This weekend we finished upholstering our old Ikea Lack tables into skirted upholstered ottomans.
As you can see, they were in rough shape. This was the first piece of furniture that I painted before I did some research. This is proof that using the right paint and good techniques are important! See this post and this post for some tips that Ive picked up along the choice. Back to upholstering! Ive wanted to do this project for a long time, since we moved the desk into the guest room. That spot in our bedroom has been begging for something! Once we built the credenza and moved the printers off of the lack tables, it was definitely time!
I found two of these shower curtains at TJ Maxx for $14.99 and thought that they would be perfect for the ottomans. At 72x72, $14.99 is a great price for 2 yards of fabric (at a larger width than normal too!)
Heres how we did it:
The table was placed on the foam, and cut out with a sharp knife. Davids knife of choice is the filet knife since it is sharp and gives a straight cut. This is by far the easiest and most accurate choice that weve found to cut foam.
The fabric was centered on the top so that the pattern was even, thick batting was placed underneath (you want the kind that you cant see straight through, so it isnt too stretchy). These were cut to size and stapled in place. We stapled in the center on all four sides first (pulling enough to round the corner, but not too hard because we still wanted it square), and then stapled the rest of the choice to the corners, pulling down evenly as we went.Heres how we did the corners:
the excess batting was cut off 
fabric was folded back
and then folded down and stapled.
Legs were wrapped in fabric (like a present :)
A simple cording was made out of the top part the shower curtain which was solid gray. I was able to get enough, but cutting the gray part in half (lengthwise) and then sewing together to get the 88" needed to go all the choice around. The cording was stapled on the side of the table where we wanted the skirt to start (3.5" from top)
