Ottoman makeover

A few years ago, I picked up this cute little ottoman at Target.  She was a plain Jane ottoman, round, covered in brown microsuede.  Jane was cheap (something like $20) and she fit the bill of what I was looking for: someplace to sit at the vanity that's tucked into the corner of my bedroom.

And then Jane moved into my closet during the reorganization.

 I decided, though, that it was time to bring Jane out into the light and dress her up.   This is how she started:

See Jane in the bottom left of the photo?  She's very unassuming, isn't she?

I got out my stencils, acrylic paint and fabric medium, and went to work.  I wanted Jane to look like she'd been found in a souk in some far-flung corner of the world, rather than on a clearance endcap at Target.

I used Martha Stewart's gold acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium and stenciled this on the top.  I used a pouncer (Martha Steward brand, again, but I imagine any would do!) to work the paint into the textured microsuede.

I must admit, I'm in love with Martha Stewart's metallic paint!  You can see a little bit of the sparkle in the close-up, but it still doesn't quite do justice to the shimmer that it has in person.  

I was happy with how Jane's chapeau came out, but this left her sides a big expanse of brown blah.    I eyed my painter's tape, then Jane.  Inspiration struck, and I decided Jane needed slimming vertical stripes.  

I taped off the stripes in varying widths around the ottoman and went to work with the pouncer and more gold.  I wanted an aged sort of look, so I applied the paint more thickly near the top, and then used a dry sponge brush to drag the gold down to the bottom.  This let the color fade out near the bottom, though there's still a hint of sparkle there.  I made myself wait a few minutes until the paint was slightly dry, then pulled off the blue masking tape.

Tada!  Stripes.   After drying in the basement overnight (the cat-free zone), Jane came back into the bedroom with a new look.

Well, it's not quite a Moroccan souk, but she does look prettier, I think!

And here she is, all glowy and surrounded by dust motes for a moment.  I can almost make-believe I'm not in New England on a windy spring day.  Of course, one never knows what sorts of wildlife they'll find when exploring exotic places.

Rar.

So, what do you think of Jane's transformation?




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