The Recycled, Reused and Re-purposed Project

This entire project was completed using ALL recycled and re-purposed items and without spending a DIME!

Step 1: The Decision

Recently my girlfriend and I moved in together. The house we settled on is a lovely 3 bedroom house in a beautiful neighborhood.

When we finished moving in we had a few items that we no longer needed. My girlfriend wanted to throw them away and "get them out of the yard and house" because it's "embarrassing". So my plan was to do just that as as fast as possible! But when looking at the old ottoman, I thought to myself, "there must be something that I can make out of this". The ottoman had great bones and I didn't want to just throw away all that hardware! So I put my thinking cap on and began.

Step 2: The Disassembly

I began by taking the whole thing apart including the removal of the top cushion and fabric cover

Step 3: The Sigh!

After removing all the fabric I am dismayed to discover that the entire chest is covered in large staples!

Step 4: The Staples

So, using a pair of needle nose pliers I begin the arduous task of removing each staple one by one...

Step 5: The Wood

Once all the staples are removed I decide that I am going to make an outdoor storage chest, but to do that I need more wood...Hmmm

Then I remember that we have an old bed frame sitting out back by the garbage can to be put out with the trash...lets see if I can use that!

I can! So I begin to take apart the frame and am pleasantly surprised to see that IKEA used some fairly solid wood planks in the construction of the particular frame - disassembly begins

Step 6: The Box

Using the wood planks taken from the bed frame I extend the box to create a larger fallible space.

Step 7: The Lid

To make the lid I use the press board that was underneath the cushion on the old ottoman.

Step 8: The Hinges

While taking apart the old ottoman I notice that the heavy duty hinges are still in very good condition. So I use those to attach the lid to the box for an easy open and close feature.

Step 9: The (More) Staples

While initially removing the thousands of staples I noted that leaving some in may add to the "recycled/re-purposed" look that I was going for so I left some rows in. Once the lid was on I noted that there were still a few more that were just not in the right spot - so we removed them.

Step 10: The Progress

Time to take a step back and reflect on our progress... LOVE IT!

Step 11: The Handles

I decide it is time to add some Dope Rope handles - cause, well... they're DOPE!

Step 12: The Color

Now for the color - I think a stain! Since it was my goal to do this whole project using only recycled products I took a look in my "mad lab" for an old can of stain. I found a few, and after testing each color, I decided on this one.

Step 13: The Stain and Clear Coat

I applied one coat of stain and when that was dry I finished it off with some clear coat (also from my mad lab)

Step 14: The Stencil

Using some old letter stencils that I had laying around, I spray painted the word FRAGILE on the front of the trunk.

Step 15: The Reveal

Done! Time to get the girlfriend and show her - she LOVED IT!

We carried it straight to the back yard and loaded up the kids toys and the rest is history!

Step 16: The Video Transformation

Here is a quick video of this Transformation -- Enjoy!

Step 17: The Moral of This Story

Instead of throwing out your old furniture -- Recycle it!