German Hardware Stores: Ottoman DIY

I've wanted to do crafts with pallets for a long time, because I see them all over pinterest and a craft that saves me money on furniture is always well loved by me and my family. So of course, as I'm flipping through pinterest I find a couple that seem really, really simple to do, and I get excited. I find this post  by Kim O'donnell and I think to myself, "that looks easy, and awesome, I need to do this, suddenly I am very aware that I am lacking an ottoman  therefore I must construct one!" So in all my excitement and motivation I make a list of things that I need to make this thing, and get ready to head to my favorite store, Obi.

The things I need:

1 pallet
2 metres of foam
3 metres of fabric
staple gun
legs

Easy right?

Let me tell you something about German hardware stores. 

 Back in Canada, what do you do when you need a pallet?  You go to Rona or Walmart, or a back fucking alley and just pick one up that isn't being used. What do you do when you need spare parts or scratch fabric? Value Village. And foam squares? Walmart, a couple bucks for a square foot of foam and maybe 20 bucks for one of those giant mattress foamies. My DIY project? Probably about 50 Euros I guess, judging by normal prices I was used to. ROOKIE FOREIGNER MISTAKE. Why I ever thought that I could have the AUDACITY to assume that craft supplies and home reno supplies would be the same price in every single country is beyond me, but I assumed, and it bit me in the ass. So off I go to Obi to ask for some pallets. 20 euros a pop. Then I go wander around to the discount hardware store, they don't sell foam, or furniture feet or fabric. Back to Obi, because there are no second hand stores in Offenburg that sell anything besides clothing. I wander upstairs, spot the foam, scamper off towards it ready to finish my purchases to read the 30 EURO PER METER PRICE TAG. What. I don't even. WHAT. Little did I know that foam sheets were a precious material in this country/region/town WHATEVER. So by now I have to buy it otherwise everything else I bought for this project was a waste, and I build my damn ottoman. It looks mashed together and it cost me 100 godamn euros to make but I use it every single day because fuck german hardware stores .

Anyway, I was stupid to make such a bold assumption but at least in the end I made my ottomon, and I like it, even though its lumpy and kind of weird looking, I think it's beautiful and I will take it with me wherever I may move to within the European union, because shipping this monstrous beast would be impossible. Join me in my ottomon-building journey.

Here is my precious damn foam

Cat is just obviously helping.

So I layed the fabric, then the layer of batting, then the foam down on the ground. I layed the pallet on top of the foam, made sure it was all lined up and cut to size, then went to work.

First stapling the batting around the foam and into the pallet

I started with the sides, tipping the pallet over on one side to pull the fabric extra tight in order to finish stapling.

Wrapped the fabric around the pallet like a present

As tight as possible

DON'T staple the fabric this far in! You'll read why in a second...

Insert 2 week wait period. I couldn't for the life of me find furniture legs that were not 10 euros EACH anywhere around here, so I ordered some then had to wait.  I didn't photograph the leg-drilling process but for the love of god make sure there is no fabric where you are drilling the legs in, just bare wood. After i covered the entire pallet in fabric I realized I was an idiot and had to rip it all back off in order to make room for the legs, it was a pain in the ass, but it turned out okay in the end.

Voila, I love my ottoman. You can see some weird wrinkles in the fabric but I don't care. It's sturdy and bright and I love it. But it's really just an oversized cat bed.