Welcome to DIY Diary. Each entry covers a new home improvement project. Here, J.R. Coffin and George Coffin, partners in business and life, take on an abandoned ottoman.

When J.R. Coffin, architect and partner at Studio Den Den, found an old, lackluster ottoman sitting on a curb, she took it as a sign that it was time to test her sewing skills. The discarded piece of furniture was just what she needed to increase the style-quotient of the new Providence, Rhode Island, home she is currently renovating with her husband, business partner, and industrial designer George Coffin. “The short, round shape worked perfectly with our flexible living room layout and low coffee table,” George says.

The couple purchased a two-family abode last year from an old married couple who lived in separate units—and hadn’t updated much in three decades. “We knew it was the house for us when we walked into powder blue shag carpets and some of the ugliest wallpaper we’d ever seen,” J.R. says.

But how to reupholster an ottoman to suit the space? The duo selected upholstery to work with the newly designed interiors: A medley of colorful-meets-warm tones. “In the spirit of spontaneity, we went to our local fabric store and browsed through all of their options until we found a collection of colors and textures that worked together,” George says. “We knew we wanted some sort of leather [in this case faux leather], because the piece would be living near our leather sofa. It should relate to the sofa in material, but we also wanted it to stand on its own as a unique piece of furniture.”

Armed with materials, J.R. and George reached out to Diane Montgomery, owner and upholsterer of Coventry Lane Upholstery in Nashville, for advice on revamping the once abandoned ottoman into something of a pièce de résistance. See how the project unrolled.

To reupholster a circular ottoman, you’ll need:

An ottoman (look on Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor)

Upholstery staple gun and staples

“If you take your time disassembling everything, you’ll learn a lot about how it was originally built,” George says. “You’ll have a clean blueprint of pattern pieces to trace, cut out, and puzzle back together.” The old decorating maxim—measure twice, cut once—is just as true when undressing a piece as when you’re upholstering it. Exactness is key. “When taking the old fabric off, be careful to keep all existing padding in place to be reused,” Montgomery says. “You can also reuse the dust bottom fabric [the black fabric on the bottom of the frame].” To ensure you don’t get confused with different pieces, mark “border” or “top face” with chalk on the old fabric, though that’s not always necessary on a circular face.

Once the ottoman is undressed, suss out a game plan with the new material. “After the cover is taken off of the frame, remove the stitches where the top and border are sewn together and where the border is seamed together, which may be just a fold of fabric,” Montgomery notes.

“Iron and use it as your template for cutting your new fabric.” Those “border” and “top face” labels come in handy so you don’t accidentally sew the wrong sides together. It can help to label the top side of the fabric so that it’s directionally accurate when you begin to sew it. “Mark it on the back and the wrong side of the fabric,” says Montgomery, who uses fabric chalk, but a pen can work just as well.

When it’s time to actually sew the new upholstery, Montgomery says to start by connecting the border and top face together. The seam should be on the side of the circular face. Look at the fabric texture or pattern to determine the direction. “Even linen or a solid fabric has either a nap or a weave direction,” she says. Montgomery recommends a seam allowance that’s 1/2-inch wide. Your sewing machine should have a mark on the plate, next to the sewing foot, that marks distance from the needle.

The mantra “Easy does it” is something to follow as your ottoman pattern comes together. “Don’t be afraid to hand crank your [sewing] machine if you need to slow things down, or help it through a tough material,” George says. Make small relief cuts in the seam as you sew. Because the ottoman is circular, this makes the faux leather lay better. Just be careful with how far you snip. George learned the hard way not to cut into the stitches.

“Start pulling the newly sewn cover onto the padded frame like a sock,” Montgomery says, noting that you should ensure the border seam is straight and vertical. Then, staple the new cover along the bottom side of the frame to secure it. Begin with four staples [north, south, east, west], spacing each so that the distance between the seam and the bottom of the frame is equal. A yardstick can confirm the spacing, she adds.

Once those four main points are in place, pull the upholstery and continue stapling between the points. Think of it as northeast, northwest, southwest, southeast, Montgomery explains. To make the ottoman look professional, continue filling the space with more staples, finding the median between two points. Avoid stapling too close to the edge. Note that with a circular shape of the ottoman, some gathering or pleating of fabric is to be expected. “You should be able to keep all of this on the bottom of the frame so as not to be visible from the sides,” she says. Once the fabric is pulled smoothly and stapled evenly all around, add the black dust bottom back and staple into place.

What head-turning outfit is complete without footwear? As a final step, reattach the feet or use nail-in furniture glides and hammer into the frame before you flip it over, Montgomery recommends. “The original plan was to mount [the feet] to the wooden ring from the original ottoman, but we quickly learned that they just didn’t look right,” George says. For their new ottoman, George and J.R. got a bit creative by repurposing wooden ball furniture feet from another project by first spray painting them a vibrant hue. “We wanted just a hint of the red feet but not so much that they dominated the piece,” George continues. “So we glued up some plywood blocks that sit within that ring, drilled appropriately sized holes, and mounted the feet to those. This solution allowed the feet to sit within the ring, a little more tucked under the piece, which just felt much better.” The custom touch completed the ottoman transformation.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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