DIY: Water Barrel Storage Cover

We are currently living in a small apartment and I've had to get very creative with hiding things. Our 72 hour kits for emergency preparedness are under the couch, no problem. Then there was this...

...an eyesore that was far too large to fit underneath anything or behind anything. But we need water storage! So I got a little creative and made a quick slip cover...

...now I have a lovely corner accent table in my kitchen!

I found the fabric on clearance at JoAnn's - I went with something neutral & heavy enough to cover the blue. For a 55 gallon water barrel you'll need 2 3/4 yds (56" wide) cut.

I cut a simple circle for the top, 25" in diameter. Then a 75" long piece to go around the barrel with a 1/2" seam to make a cylinder. First I did an inch seam and then I had to unpick the whole thing...I hate unpicking. So don't make that mistake!

Once the cylinder was done and fit nicely (check before moving on). I just pinned on the circle for the top and did a quick stitch around.

In the summertime we get horribly large hobo spiders & I did not want to lift the cover off to find a colony under there...so I added a hem at the bottom with 1 yard of elastic in a casing. Now it is snug on the bottom, very tight, no spiders will be crawling up underneath to surprise me!

Are you living in a small space and have a trick for hiding the unsightly essentials? Please share!