Leather storage ottoman

[Brian Lindahl]

I want to make a simple cube storage ottoman (couldn't find any good ones out there) and would have no problem creating the wood structure of it, but are there services out there that would upholster it in leather? I'm assuming some of you out there have done something like this, how much does a service like this cost?

[Steve Jenkins]

Have you tried your yellow pages under upholstery? I would think that their should be someone around your local area that can do this. Steve

[Carl Eyman]

I made one last spring copying one sold by sears for about $70. Mine was cherry while sears' was poplar stained like cherry. I had an upolsterer do the cushion top in black leather. She did a great job making the the cushion about 1 1/2 inches thick and flat on the top.That way you could put a cup of coffee on it without it tipping over. Price for the upolstery alone was $125 and I don't think she skinned me.

[Jamie Buxton]

Yeah, look in the Yellow Pages. Or look for a store which sells upholstery fabrics. They often have bulletin boards or other leads to upholsterers.

One small caution... The shop I've used to upholster some of my furniture tries pretty hard to steer customers away from leather. They'll do it if the customer really wants. However, they believe strongly that there are better materials for upholstery. "Better", in this case, means "more stain-resistant, longer life, more easily worked, and less expensive". (And you can have patterns and/or colors which are not available in leather.) There are many woven fabrics which fill the bill. There are also "micro-fiber" man-made sheet goods which look and feel like leather, but have these better characteristics.

[Carl Eyman]

Brian: I found the pictures I took of the ottoman I made. They are about 400K each; so I'll have to reduce before I can post. If You want them, I'll do it, or alternatively, If you send me your e-mail address, I'll just e-mail them to you.

[Randy Moore]

Hey Carl,

Don't e-mail the pics! I would like to see what you made. I have been trying to think of a good ottoman to copy but have not found one yet, but have not thought about SEARS.

[Carl Eyman]

Look here-http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=8942
I had forgotten that I'd posted this until I tried to add it to this thread. The back (side opposite the drawers) is a raised panel, the side opposite the rack is plain. Wood is cherry colored with water soluble dye - colonial cherry- I used drawer slides - shame - finish wipe on polye. Notice cushion is flat top. Upolsterer suggested this so you can set a cup of coffee there without it tipping over. I'll try to dig up the dimensions if you wish, but you can pretty much tell from size of magazine rack.

[Brian Lindahl]

Looks nice. Being from the younger crowd I'm lookin at something with a tang of modern comtemporary - I'm sure many of you scorn this type of work as antique-style woodworkers, but hey, its my style. I'm trying to duplicate a piece that is a leather cube, has a storage top that can be removed and flips over to turn into a serving tray / TV tray with handles which can either go on your lap, be used to carry dishes, or be placed back on the top of the cube as a sort of table - thought it was quite functional considering we don't have the space for a regular-sized coffee table, plus the extra seating is nice. Oh, and I'm gonna have to go with leather since it'll be matching our leather couch - since the price doesn't sound too over the top I'll start shopping around for upholstry services and get to work on the project. Thanks for the help!

[Chris Padilla]

One small caution... The shop I've used to upholster some of my furniture tries pretty hard to steer customers away from leather.
True...our newest sofa/loveseat is made from this UltraSuede stuff. It is wonderfully comfortable and highly stain resistant.

We have a 2.5 year old running around so I can tell you the ability to use a green scotchbrite pad to scrub crap off the ultrasuede and not have it impact the color/feel/texture one single iota is AWESOME! Wonderful material....