Passionately Provident Homemaking: Putting My Feet Up

I think I may be a little weird in the fact I like to crochet...on my leg. I usually do granny squares. Once I get past the 4th round, I lay the square down on my leg, and start going from there. That being said, I need something to put my feet on, in the craft room, to be able to crochet on my leg. And hey, maybe I just like to put my legs up while I'm watching tv ;)

I just happen to have an ottoman that went with 2 swivel rockers that have long since been gone from the house. Why, you ask? Well...my wonderful Fat Cat was a scratch-er. He tore them up. Sigh. Anyway, they're gone, and he is too now. Guess which one I miss more. Though I would love to have a fantastically decorated house, Fat Cat (not his real name) wanted to put his special touch on anything and everything I brought into the house. His sister (yes, they had the same Mom. Different litters.) Black Cat (not her real name) is MUCH less of a scratch-er. You'll see the only damage she's done, a little further into this post.

Here's the ottoman in it's natural state. Fat Cat did a number on the corners. The original fabric just acted like a brush for his hair. It was all over the thing. I could clean it off, and the next day it was covered again.

Black Cat decided she would oversee the work I did that day. Poor thing...that white on her stomach...she licks her hair off her belly. I'm at the end of her food, and I'm going to try a different one. I think maybe she's allergic to it? When Fat Cat went on a diet, she did too. I don't remember her belly being bare before they were started on this food.

I originally thought I would just do a slip cover, so I cut off the extra fuzz and stringiness that was there, but quickly decided it all needed to go.

I pulled out the tools and got started. I'm going to call these pliers, but they aren't. What are they? Channel locks? Anywho, they were great in assisting me to remove the staples that held the fabric on. I pulled the skirt off first.

I then flipped it upside down and took off the cardboard. I don't know why they put cardboard on the thing to begin with. Maybe it's just to cover up the wood. Meh.

After the cardboard was removed (though it's still showing in the picture...) I had to take even MORE staples out of the darn thing!

Finally we're getting somewhere. Staples are removed, and I unscrewed the legs too. Just made it easier not to knock myself in the face. ;) After that, I just removed the fabric.

And this is what I'm left with. A wooden box, with a piece of padding on it.

I thought it needed a bit more cushioning, but have you ever been to the fabric store? Cushioning is is pretty darn expensive without a coupon, and lets face it. I didn't want to go out and shop. I used some batting I already had on hand. I wrapped it around the the rest of the box.

And now the magic happens! Oh look. The bottom right hand corner is Black Cats handy (paw-y) work in action. She f'd up my box spring. Sigh. I did replace the mattress because it was older than dirt. The box spring will eventually be replaced. I just covered it up with a rug. Seriously. I used the rug I had covering the living room chair. I laid out the fabric and put the ottoman on top of it.

Then I pulled up the corners and pinned them. I was careful not to pin the fabric to the batting. That would make it much more difficult to remove the fabric to sew it...dontcha think?