My Practical Way to Fill a Leather Ottoman

I’ve got a funny story to tell. Mostly it about recycling. Funny but practical.

Recently I bought this leather round ottoman.

Problem was, it didn’t come with any stuffing. The instruction pamphlet said you could fill it with beans, foam blocks, or ‘material squares‘. So I looked that up. Turns out, they mean cutting fabric into 20 by 20, 40 by 40, up to 80 by 80 millimetre squares.

Straight away I thought – perfect: finally, a way to get rid of clothes that don’t fit me anymore, or ones I just don’t wear. So I started cutting up an old T-shirt into squares… and realised pretty quickly – it doesn’t fill much space.

Plan B.

Instead of cutting everything up, I just started stuffing whole clothes in there. T-shirts I don’t wear, things that don’t fit anymore – in they go. Then I added an old double-sized quilt cover, the matching sheet, even the pillowcase. Just kept filling.

Still wasn’t enough.

So I grabbed a couple of cushions I didn’t have covers for and shoved one in the bottom, one at the top – figured they’d give it a bit of structure. Something solid to sit on, something softer for the legs.

That actually worked… for a day or two.

Eventually, I found the scissors again and went back to cutting up more material. Still didn’t add much bulk, but I figured – less wasted space, right?

Now fast forward to this afternoon.

I’m looking around and spotted the round jute rug under my desk in my office. I don’t like it so much anymore, doesn’t match the new rug, yet used it until the new rugs arrived.

And then it hit me — Could the entire jute rug fit inside? Go me, lightbulb moment!

Next thing you know, I’ve rolled it up and jammed it right into the centre of the ottoman. Cushion at the bottom, cushion at the top, rug packed in the middle, and I’m literally patting it now thinking… this actually works.

And the thing’s only about 70 centimetres tall, maybe 60 across.

Honestly… it’s impressive what you can do when you want new furniture to replace stuff from the last life you had.

Now my lounge-room is filled with my own furniture (rather than leftovers from my marriage), each in my favourite colours, shapes, fabrics and style.