Scavenger Chic

Upcycled Feedbag Ottoman

• By Joan
• October 10, 2016
• 7 Comments

All last week I was showing you the orphan projects I had made while I was on the hunt for the perfect stool for a feedbag makeover.  I could have easily made a stool out of wood, but I was on a mission.

Do you remember my feedbags?  They were part of the flea market finds from August.  

The hand cart has already been transformed into a coffee table and the apple picking bucket is now hanging on my deck.

You can see the feedbags, they’re sitting on the red cabinet.

I did finally find a ottoman that was perfect for my feed bag project. From this picture, he doesn’t look that bad.  You’ll have to take my word for it that he was kind of hairy (as in pet hair) dirty and lumpy. In other words, perfect for a makeover.  

The best part about this stool was his cute little feet. With new bun feet going for 10 dollars a piece, these were a steal at $8 for the entire ottoman.   

I didn’t even end up using the feet for this project…they were far too fancy for a feedbag.

I don’t know the age of this ottoman but I’m pretty sure they don’t make them like this anymore. A steel bottom and springs definitely point to a different era in furniture making.

Apparently the white fabric was not the original covering of this ottoman, he had been reupholstered at least once before. You can see a bit of the original fabric just peaking out on the right side of the picture. All the staples had to go to give a clean slate in which to attach the feedbag.

These were the two feedbags I had bought at the yard sale.  I chose to use the one on the right because the weave of the burlap was much tighter.  

First he had to be cleaned.  That brown stuff on the right side of the picture…that’s dirty water.

Online,  I found a site on how to clean feedbags.   I don’t think my bags were as dirty as hers (she talks about removing poo and clumps of dirt), but it’s a great tutorial and worth taking a look if you have any grain sacks or feedbags.

After the feedbag was dry, I cut across the bottom and down the center of the back to give me as much burlap as possible.  

Even after giving myself as much burlap as possible,  I was still about 2 inches off on length.  The fabric should be able to cover the entire top plus an inch overlap.  I didn’t have enough for any fold over on the bottom. No worries though, I had a plan.

Just as if you were covering a chair seat, start stapling the feedbag at the center and work your way to the corners pulling tight and alternating sides as you go.

The fabric that is normally used to cover bottoms of chairs and sofas is called cambric. Since I didn’t have any cambric just sitting around I chose a piece of black cotton for my underbelly.

I cut the cotton a few inches wider than the ottoman.

Because the feedbag was just a bit short on the one side, I went up the side with my black fabric  far enough to cover any burlap ends.  The black cotton was folded over and stapled in place in the same manner as the feedbag…starting at the center and working my way out to the corners with staples.

I still needed feet since I stole the original feet for another project.   These ball top post caps worked perfectly. A couple of weeks ago I was replacing some rotted wood on my deck and took a bunch of these down.  If you remember my chicken coop coffee table, those were the same feet I used there.

The last step was to cover the sides with a band of pallet wood.  The pallet wood totally hides the fact that the feedbag was too short and that the black cotton fabric comes part way up the sides.

Finished the pallet wood with a coat of black chalk paint, sanded all the edges then sealed with a vintage chalk paint wax.

What I learned from this project is…(a)burlap stinks when it’s wet (b) It’s much dirtier than it looks  and (c) I really don’t like removing upholstery staples.

Have a great week!

I’m including this project in the junk revision challenge this month for fabric repurposing.  If you would like to see more, check out my fellow junkers below.

Shared at Wow us Wednesday, Talk of the Town,

Link Party Palooza, Sweet Inspiration Party,

Salvaged Junk Projects, Metamorphosis Monday,

I was featured here

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