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Saturday, April 7, 2012

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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Your Cozy Home Party

6 comments:

  1. One can never underestimate the power of paint (in ANY form!) and this is just lovely. I've not used the fabric medium but it's definitely something I'd love to try sometime.

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  2. I think Jane is lookin good! The paint you chose works very well with the color of the ottoman. Thanks for telling us how you did it at Your Cozy Home Party. --------- Shannon

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    1. Thank you, Shannon! So happy with how it worked out. I was really uncertain, at first. And thank you so much for hosting the Cozy Home Party. Love checking it out. :)

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  3. Hello,I'am affraid you are totally wrong.Because this design is not the exactly Ottoman.This is mostly Arabic design.I reminde to you ,Ottoman is diffrent Arabic is diffrent history.You can learn from Real Turkish people if you want.Don't misunderstand please,this is very important for Historians as like us.

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    1. Hi, there. Thank you so much for your comment and correction. I wasn't attempting to be historically accurate, since my little footstool is from Target circa 2010. Thank you for stopping by, and I appreciate the comment.

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    2. Of course, let me ask you to clarify your correction... Are you objecting to my referring to that style of footstool as an ottoman, or are you saying that the overall style of the makeover - including the motif I used - appears more Arab in influence than Turkish?

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