Supplies:
· Batting (1”) – $10 (with 50% coupon)
TOTAL: $95
The coffee table started out looking like this:
And after paint:
After painting the legs and sides of the table (more on that here), I started by calculating where I needed to drill holes for the tufting. I was using 12 buttons, so I calculated and drew out where they would go so that all of them would be evenly spaced. For those of you wanting to know, the measurements of my coffee table were 32” x48”. After marking the holes, I drilled each one out.
core tool and picked out the foam to make the holes for tufting. I think it worked just fine.
We laid the fabric out so it was centered on the ottoman, then I poked the upholstery needle (ours was about 7in) up through the bottom of the table, through the foam, batting and fabric to know where to come back down. We doubled our cord up for a stronger hold. The loop at the end was stuck through the button, and then the two ends of the cord were pulled through the loop (if that makes any sense). Next we threaded both ends through the needle and threaded it through the fabric, batting and foam and lastly through the drilled hole. This part is difficult. You have to get the right angle and poke around until you find the hole. I was lying under the ottoman, and when the needle came through, I pulled until I saw the cord.
I had to pull each side to figure out which was attached to the ends. Once the ends were through, my mom held the button down to create the tuft, and I used the staple gun to staple each cord to the bottom of the table like shown below. I zigzagged each end to hold the tuft, and tied a knot so it would not come undone. Some of the staples were not in all the way, but a quick hammering solved that problem.
Note: Safety goggles are recommended. I realized this after getting something in my eye. After a three hour trip to the urgent care at 9PM and a possible scratched eye, my mom and I finished the tufting at 12AM. Everything was fine and better after a couple hours. I got an antibiotic to make sure I did not have an infection. It was a funny story!
Here is the top of the ottoman without the edges and corners stapled:
After the tufting was finished, we stapled the fabric underneath the overhang of the top. (Also we left the corners until the very end). Then, instead of taking the fabric down, and underneath, we cut and folded ours. The corners can be done many different ways. It is all up to personal taste. My mom is the one who is good at this kind of thing (even if she does not enjoy it) so she pleated the corners and I stapled then down. The last thing to add was nail head. This was time-consuming because it was unbelievably hard to get them into the wood. I ended up pre-drilling through the fabric and into the wood partway to make it easier. We did not own a rubber mallet, and a regular hammer dents the nail head, so we put a garlic shaped rubber jar opener on the nail head to prevent dings and scratches. (that is what you see in the picture)
It looks so good. Way to go!
Excellent tutorial!
This is so pretty! I will be looking for a coffee table to do this! Suggestion for the buttons: buy large cheap two-eye buttons for the underneath. Start through one button eye on the underneath (leave it dangly, if that is a word)and go up through hole as you did and through your decorative button on the top side. Come back down as you did then thread through the dangly underneath button. Push it up than tie a couple knots. This will cut the stapling underneath completely out. This was a process I did in a furniture factory one year.
Looks great! Where did you find 3" foam that cheap?
Hi Reeves! Ottoman seating from tables is a great DIY project. I did one of these a while back and let me tell you that I found two easy ways of cutting time! The first is using a chalk line to determin drill holes. It worked great for us and it wiped up great. The secondis using washers and wood screws to make the tuft. Then gluing the buttons over the top of the screw! Works like a charm!
Hello-
This looks great. Can you tell me what you used to cut the legs of the table down? Was it a handsaw or something else? Thanks!!
I used a handsaw and then sanded the edges and bottom. It was the easiest way for me to do it 🙂