A Beautiful Ottoman That Was Once An Ugly Coffee Table... Plus, An Exciting Week Ahead!

Seeing as how we did not think we would be in Alaska for as long as we will end up being (we are moving in the fall), we did not ship any of my household goods from Florida. We have bought a few things (a sofa, a mattress, some pots & pans, etc- in fact, by time we combine our stuff the next time we move, we are going to have more pots and pans than anyone I have ever seen); but for the most part, we have been using the things Drew already had up here from before his deployment. I love him dearly, but let's just say that I do not love some of his stuff very much. One of those things was a coffe table that he had bought from a guy at one of his previous stations for like $20. This thing was pretty gross. I finally got tired of looking at it; and since Drew constantly would throw a pillow on top of it anyway in order to put his feet on it, I decided to turn it in to an ottoman. So that's what I did.

I was a little weary to take on this task, but I figured I couldn't make the table look any worse than what it already did. The only thing that really made me hesistant was tackling the corners of the legs with the fabric; but I still wasn't going to let that challenge prevent me from giving this project a try! And when I turned the table over to start painting it, I found screws; turns out that the table detached anyway, so I didn't even have to worry about the corners of the legs! It all worked out perfectly!

Furthermore, Drew was actually extremely helpful with this project. He drilled some holes for me (we had to borrow a drill since mine is in Florida, and I don't think he wanted me to break it); he helped me put the buttons on (the buttons that we actually made so that they would match the fabric); and he helped me staple the fabric on, too (I held it really tight while he stapled); so, it was very much a joint project and a very fun bonding exeperience! :)

Before: The Ugly Coffee Table...

After: The Beautiful Ottoman...

(maybe I will post step-by-step pictures later)

That lovely ottoman was my project in between classes. I finished a couple of classes a couple of weeks ago and had a few days off before starting another couple of classes about a week and a half ago. Then, I had to hit the ground running! The past week and a half has been very stressful, because these classes have a ridiculous amount of work; and I have been trying to get ahead, because I knew how busy the next several weeks were going to be. But it will be so worth it, because they are filled with fun and excitement... particularly this upcoming week! My parents and younger brother are coming tomorrow!!!

They will be spending almost a whole week with us. We will be here in town for the first couple of days. Drew is pinning Captain on Thursday, so that is really exciting! Then Drew has a 4-day weekend for Memorial Day, which is awesome; because my birthday is this weekend, too! So we are headed down to Anchorage with a stop in Denali. We have so many fun things planned... river rafting and hiking in Denali, a wilderness cruise through the Prince William Sound, and walking around the wildlife conservation center in Anchorage... so I will be sure to post pictures soon!