Category: DIY Tips

Potato Sack Ottoman

Published on by Kelly WhitmanLeave a comment

“The seeker embarks on a journey to find what he wants, and discovers, along the way, what he needs.”

Two weeks ago I came across a great little ottoman at Hope Gospel Mission Bargain Center in Eau Claire, Wi for $3.00!  After my employee discount the total came to around $2.80! What a deal! (p.s. a tip for shopping there, if you are 50+, on Tuesdays you can save 20% off your entire purchase ! )

I just loved the style of this ottoman and knew it was a piece of furniture that I could breathe new life into.  Below is what the ottoman looked like as I found it at the Bargain Center, and what was underneath that dirty green fabric!

I let it sit in my living room for a few days, where I could see it, and try to figure out a plan for it. I kept going back and forth between giving it a light beach cottage feel, or a Western rustic style.

As I looked around my home to see what I had for material to cover the top of it, I came across an old potato sack that I found last year at Oronoco Gold Rush Days, where I went on a hunt for anything that had a Western design or feel to it.
The potato sack was dirty and had stains all over it, that discouraged me a bit, but then I discovered that I could simply just wash the stains out!

Below are photos of the potato sack getting a bath.  I simply filled the bath tub with warm water and a bit of laundry detergent and gave it a good 10 minute soak, then scrubbed gently with a scrub brush in the areas that it had dirt stains, wrung it out, then hung it out on the clothesline to dry over night!

 

Once the potato sack was fully dry, I cut it open along the seams on the side and bottom, laid it out on the floor, image side down, set the ottoman upside down on top it it and cut a circle about 4+ inches bigger than the ottoman, so I would have enough material to go over the sides, and underneath the ottoman where I then secured it with staples, using a Staple Gun.    After the potato sack was secured, I then painted the legs red and topped them off with Minwax Polyshades stain + poly, and it was finished!

This was a really fun and easy project and the great part is that if I decide I want a different style, it is simple to removed the potato sack and recover the ottoman!  But for now, it looks right at home in our old farmhouse.

I hope this blog post has inspired you to see beyond what something IS and to see what it’s potential can be!

Have a beautiful Sunday, get outside and enjoy the sunshine!

Remember, you can follow along with my DIY adventures over on Facebook as well!

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Potato Bin End Tables.

Published on by Kelly Whitman6 Comments

Have you ever had an ah-ha moment?!  As an artist and entrepreneur, I find myself getting several… every single day.   How do I know which ones to take seriously and which ones to let go?!   That is the hard part.  This can sometimes be overwhelming for many artists and entrepreneurs, but that is where focus and vision come into play.   If I gave in to every single idea I had, I would either be A.) completely broke B.) completely tired or C.) go completely insane.    I don’t want to be any 3 of those!  I want to continue to love what I do.  So, if I get an idea and I can’t make it happen right away, I will write it down in a notebook and sometimes, the idea never travels further than between the lines on a white piece of paper, but for me, that is enough, and I have come to be okay with that,  for most ideas.   Sometimes I will come back to an idea 1 year later and make it happen as well.    Then sometimes, there is an idea , or an ah-ha moment like I mentioned above, that I see so clearly in my head, that I have to jump up at that exact moment and make it happen.   These potato bin end tables, are one of those ideas.

 

I have had these old wood potato bins for about a year, they have traveled to two different homes with me as I’ve moved, and have been used in about 6 different rooms for different purposes, like shoe boxes in the porch, stacked 2 high for shelving in my daughters room, set next to each other to make a bench,  put together for a coffee table in the basement, or filled with toys.   None of those ideas, although neat, felt like they were how the bins were to be given a new life.   They were meant for something more.

I took the bins and jumped into a project the day after the idea was visualized in my head.

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I stripped the old paint off of the back side of the bins, which would now be the top part of the end tables.

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Once most of the paint was stripped, I sanded down the tops so they were smooth.

 

I painted the bins in a beautiful green, called ‘Preppy Green’ (the same green I also recently used on a desk makeover ) ,

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Next, I used a brown stain + polyurethane from Minwax , called Minwax Polyshades in Espresso brown to lightly go over every side of the bins.  This worked great as the stain stuck in all of the imperfections of the bin, showing off  their age and history and giving them a more antique look.    I stained the new tops of the bins with 2 coats of the same stain to give them a unified look and make them be viewable as actual end tables, not just potato bins, and for a bit of sophistication.

I am completely happy with how they turned out, and even more ecstatic that the vision I saw so clearly in my head, is now in my living room and I can look at them every day, knowing I DID IT and I brought my vision to life!

Below are the after photos,  I hope you like them as much as I do!

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Thanks for reading,  for more inspiration from Anchored Way, visit me over on Facebook!

~Kelly