About 15 years ago (back when I thought spiky maroon hair was a good look for me), I worked at a local wine and cheese shop. This led to my love of both of these things, as well as one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Wine crates!

The store received shipments of wine in these awesome wooden crates, which they then sold in the store for $7 apiece. I bought four of them to stack as bookshelves in my first apartment, and they’ve been with me ever since.

Here they are in my most recent apartment.

My old digs!

When I bought my new house, I gained a lot of extra square footage, which meant I needed a few items of furniture. My new place already had bookshelves built in, so I really didn’t need my wine crates anymore.

Or did I?

I really wanted a big nice new ottoman to kick my feet up on after a long day. I found a few I loved, but I didn’t really care for their price tags.

That’ll be $349.

You see, what I wanted was very specific. I wanted a large green ottoman with a wooden base that I could sit a large tray on.

That’s when I decided to make my own.

I have exactly zero carpentry skills. Luckily, I didn’t need any for this project. 🙂

First, I went to Goodwill and found a set of heavy 1970’s celadon green curtains that were on sale for $1.

The heavier the fabric, the better!

I cut off the pleated section, as well as the hems. This left me with four large perfect squares.

They’re rubber-backed too, which means they’re super-sturdy!

A friend recently gave me two huge garbage bags filled with his family’s old curtains he found in his attic. He knows I sew, and thought I might be able to get some use out of the fabric.

Unfortunately, the curtains were pretty damaged and yellowed with age.

They’ve seen better days.

Fortunately, this didn’t matter. I washed them and then tore them to shreds. This ended up taking a couple of hours, but was a great stress reliever. 😉

I stitched the curtains into two giant pillows, and stuffed each one with the curtain shreds. This made them nice and heavy, which was perfect for what I had in mind.

I laid out my wine crates like so:

They have to be the same size, otherwise this won’t work.

Each side is 33″, which is just a couple of inches smaller than my giant pillows.

I stacked the two pillows on top of the crates.

Hi Douglas!

Then, I added a big thrifted tray, one of my favorite art books, and my remote controls. Now I’m ready to Netflix binge-watch in total relaxation.

I tried to get Douglas out of the shot, but he was having none of it.

I think it really works with my eclectic décor!

Not bad for $29. 🙂

Even if I decide I no longer like the ottoman, I’ll still have the crates to use for other projects, and those giant pillows make great floor cushions for entertaining.

He’s such a diva. 🙂

What have you DIYed lately?