Upholstering can seem a bit terrifying, especially if you’re typically used to fashion sewing (or even no sewing at all). Luckily, you can reupholster an ottoman pretty easily, and you don’t even need to pick up a needle. Today I’m taking on this giant hunk of furniture and showing you how easy it is to update it for a more modern look!

Fabrics & materials used:

• 2.5 yards Azure Diamond Woven Cotton and Polyester Blend
• 1.5 yards Zest Geometric Cotton and Polyester Woven
• Dritz Heavy Duty Staple Gun
• Dritz Heavy Duty Staples

To start, this semi-horrendous tweed was covering what would otherwise be a fairly nice ottoman. It had to go.

The top cushion of my piece actually opened up, with storage underneath, so I had to remove a few hinges first. If you need to do the same, I strongly recommend putting some toothpicks in place of the screws so you don’t lose the holes when you cover your furniture with the new fabric.

Next, start tearing up that old fabric. If you keep it intact, you can use the original fabric as a pattern, but if your ottoman is a basic square or rectangle, you’ll just need a corresponding square or rectangle large enough to cover the surface, the height of the sides, and a few inches extra to wrap underneath and staple.

For the top cushion of my ottoman, I stapled the short sides first, pulling the fabric tight and stapling underneath. I then pulled the long sides tight as well, folding the corners at a right angle (much like wrapping a present). Below you can see how it looks once it was reattached to the hinges. To hide the raw edges when the ottoman is opened, you can staple some broadcloth across the entire underside, folding the raw edges to the wrong side against the wood.

For the storage portion of my ottoman, I covered the long sides first, overlapping about 4″ on the short side like you see below.

The short sides were covered roughly the same way, but the excess fabric was folded underneath instead of overlapping to the long sides.

At this point, I went back around the entire bottom of the ottoman to make sure the fabric was pulled tight and stapled every inch or so.

Luckily, this piece had a board to place in the bottom to hide raw edges and the wood frame of the ottoman, so I just pulled the fabric tight, stapled it toward the bottom, and re-inserted the board.

I absolutely love these fabrics I chose from Mood. They’re vibrant and luminous, the absolute complete opposite of the fabric that originally covered this ottoman. I can’t wait to find the perfect spot in my house for this (now) new piece!