Thanks to everyone's kind words about our new ottoman and linking up to the Look for Less Design Challenge yesterday! If you haven't linked up to the challenge yet, head on over to yesterday's post. By linking up your Look for Less knockoff, you're entering yourself to win a $60 Target Giftcard. Awesome, right?
Today we're back to share the all the details around building our DIY X-leg Ottoman for only $113 (as compared to this $650 designer
inspiration).
So let's talk through how
we Justin built this gorgeous thing.
The first step, was making boards at the thickness that we were looking for. To our knowledge, retailers do not sell boards at the thickness we wanted. Because of that, Justin made them himself by gluing three 1x3"s of maple together so we could achieve the thickness we wanted with the ottoman's legs.
After gluing, Justin let the pieces dry for 24 hours before cutting down to size. He first using the miter saw to get the rough-length that's we were going for. Then he used his table saw to get one side of the board straight, so he could plane the board down to the width we wanted, through his power planer.
Now that we have our boards built, it's time to really get started.
First step was to determine the angles of our X-legs (ours was 26 degrees), and the length of each x-leg (ours was 13-7/16") to achieve the height that we wanted the entire ottoman to be (15").
Next, Justin took the two legs and measured out where he needed to cut the dado in each, so they fit together flush and tight. Make sure that you have something straight to push both legs up against to ensure that your measurements are accurate & at the desired angles. Your measurements need to be exact to have the X fit tightly.
Using his table saw with a dado blade, he cut the dado in all four legs.
Then tested to make sure that they fit together properly. Nice and snug.
He sanded down each leg using his orbital sander and 100 grit sandpaper.
And made sure that the width of the X Legs exactly matched the width of the base piece of wood that they would sit on. To thin the base piece of wood, he sent it through his power planer until reaching the correct width.
With the two X Legs (four pieces of wood) and the two base pieces of wood, Justin pre-drilled holes using a countersink bit on his drill, and dry fit everything (putting screws in place) to make sure everything worked, before wood gluing the X-legs together, gluing the X legs to the base, and then screwing together using 2-1/2" screws.
Next, Justin mortised in the base piece (under the X legs) with his router. Then he glued and nailed it in place, using 1-1/4" brad nails and his nail gun.
Then using 3/4" maple, Justin attached a top support piece for the X legs. Not only will this piece be support for any weight that's put it, it will also be where we attach the cushion to.
Then it was my turn! A few months ago,
all of you helped me make a decision around the fabric I wanted for this ottoman. You all chose this beautiful
Waverly Strands Sterling fabric, and I couldn't have agreed more.
The best part is when I received the fabric, I saw that it was double sided, and I actually like this cream side way more, so made a last minute decision to switch sides.
I purchased a pre-cut piece of Airtex High Density Foam to use as the padding. I originally was going to use batten, but my mom was in town and recommended I use foam instead so it can withstand the wear & tear without thinning out.
Justin cut a piece of 3/4" plywood for me to upholster with the foam & fabric. He cut this 12" x 19", and then cut the foam to the exact same size. This foam was extremely hard to cut with a scissors or Exacto knife, so Justin actually used his table saw & chop saw to cut it.
(Redic, I know...) Since we needed to keep the foam in place, and pull the fabric as tight as possible to get the rounded edge look, we needed all four of our hands busy working to upholster this fabric. Luckily my mama was around, so she took a few snaps of our progress. We stapled the fabric using a soffit stapler with 1/2" staples.
And to give the top a more finished look, I purchased decorative nailhead trim from JoAnn Fabrics (50% off!) and put a nice trim around the bottom edge of the cushion.
Then the last step was to attach the upholstered cushion to the X-leg base.
I'm absolutely obsessed with how this turned out. It's a.ma.zing.
I have still yet to stain & poly the piece, but I wanted to spend some time to really think about the color that I wanted this to be. I try not to rush into design decisions, so over time I'll figure out what color to stain this and I'll be sure to share a final picture!
But here's this beauty for now:
And at a $113 tab for this is always better than $649 inspiration, right?
Wood: $68
Fabric: $25
Foam & Nails: $20*
*50% off with my JoAnn coupons! Don't forget to link up your L4L project on
yesterday's post for a chance to win a $60 Target Giftcard!
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