Goodbye Duvet Cover, Hello Ottomans

Let me just start this post by saying thank you friends! You guys are so smart, and always have the best suggestions :)

Remember when I was wondering what I could do to balance out the top heavy side of our living room?

You guys suggested either plants or poufs/ottomans to fill in the empty space, so I took your advice.

I had some tall blue wine bottles on hand, and some dried grass, so I gave the plant idea a try.

I liked the additional color low on the wall, but they still weren't filling in enough space to balance the frames above our aquarium. Just too tall and skinny to work, although a definite step in the right direction.

So I decided to keep an eye out for something else, and I found the answer at Target! These two storage cube ottomans were on sale for only $17 each, so I snagged them.

They're pretty much the perfect size for the space, plus they work as extra seating or storage. The only problem with them was the color. In the above photo they actually don't look too bad, but the photo below is more true to life--and much more neon green.

And that green color was just clashing with the softer, olivey-sage green color of our sofa cover. But I had a solution, related to the lightly striped blue pillows on our sofa!

Those throw pillows actually match an old duvet cover we had in our master bedroom for a short time, years ago. We quickly realized we didn't like the buttons on the inside of the duvet (since you know we still hate using top sheets), so only used it for a couple of weeks about 6 years ago. But my pack-rat tendancies do come in handy, all the time in fact, and this time, it was because I still had the duvet cover. And since I knew we'd never use it again, it would make the perfect fabric to cover the neon green ottomans with!

I cut the top layer of the duvet cover free from the bottom cotton layer, then measured out how much I needed.

Once I cut and ironed the fabric, about 20 minutes later I had a recovered ottoman. It was very much like how you would wrap a present, except with using a staple gun instead of tape.

Once everything was stapled in place, on the bottom of the ottoman I cut off most of the excess fabric.

Then I used a BBQ lighter to lightly melt the edges of the fabric, just to prevent any unnecessary fraying. It's a quick technique I perfected when making belly bands for our wedding save the dates and invitations.

Once the ends were melted, I folded under the excess and secured the edges with a few more staples. Now I had a nice, finished bottom, which will hopefully hold up to sliding and moving on the carpet.

The inside, not so much. I figured there was no point in finishing the inside of the ottoman if I'm the only one who is ever going to see it, and it doesn't have to hold up to wear and tear.

For the lid, I just wrapped a square of fabric around it, folding the ends like I would a present.

And I also sealed the inside edge of the lid with the lighter, before calling it finished.

One down, one to go, and so much better already!

Another 20 minutes, and the second ottoman was covered in the blue fabric as well. And I'm in love!

Yep, they are the perfect size, and now an even more perfect color! Especially since, thinking ahead for next year, I'm considering doing our living room in all blues (hopefully with dark walnut wood floors and bright white trim), so these ottomans will still fit in with my future living room plans.

One last photo, a close up of the finished product!

So thank you, thank you, thank you for all your helpful suggestions to my problem! You guys really are the best, and because I love you all, I'm working on a giveaway to announce this week. :)

Have you ever recovered furniture before? Or repurposed something to make something else?