Woman who fell in love with pricey footstool makes her own for £85
- Hanifa Nattabi, 34, wanted to buy an expensive footstool, but decided to make her own instead
- The mum of five watched YouTube tutorials before getting started
- Hanifa provides tips for how to do the same
Anyone who’s ever had an Instagram, Pinterest or Amazon account will know the perils of falling in love with an item of designer furniture that’s way out of the budget.
But when one mum saw a pricey footstool that was extortionately expensive, she decided to make her own - and she says she saved hundreds on the professional price, with the cheapest one she could find online costing a whopping £400.
Hanifa Nattabi, 34, a stay at home mother of five kids under seven, watched YouTube videos to learn how to make the footstool herself, and the result looks as good as if she bought it in a designer store.
Hanifa, who lives in Kent, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "I saw the professional footstool and I wanted one but the price was too much for me to spend.
"I love DIY projects and making things so I looked into Pinterest for a DIY footstool and came across this one. So I researched more and also looked on YouTube to find if anyone had made a similar one.
"I used pallet, MDF board, furniture legs, three inch foam, upholstery fabric, gold buttons, an electric staple gun and a glue gun.”
After hours of hard work and research, Hanifa was delighted with how her footstool turned out.
"I love the footstool that I've made,” she added. “It took several hours of research of the best way to make and find the right material so I’m really happy with how it turned out.
"Because I spent hours researching and watching videos, the process to actually make it took two hours and the total cost was £85.
"My tip for people who want to recreate this is to do lots of research!
“Research the best way to make it, look on YouTube for tutorials as there are so many, so find one that's easiest for you.
"For example, for the tufts, many people use a needle and thread to make it, but I found an explanation for how to do it using a nail gun and glue on the buttons.”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, says: “Unless there’s a mega sale on, buying furniture from popular brands such as Made, Habitat or Swoon can be really expensive. Thankfully, there’s a whole host of free tools out there to help everyone - whether you’re DIY-savvy or not - recreate popular styles at home.
"Take a leaf out of Hanifa’s book and watch YouTube tutorials before using affordable materials like MDF to make totally unique, one-off and stylish items like this footstool yourself."
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