Ottoman reupholstery..

Okay, just to clarify, I have absolutely no intention of reupholstering anything by myself.  Whew.  Having said that, I have an ottoman that is covered in some sort of chenille fabric. I put my feet on it practically everyday, sometimes for more hours than I care to admit.  I was never very fond of the fabric to begin with, I have to admit, so it does not pain me terribly to be reupholstering it.

What did pain me was to learn at a local design shop that I would have to purchase two hides at $200 each to reupholster this ottoman in a nice buttery leather.  Then they told me that it would cost me about $400 to actually have the work done.  Standing there with my mouth open, I said "thank you but, errr. No."  I mean I could easily find a new otttoman of some description for $800.  I have no memory of what I paid for the one I have, but I know it is of decent quality.  Here it is, somewhat worse for wear. See what I mean?

On my recent trip to the flea market here in Raleigh I went to visit the leather lady.  She has dozens of hides in all colors- dark brown, dark green, deep red, and the tobacco/caramel color I was looking for... Several of the hides she had were very LARGE. Now, I don't want to think about this too much, in fact I don't even really relish using the term "hide".  I like to think of it instead as "irregular yardage".  I hope the PETA people don't picket me.. ahhhh my readership is not large enough to extend that far undoubtedly.

I picked up the caramel colored "piece" and it is buttery soft, smooth, mostly regular in tone and color.  It is perfect.  It is very large.  So I called an upholsterer and they said to send them a photo to make sure we could make do with ONE errrr "piece" instead of the two "pieces" the design shop had recommended for my 33 inch square, tufted ottoman.  Apparently tufting requires more material.  So, I have done that and am waiting to hear back from them that the one piece will do.

The cost of my flea market find?  $70.  Tax included.

So here is the photo of the leather draped over the ottoman that I sent to the upholsterer.  I hope they say yes, you have enough leather and in a week or so I can show you a photo of the reupholstered ottoman!!