star spangled Cola-Cola stool. You can check out the process here. But you can also use the same process for making a diy ottoman from any crate, drawer or box. You could even build your own box out of a pallet or reclaimed wood and  add your own graphics or applique.

My plan for designing a DIY Ottoman with a super cute and unique personality starts with the actual crate, drawer or box. Then I complement each project with fabric, trim and feet.

Framework meets Fabric

I found this cute drawer at an antique store in Alabaster, AL. I loved the worn distressed paint finish. I immediately knew this drawer would pair beautifully with an old quilt. So that was the plan, but it took awhile to pull it off.

There is actually a cool backstory to it. I bought this drawer, several years ago from a shop in Alabaster, AL called The Blue Building Antiques and Consignment. Fast forward a year, and this drawer remained in my ‘to do’ stash. I went to a DIY Blogger conference called Haven, and met fellow blogger, Sue Edinger. She owns The Blue Building. Small World!!! Sue and I became friends. So now another year has passed and I have finally upcycled this drawer into the cute footstool you see above. I attended Haven again. As Sue and I are sitting together awaiting the start of a session, I pull out my phone. I wanted to show her the stool I made from the drawer purchased at her store. The second she saw it, she said, “Hey, I painted that drawer!” Small world indeed!!

Now if you are like me, you would have hard time cutting up a beautiful old quilt to cover a footstool. So I always keep an eye out for cutter quilts. These are old quilts that have been very well used and loved!! They have lots of holes and tatters on them. These imperfect quilts are the perfect candidates to recycle into items that will be loved all over again. I was so lucky to stumble upon this cutter quilt at one of my favorite consignment stores Finders Keepers in Avondale Estates near Atlanta, GA. I still have enough of this quilt to upcycle into other projects. Keep a sharp eye out, you never know where it will show up next!

Here is another upcycled crate stool using an old wine crate.

This crate was perfect for creating a stool with as it had fantastic graphics on all four sides. Let me just say, it is unusual to find an old crate with great graphics on all four sides.

I knew I wanted to keep this one a little rustic but with a touch of sophistication. I had this stamped zibra hide that would pair beautifully with the stained crate. (The hide is an actual hide that has been stamped with a zebra design. It is not an actual zebra hide.)

Here are a couple of more stools. Look at the awesome graphics on the Gravenstein Apple crate from Sebastopol, California. It includes graphics on 3 sides and includes the Apple Growers Union stamp on two sides.

For both of these stools, I used vintage grain sacks for the top. Grain sacks are incredibly durable and will stand up to any abuse an ottoman might experience. I love that they are generally very neutral but also add a complimentary touch of color. Here, the red stripe is perfect for both crates. The rustic nature of grain sacks also adds to the charm of the stools.

When I was putting together ideas for the Coca-Cola crate stool, my first thought was to use a red fabric. But I played around with several different reds, and it just felt meh! Then out of the corner of my eye I spied an blue and white star fabric. Bingo!!! That was it. It took this stool from being a cute Coke stool to a patriotic piece of Americana! But just to add to the vintage charm, I washed the fabric in hot water giving it a distressed look and feel.

All The Trimings

Trim is a natural choice for bring a unique personality to your diy ottoman.

Just look at this happy whimsical stool with the bright cheery red pom-pom trim. What could possibly be more bubbly or effervescent than pom-pom trim on a 7-Up stool?

The nailhead trim on the wine ottoman was definitely on purpose. Doesn’t this stool have the perfect wine country vibe? The couple that bought this ottoman, bought it for their North Georgia lake house! Well that works for me too, lucky stool!!!

And Finally, the Feet

Feet are another design consideration. Whether I paint or stain the feet depends on how I want the final stool to look. For the wine crate, I used larger feet and stained them to blend in with the stained crate. The size of the crate and the zibra hide both called for more substantial chunkier feet.

For the quilt stool, I matched the feet to the drawer. These fun little feet match the character of the drawer, but painted in the same distressed finish allows the quilt to be the star of the show.

For the apple crate, which was a pretty tall box, I searched for some cute squatty feet. I love how these feet just peak out from under the crate. Painted red and with a dark glaze correlates to the dark grain of the crate.

Upcycling a crate into a footstool is a really quick and easy project that can bring a lot of personality to a home. Just putting a little thought into all the elements creates a really unique piece of furniture. If you are interested in adding any of these stools to your home, please contact me.

I also love to work on custom orders. I have one client that wants me to use her grandmother’s quilt on a stool. It’s in bad shape so it can’t be used as a quilt. When she saw the quilt stool, she knew this was a perfect way to upcycle the quilt so that she and her family can use and love her grandmother’s handiwork all over again!!!

Have you ever made a diy ottoman using an old crate or drawer? I’d love to see it.