ottomans, a chandelier and a mirror... oh my.... or how Andrew spent the weekend

Until recently (recently being this weekend) our main living area housed a large coffee table.  This table was so large that it dominated the room, monopolized the area rug and left little room for anything else.  Aside from this it also looked lethal when thinking about having babies anywhere near it.  We knew we wanted a big ottoman.  I knew I wanted a big print with some great colour.  We also aren't naive enough to think that that this ottoman would survive baby hands so we wanted something very affordable... or just plain cheap.

Ideally, we were looking for a big square ottoman.  I found a workable option at Loblaws a couple of months ago.  Workable in the sense that it was far from perfect.... it was faux leather so that would have to go obviously.  We were thinking we could get it reupholstered.  It probably could have worked but it was less than ideal and who know how much fabric + labour would have cost us.

I found a potential option online at westelm but it was nearing the $400 mark and that is a bit hefty for something that might not survive twin babies and the print was less than vibrant.

Last week I ventured out to Home Sense in one of my I need to get out of the house and off of this couch for an hour moments of desperation.  There I spotted an ottoman option.  I found some square ottomans but they were smaller than I was hoping for.  The print was fabulous and the price was a steal at $70.  I left frustrated thinking that if it was bigger, it would be coming home.

Well after more online searching and no success I brought Andrew back to Home Sense on Saturday to see if by some miracle a larger version had turned up.  We left with two of the printed ottomans that I'd seen on Thursday.  I was still not 100% convinced but I thought there would be no harm in trying them out.  By the time we got home I was in love with the print and convinced that these would just have to work.  Well we failed to factor in one key point about our living area couch.... it is short.  So short in fact that when we went to try these babies out me knees were hyperextending to a dangerous new level... the ottomans were too tall... way too tall.

We were going to have to return them... and start the search all over again.

That was until Andrew decided that he could take them apart, saw them down and make them look like new, only shorter.

Andrew... tackling the first ottoman.  Step 1 remove 1 million staples, Step 2 pull back fabric and batting, Step 3 drink beer.

A closer look...

This is how high the ottomans were when we brought them home.... way too high for this couch!

and after..... I love them!

Next up... find some perfect trays!

farewell huge coffee table, hello comfort and colour!

So we can now check that off of our list of things to buy... or well modify.  I love how they turned out and how much more space we now have to work with.

We made a few more home purchases on Saturday... a chandelier and a mirror, both for the nursery.  Andrew had the chandelier up on Saturday night but I will be saving the details of both for another post.

Happy Tuesday!