The Fan Ottoman
Yes, you read that correctly. A fan ottoman.
Long story long, we have a cat named Whiskey who is incredibly spoiled (he deserves it because some terrible human abandoned him in the scolding heat in a box for hours $!#%). I wanted to build him a …cat ...treadmill…thing? You know, that round rotating cat thing that people buy for their cats to run on.
As the story goes, there he was, my husband, just minding his own business when BAM! He looked into the distance and found this broken, bright orange, floor fan in someone’s garbage. He brought it home to surprise me! I know, how romantic.
Unfortunately upon bringing it home we quickly realized it was too small for a cat treadmill. So, we did what we do best and put it downstairs and forgot about it.
Habitat for Humanity
Another part of this long story is I tend to splurge at Habitat for Humanity. This one particular day, my friend Melissa and I walked into a Habitat for Humanity and they had HUNDREDS of canvas bags (all sizes) for $1-$2 each. My DIY brain had a creativity frenzy. I decided to buy at least 25 bags.
I am here to admit to you that looking back, I went a little over board on the bag situation but let me tell you what came from it.
If you read about our Office Renovation you will read that I wanted a quiet corner of the house where I can sit and relax. I had the chair, the cozy blanket, just not something to put my feet on.
“I can just make that…”
So naturally I went on Wayfair and looked up ottomans, added a few to my favorites and just kept thinking,
‘I can just make that’.
Ahh. My favorite phrase that spirals into weeks long projects.
So I slept on it & brainstormed different ideas on how I could make an ottoman. All of a sudden my brain abruptly catapulted downstairs to the broken, bright orange, floor fan. It was perfect!
I went to my local craft store and bought some foam for the top of the ottoman. I was originally going to wrap the fan with foam to make it softer but as luck would have it, I also had 10 random pool noodles collecting dust in our guest bedroom.
Confused? It will all make sense, I promise.
I started by disassembling the broken fan and cleaning it. I then traced the fan with 2 pieces of wood and attached one piece to the base of the fan/ottoman with makeshift wood brackets.
I wanted the top of the ottoman to be inlayed with the base so I used our handy dandy router to edge the top. I then stapled foam to the top and covered it with canvas from the canvas bags I found at Habitat for Humanity.
I began slicing each pool noodle vertically and measured them to fit on the side of the fan. I used liquid nails to bond each pool noodle to the metal fan.
As seen in photos below, I used a ratchet clamp to hold all the pieces together until the glue fully bonded. Once dried I shaped the noodles with a razor blade to form better to the base.
Then the tedious work ensued. I decided to rip the canvas bags into small rectangular pieces leaving a frayed edge per piece. I used a hot glue gun to attached each piece together and then glued the pieces to the pool noodles. If you plan on doing something similar, be mindful that the hot glue has a tendency to melt the pool noodles. It has to be a fast process.
Once I finished shaping the canvas pieces to the noodles I needed to edge the seams so I used the straps from the canvas bags as well as an iron-on wood trim to make it a finished piece.
The Finished Product
Normally I would prefer something a little more simple but I absolutely love this ottoman! I feel like the canvas color and frayed look gives off a feminine style that ties into the Office space nicely.
What do you think?
