How To Fix A Ripped Ottoman

A 1960s ottoman has been transformed with handpainted wickerwork and fabric – find out how in this step-by-step guide

YOU WILL NEED

To prepare the wickerwork:

A fairly stiff hand brush
Sugar soap
Medium grade sandpaper

To paint the wickerwork:

Use spray paint for best results. Try Montana Gold Acrylic Professional Spray Paint in a vast range of colours, 400ml £4.89 artdiscount.co.uk

To strip the top/removing trim

If the top/seat is covered using staples the best tool is a heavy duty (rather than an office type) staple remover. A cheap but effective option is the Draper 43275 heavy Duty Staple Remover (£5.50, Amazon). Before investing you might like to try using a flat headed screwdriver and a hammer; some staples are much harder to remove than others.
If your seat is covered using upholstery tacks, the ideal tools are an upholsterer's ripping chisel and a mallet, but you can improvise with an old chisel or flat headed screwdriver and a hammer.

To create your bespoke fabric:

 A piece of plain fabric large enough to cover the top of your seat, plus at least 12cm extra on all sides. Lighter weight fabrics will be fine if the seat is not going to be in constant use, otherwise look for an upholstery weight fabric, not too thick or neat corners will be a problem. Our canvas fabric was £8.95 per metre at ebay.co.uk.
Fabric paints: try Dylon Fabric Paint £9.99 for 3 colours, £18.49 for 6 colours at eBay.

For upholstering the top:

Large scissors, dressmaking scissors, or pinking shears, which cut a zigzag edge and prevent fraying.
If needed: foam for replacing seat stuffing. Choose 25mm High Firm Blue V38, give them the measurements of your seat (if square or rectangular) or send a template of your seat outline + 5mm all round and ask them to cut the foam to size.
PVA glue (if replacing seat foam).
Either: A heavy duty electric stapler (NB: some nail guns also take staples) and 6-8mm staples to fit it OR 10mm fine tacks (£2.76 www.upholsterywarehouse.co.uk) and a smallish hammer.

To finish

Small length of decorative chain, available from DIY stores
Screws

To replace the hinges, if required

Two hinges a similar size to the original ones.

Better than bespoke ottomon - before photo

FOLLOW THIS STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

1. Unscrew the hinges from the base and top and save them and the screws if reuseable.

2. Working on the base first, go over the wickerwork with the stiff brush, removing dust and debris, then wash down with sugar soap to remove remaining dirt and grease. Once dry, try spraying a very small area to check that your preparation is sufficient – if the paint doesn't adhere well, sand the surface and wash down again with sugar soap.

3. Spray the base, ideally outdoors on a still day. Apply at least two coats inside and out, allowing drying time between each coat, continuing until you have complete, even cover.

4. Remove the staples or tacks attaching the cover to the top using the tools suggested above. Once all the fixings are removed, carefully remove the top cover. If the stuffing is shapeless, saggy or perished, throw the whole lot away and order some foam (see above). If the shape and firmness of the existing stuffing are good, you can proceed with the cover. Check the condition of the base of the seat and replace it if necessary with thin plywood cut to size.

5. Cut your fabric to size as described above and iron it. For our Jackson Pollock inspired splash/drip design we used the colours in a Pollock painting we liked, marked with chalk the extent of the design and applied the paint flicking full brushloads onto the canvas. Once finished and dry, iron the painted fabric once more following the paint manufacturer's instructions.

Mark Scott

6. Place your seat with its existing stuffing or new foam (fixed in place with a few blobs of PVA glue) on a clean, flat work surface. Think about the positioning of your fabric on the ottoman top (remembering which edge is the front). Position your fabric making sure that the weave of the fabric sits square, then carefully turn the whole seat over keeping the fabric in position as much as you can.

7. We fixed the fabric inside the lid as you can see – alternatively you could fix it along the visible lid edge, trim neatly and cover staples/tacks with a suitable edging trim.

8. Pulling the fabric up firmly over the base of the frame, fix a tack or staple midway down each side about 2cm from the edge. If using tacks, only knock them halfway in at this stage. Turn the whole seat over to see if you're happy with the initial positioning and adjust if necessary until you are satisfied. Continue fixing at intervals, working towards the corners from the initial fixings, two opposite sides at a time. Keep turning the seat over to check how it looks – the fabric should be taut, so you will be pulling hard on it as you work; if at any point the fabric pulls too much and spoils the shape, remove the fixing and adjust the tension.

9. To fix square corners, take up the corner piece of fabric, pull it tightly forward onto the corner of the frame and fix it, positioning it so that the two flaps of fabric either side of the corner are even. These flaps will create a pleat on each side of the corner. Work out where the folds will be neatest and carefully remove the excess fabric from the middle of the pleats with scissors. Fix the pleats evenly, pulling very firmly and creating as little bulk as possible. Trim all excess fabric away as you go to avoid bulk. Note: your seat might not have square corners, in which case make little pleats evenly around the shaped edge, taking in the excess fabric.

10. Go round the sides adding more fixings where there are gaps, pulling the fabric taut each time and checking how it looks on top. When you're satisfied with how it looks, knock in all your tacks fully if using them, and trim off excess fabric close to the fixings.

11. Use your new or saved hinges and screws to reattach the seat to the base, and add a length of decorative chain, screwed to the base and inside top, to stop the top from falling back when open.

See more of Jenny and Jonathan's work at Tilt Originals

• Photography by Mark Scott. Styling by Kiera Buckley-Jones.

• Above image: Cardigan and book, stylist's own. Brecan rug, £250, Habitat. The Barrel backpack, £165, The Cambridge Satchel Company

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