5.17.2012

The Quasi-Improved (But Mostly Just Chewed Up) Ottoman.

Somebody give me an F for bloggy follow-through. Accompany it with the report card comment “Long-term assignments have not been completed.” The long-term assignment I am referring to, of course, is our ottoman, which we were secretly working on when I posted this  elusive vlog in February. (Shame.) The good news is, it’s finally done.

DIY storage ottoman

The bad news is, it’s only quasi-improved.

But let’s rewind. The last time this little blog saw that ottoman, mullets were acceptable it looked like this:

DSC_0880

But the last time we saw it like that, it also looked like this:

DSC_1233

Thank you, smallish felines with sharp claws and an insatiable need to scratch on everything in the house except the perfectly scratchable scratching post.

DSC_0427

So being perfectly smart owners of the aforementioned felines, we decided it was time to replace the fabric. I had only spent $3 a yard on it the old stuff in the first place, so I joyfully headed out to Joann Fabrics and purchased white marine vinyl for wipeability and because I was apparently on some drug that made me think that my clawed beasts wouldn’t like it. I draped it over the ottoman for several days to see if said clawed beasts would unleash their terror on it.

They snubbed it. Nary a claw was in sight. My psychotic faith in the goodness of cats was maintained. Hooray.

So we proceeded with the reupholster process, which we did following the same steps that we did the first time. This time, though, we also made buttons for the tufts to add a little more polish to the top.

DSC_1244

DSC_1298

At some point during this process, we realized that we liked our living room much better without a giant hulk of ottoman plunked in the middle of it. So we moved it to the foot of our bed.

DIY tufted storage ottoman

Rick also ingeniously added some scrap wood to the underside of the lid so that it can’t slide around anymore and fits snugly in place. The underside of the lid is also how we and the rest of the world know that we made it ourselves. We considered finishing it off somehow to make it look more professional, but, nope. My mindset of choice is delusion, remember, not professionalism.

DSC_0433

Delusion Meter: 10/10

how to make your own storage ottoman

And everyone lived happily ever after with their shiny new ottoman. THE END!

Except…not.

At some point in these many months, our pet blur has developed a chewing habit.

DSC_0441

We thought we were getting a kitten, but apparently we got a dog. Or a hamster. This is what Zoe did to a pristine paper bag in less than a week’s time:

DSC_0423

This is what she did to the cardboard apartment that we made for them to play in:

DSC_0425

Aaaaand this is what she has done to the corners of our poor, defeated ottoman.

DSC_0431

Which is why our shiny new ottoman is only quasi-improved. Which is why I am probably totally lame for buying vinyl in the first place. Which is why I’m fairly certain we should just give up now and swath our home in tin foil.

Do your pets insist on placing their mark on your house? Have you ever left a project 90% completed for four entire months like we did? Do you ever make inappropriate decisions about appropriate purchases while under spells of delusion and insanity?

30 comments :

  1. Holy cow. Do you feed that thing? (By thing, I mean cat...I'm a dog person. :P). See, dogs always get a bad rap for being naughty but some cats are 100 times worse. My parents have one that is always in trouble!

    Sorry about your ottoman. :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh no! How frustrating! The white vinyl and the covered buttons looked so good, too! Little brat. :)

    Our cat only claws one thing and it's a Pottery Barn rug that I HATE because it sheds so much. I think he's helping me convince Mike that we need a new one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How annoying! Our cats (including my parents') love cardboard boxes but more to lay in/use to hide from everyone while they nap. Have you tried those cat repellent sprays (the ones that make cats not want to go near things).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried one of those sprays but have heard about them. Can humans smell them too?

      Delete
  4. Oh my gosh, too funny. I feel for you - how frustrating - but I need stories like this. Allergies prevent me from having any cute furry friends around and I pine for a little kitty-cat. But maybe not so much now. What a weird hamster-cat your pet blur is.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my!!! That stinks!!! It looked so good in the vinyl.

    Oh and don't feel too bad. We started the mudroom project in February. I was promised that our bench and cubbies would be complete before Easter. Apparently Easter was moved to June this year and no one told me because it hasn't been started.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahahaha silly husbands, thinking they can move holidays. ;)

      Delete
  6. Our little furry child has a thing for molding. He has single handedly (pawedly?) destroyed all of the molding along the door frames upstairs. Since we're selling, we fixed all of his *ahem* scratching posts and covered them in tin foil to protect them from future damage.

    He then started clawing our bed posts. It's covered in tin foil now too. Our upstairs looks like ghetto silver leaf. Maybe we could start that trend? Ghetto silver leaf! I mean, chevron had it's humble beginnings in the blogging world. This could too!

    We are going to be soooo famous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahaha YES! This is brilliant. Ghetto silver leaf WILL be the next big thing. And clawed up furniture does fall under the category of "distressed" and maybe even "shabby chic," right? We'll just pretend like we meant for it to look this way.

      Delete
  7. Oh nooo! It looked so good! You are making it easier for me to not have any cats right now. They look so fluffy and cute but they are home DESTROYERS and I already have two kids who can do that enough on their own.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous5/17/2012

    Unfortunately, I feel your pain. With two ginormous puppies running around who have a penchant for eating anything that sits still long enough (including but not limited to: a remote, new bra, flip flops, deck boards, hoses, leather work gloves, metal chair legs, and lavarock grill cleaners), the Little House is always in turmoil. Not to mention that our kitty's an ankle biter. Literally. He also loves cardboard boxes, our Ikea slipcovers, and the shower curtain.

    And yes, I'm delusional, too. So much so that I bought a white slipcover for our couch, thinking that since the puppies aren't allowed on the furniture and we don't have kids, it would stay white. Right.

    ReplyDelete
  9. hahaha! I totally ♥ how you mentioned "mullets" & "acceptable" all in the same sentence -- and in a post about a naughty feline & ruined project, at that.

    The cure for our ruinous kitty? We got a dog. Seriously, she now pretty much just lives on the top bunk in one of the boys' rooms, 'cause that's the only place she's safe from Auggie doggy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do happen to find puppies adorable...oh Rick...are you reading these comments? ;)

      Delete
  10. For Christmas Josh got our cat a new scratching post, and while we were at the store I told him that she didn't care for those scratchy rope ones but he was all "Uh, she's a cat, she's not going to care." So I let him get it anyway, and sure enough, she hated it. Then for the next two weeks anytime she walked past it she made sure to make it VERY clear that she was intentionally snubbing it, and then Josh would yell and tell her he was never buying her anything ever again because she was ungrateful, but then we got a dog and he chewed all the rope off and then ate the cardboard, and then swung the base/pole part around until I finally threw it away. And Josh was content because, as he said "At least somebody got some use of it."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahaha that's hilarious!

      But CATS. They can be such snobs...

      Delete
  11. Oh no! That is such a bummer! Our dog gets into trouble sometimes too. She's usually pretty good but if you leave any paper products out- she tears them. She lives for that apparently. Kleenex boxes, cereal boxes, bills, flyers, cardboard boxes- she makes us confetti. I don't mind that so much but she has gotten a few things I love before... including a canvas print my mom just bought us for a wedding present yesterday.... not impressed!! She somehow managed to get water marks on the bottom of it. Thankfully it is salvagable and you don't notice if you don't get right up to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zoe does the same thing with paper products!! Whenever I am trying to clip coupons she sabotages my process.

      That stinks about the canvas. Our ottoman is the same way…from far away, it looks alright. :P

      Delete
  12. Aw man, can't believe they ate the new cover, too, sad! It looked really good though (pre-bites). Hope you can find something they dont find appetizing!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I feel you with cats destroying furniture. They make these adhesive strips for furniture to deter cats from scratching furniture. We tried them out and they work OK as long as we remember to replace them once they lose their stickiness (normally by being covered in fur). You can also try bitter apple spray to deter the chewing of furniture (if you go this route be sure to read to back to make sure it isn't harmful if ingested - some spray is!). Destroyed furniture is no fun :(

    When we first got our king size bed I make the insane decision to go with a really nice, off-white comforter because I thought it would go so well with a darker blue walls. Not the best idea with two dogs and three cats who love to sleep on the bed. It quickly got dirty, dingy and torn so now it's used as the dog blanket for the car and I only buy darker colored comforters/duvets

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dang it, that stinks! It looks so pretty and shiny! I've never had cats so I have no good advice for you :( But I can relate to the delusion not professionalism statement! That's pretty much my motto in DIY! well, most of the time haha :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. It looked so good! Bummer! This makes me glad that we dont have any pets though!

    ReplyDelete
  16. One word: Declaw.(Or you could replace this one word with: Evict...but that's probably not high on your list and it makes me sounds very un-catloving...but if it makes you feel better, I've considered the eviction of my dog multiple times.)

    Two words: Oh my!

    Three words: I'm so sad.

    Four words: You must try again.

    Five words: I literally gasped in horror!

    Fourteen words (because predictability is boring): Once again, we are twins because I always leave projects 90% undone...or less.

    ReplyDelete
  17. OMG! Have you had them de-clawed? If they are indoor cats, that might be your answer otherwise this will continue. My cat used to claw at the back of a favourite armchair - never did too much damage but it was frustrating.
    P.S. My cat was an outdoor cat so we didn't declaw her. But if she was an indoor one, I would have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah…we don’t really like the whole declawing thing, as much as it would save our furniture. Their claws have gotten them out of curiosity-fueled scrapes several times even though they don’t go outside (i.e. when they dangle precariously from high-up places like our upper banister and can only scramble to safety because of their claws). And if they did ever escape, which they have been known to do, we want them to be able to defend themselves. So…I guess we’ll live with it and just do our best to deter them from making it any worse. I'm looking into some other options! :)

      Delete
  18. Darn it. Oh well, it's a good thing pets are cute ;)
    I don't want to admit this, but Kevin and I went to buy a recliner for our sunroom...we spent the majority of the time scratching/digging our nails into the fabric in the store trying to determine which one would be best for our four legged friend (is that bad?). I must say so far so good, no scratches from our dear Stewart.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I think pets are the best precursors to what having drooling, crayon-covered, mess-making children must be like. Think of it as good practice for the future.

    ReplyDelete
  20. OH man, our darn little furry, blurry babies. Our dog chewed the trim right off the wall in the rental. I'm praying she's grown out of the puppy stage enough that our new trim is safe. It will definitely be covered in dog hair, but if not chewed.. I'm happy.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm giving you an A for effort :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh no! Bad kitty, kidding. Love me some cats! I haven't owned any in such a long time but I do remember when they use to do that to my moms furniture and belongings. Let's just she wasn't too happy about it either :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh dear, I feel you. Ours can be equally insane. The other furniture damage we have in our house has been from the cats. The dogs don't chew on things but the cats think our blankets, couches and rugs are amazing.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from my readers, so don't be shy. :) Thanks for being here!

Want to read more?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...