Cardboard Storage Cube Ottoman

An easy, but kind of time consuming, super cheap storage ottoman and seat.  I saw a plan for a cardboard box cube in a vintage DIY furniture book that supposedly can hold up to 400 pounds.  I used this plan to make this storage cube.

Materials needed:

cardboard boxes
cutting implements
glue
packing or duct tape

optional:
batting
fabric
paint

The main cube is 16 inches square.  The cross pieces are 20 inches by 16 inches high.  The cross pieces each have a 1/4 inch notch cut out so they can fit together.  This is what makes the box strong and able to hold some weight.  The top flaps of the box have been cut off and the bottom flaps glued and taped.

I now use all the leftover cardboard to create a lid for the cube.  The scraps are taped, cut to size, glued together, and weighted with freezer paper and big books.  The lid is cut to approximately 16 1/2 inch square with about 5 layers of cardboard.  The lip of the lid was made with 2 inch by 16 1/2 inch cardboard strips which were hot glued to the edge with a couple of small strips to reinforce the corners.

Hot glue some quilt batting to the lid and trim.  Then hot glue on fabric to the inside edge of the lid.  Fold the corners of the fabric like gift wrap and hot glue to the inside lip of lid.  Hot glue a square inside the lid to make a clean finished look.

The box can certainly be left as is but I chose to spray paint the bottom a matte antique bronze to further camouflage the cardboard.  We now have some toy storage, foot stool, gaming seat, and laptop table!!!  I purchased my boxes but this could easily (and preferably) be done with recycled boxes.  Since I already had batting, fabric, glue and tape in my stash my total project cost was approximately $6 for boxes and paint!!  As you can see from the photos I am no tiny Mama and I can comfortably sit on this box!