Storage ottoman plans, sized to your space

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw and a straight edge (or have the store cut the sheets)
• Miter saw, or circular saw in two passes, for 4×4 posts
• Countersink bit
• Jigsaw
• Hacksaw and a metal file (piano hinge)
• Staple gun with 3/8″ staples (electric is easier on the hand)
• Electric carving knife or a long serrated bread knife (for foam)
• Sharp fabric scissors
• Flat screwdriver and needle-nose pliers (to pull bad staples)
• Marker and a long straightedge
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part. Cut sheets with the good face down when using a circular saw: the blade splinters the top face.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Build the box around the legs

   Lay a front or back panel (B) good face down. Set two legs (D) on it, one in each corner: each leg is 11/16″ in from the panel end (where the end panel will fit) and its top is flush with the panel's top edge. The legs stick out 3″ past the bottom edge: those are the feet.

   Glue each leg where it touches the panel, then drive 4 screws, 1 5/8″, through the panel into each leg in a square pattern 1″ in from the leg's edges. Drill pilot holes and countersink so the heads sit flush.

   Do the same with the other long panel and the other two legs. You now have two halves.

   Stand the halves up facing each other and fit the end panels (C) between the long panels, against the legs. Glue and screw each end panel to its two legs the same way, and drive 3 more screws through each long panel into the end panel's edge (pilot holes are a must here: plywood edges split).

   • Tip Clamp the leg to the panel before screwing so it can't slide.
   • Tip Mark the screw positions with a combination square so the rows look neat if the box is painted.
   • Tip If it rocks, slip a shim under the short leg, mark the others and sand them down a little.

   ✓ Measure the box corner to corner across the top both ways; the diagonals match within 1/8″. The box is 36″ × 17″ and sits flat with no rocking.

4. 4Fit the bottom

   Glue a bottom cleat (F on the long sides, G on the ends) flat inside each panel between the legs, its bottom flush with the bottom edge of the panel. Drive 1 5/8″ screws through the cleat into the panel every 6″ (pilot holes first so the thin cleat doesn't split).

   Mark a 3 1/2″ square at each corner of the bottom (E) and cut the notches with a jigsaw: start each cut from the edge and stop exactly at the corner of your mark.

   Drop the bottom in so it rests on the cleats, notches around the legs. Drive 1 1/4″ screws down through it into the cleats, 3 per side.

   • Tip Cut the notches a hair big; a tight notch on one leg can push the bottom out of square.

   ✓ The bottom lies flat on all four cleats with no gaps at the notches bigger than 1/8″.

5. 5Finish the box before the lid

   Iron edge banding onto the top edges of all four panels and the exposed vertical edges of the front and back panels: household iron on cotton, no steam, press slowly, then rub with a wood block as it cools. Trim with a sharp utility knife.

   Sand the box to 180 grit and paint or stain it now. It is much easier before there is fabric on the lid to protect.

   ✓ The finish is dry to the touch and not tacky before you go on.

6. 6Glue the foam to the lid

   Round over the top edges of the lid (A) with 120-grit sandpaper so they can't cut through the fabric over time.

   Lay the lid on the 2″ foam and trace around it with a marker. Draw the line 1/4″ outside the board all round: foam cut slightly big fills the fabric and keeps the edges plump.

   Cut the foam with an electric carving knife (or a long bread knife), holding the blade straight up and down and using long, smooth strokes. Don't press down; let the blade do the work.

   Outdoors or with a window open, spray a light coat of spray adhesive on the top of the lid and on the bottom of the foam. Wait about a minute until it feels tacky, then set the foam on, edges lined up, and press it down with flat hands from the middle out.

   • Tip Cut foam on a scrap board or cardboard so the knife doesn't mark your table.
   • Tip If the cut edge is wavy, trim it again with the knife held flat against a straightedge.

   ✓ The foam overhangs the board by about 1/4″ on every side and does not peel up at the corners.

7. 7Wrap the batting

   Cut a piece of batting 45″ × 25 1/2″ for each lid.

   Lay the batting flat and set the lid on it foam-side down, centred.

   Pull the batting up over the front edge onto the underside of the board and put one staple in the middle, 1″ in from the edge. Do the same at the back, then each side. Then add staples every 3″ working from the middle toward the corners.

   At each corner, cut away the extra batting in a V so the corner is not lumpy. Batting should just meet itself, not pile up.

   • Tip Batting tears if you pull hard. Pull just enough to take out the slack.

   ✓ Run your hand over the top and edges: smooth, no lumps or folds, and the foam edges look rounded.

8. 8Staple the fabric

   Iron the fabric if it has creases. Cut a piece 47″ × 27 1/2″ for each lid, with any pattern or stripe running from front to back and centred.

   Lay the fabric face down on a clean table and set the padded lid on it foam-side down, centred. Check the pattern is straight before stapling.

   Staple in this order so the fabric pulls evenly: one staple in the middle of the front edge on the underside, 3/4″ in from the board edge. Pull the fabric firm (snug enough to smooth wrinkles, not so tight it dents the foam) and put one staple in the middle of the back. Then one in the middle of each side.

   Now work from those middle staples out toward the corners, alternating sides: a staple every 1 1/2″, pulling each bit of fabric the same amount. Stop 2″ short of each corner.

   Flip it over often to look. A wrinkle on top means that part is pulled less than its neighbours: pry the staples there out with a flat screwdriver, pull a little more and re-staple.

   • Tip Press the staple gun nose hard against the board before squeezing. A staple that stands up can be tapped flat with a hammer or pulled with pliers.
   • Tip Stripes and plaids show every crooked pull; a plain or small-pattern fabric is easier for a first seat.

   ✓ From the top, the fabric is smooth, the pattern is straight front to back, and the sides look even.

   STOP. Keep your free hand behind the stapler nose, never in front of it. Unplug an electric staple gun before clearing a jam.

9. 9Fold the corners and add the dust cover

   At one corner, pull the point of the fabric straight across the corner onto the underside and staple it once. This anchors the corner.

   Take the fabric on one side of the corner, fold it under itself so the fold line runs exactly down the corner edge, and pull it onto the underside. Staple it. Do the same with the other side. You now have a neat pleat on each side of the corner, like the end of a wrapped present.

   Trim off the bulky fabric left on the underside at the corner with scissors, leaving 1/2″ past the staples.

   Do the other corners the same way so all four match. Then cut the dust-cover cloth 1/2″ smaller than the lid all round, fold its edges under 1/2″, and staple it over the underside every 2″ to hide the raw edges.

   • Tip Practise one corner on a scrap of fabric and a block of wood first: it takes most people two tries.
   • Tip Keep the pleats on the sides of the seat, not the front, so they are out of sight.

   ✓ All four corners look alike, with no puckers on top. The underside has no loose fabric hanging down.

10. 10Hang the lid on the piano hinge

    Cut the piano hinge to 32″ with a hacksaw, between two screw holes, and file the cut end smooth.

    Open the hinge flat. Screw one leaf to the top edge of the back panel, centred, with the knuckle (the round barrel) just behind the back face. Drill 1/16″ pilot holes in the middle of each hole, and drive every screw: a piano hinge is strong because all of them share the load.

    Close the lid on the box with 1/2″ overhang at the front and each end. Reach in from the front and mark the hinge holes on the underside of the lid, open it, drill and screw the other leaf on.

    • Tip Put just two screws in each leaf first and test the fit before driving the rest.

    ✓ The lid opens and closes without rubbing, and it overhangs evenly at both ends.

11. 11Fit the lid support

    Fit the soft-close lid support (two arms, one at each end) to the inside of the end panels and the underside of the lid, using the paper template and the screws in its box. Check its weight rating covers this lid: about 12 lb.

    Open the lid fully, let go, and watch: it must stay open at any height and lower slowly by itself when pushed down, never drop.

    ✓ From fully open, the lid takes 2 seconds or more to close on its own, and it stays put when you let go halfway.

    STOP. Do not use the bench until the lid support is fitted and working. A falling lid can crush fingers. Not a toy box: don't let children play in it.

12. 12Test it

    Before anyone uses the bench, sit down slowly, then rock gently side to side and front to back. Nothing should creak, shift or rack. If a joint moves, add glue and a screw there before going further.

    Sit near one end, then the middle. Open and close the lid a few more times.

    ✓ Nothing creaks and the lid stays aligned when closed.

13. 13Finish

    Ease every sharp edge and corner with 120-grit sandpaper so nobody gets a splinter.

    Sand all over with 180 grit, always along the grain (the direction the wood fibres run). Scratches across the grain show through stain.

    Wipe off the dust with a barely damp rag and let it dry.

    Paint, stain or a clear coat (water-based polyurethane is the easiest). Apply thin coats with the grain, let each dry fully, and sand lightly with 220 grit between coats.

    Let it dry for the time on the can before using it.

    • Tip Try your finish on a scrap of the same wood first: stain looks different on every board.