Home Help: 30 November
Where can we put it all?’ will be a question many families will be asking this Christmas. One answer to storage problems is the ottoman. With a padded seat and upholstered in a lovely fabric, this piece of furniture has the great advantage of doubling up as seating.
Ottomans are the perfect way of quickly hiding any untidiness, but a large, heavy square box should not stand out in a room, so it’s best to cover your ottoman in a fabric.
Stripes are smart and easy to live with, and because they don’t make a strong statement they are particularly suited to a child’s room. For the sitting room, an ottoman upholstered in fabric from the Ottoman Empire looks smart and appropriate.
Any carpenter can knock up a wooden or MDF box fitted with castors for easy manoeuvrability, but ottomans are also produced by many furniture companies.
David Seyfried supplies ottomans in interesting shapes, ranging from small clover-leafshaped ottomans to those with a ‘waist’. George Smith has ottomans that seem more like pouffes because the edges are rounded, and can also supply fabric in which to cover them.
Clock House Furniture has been very ingenious with the interiors of its ottomans: one stores a television that emerges on a bracket; another is an ottoman with a drawer. You can also turn an ottoman into a filing cabinet, or use a small one as a footstool.
The Footstool Company in St Albans has a great selection of what it calls storage boxes, with and without legs. All the above companies will make to special sizes and in their customers’ choice of fabrics.
Ottomans are the perfect way of quickly hiding any untidiness, but a large, heavy square box should not stand out in a room, so it’s best to cover your ottoman in a fabric.
Stripes are smart and easy to live with, and because they don’t make a strong statement they are particularly suited to a child’s room. For the sitting room, an ottoman upholstered in fabric from the Ottoman Empire looks smart and appropriate.
Any carpenter can knock up a wooden or MDF box fitted with castors for easy manoeuvrability, but ottomans are also produced by many furniture companies.
David Seyfried supplies ottomans in interesting shapes, ranging from small clover-leafshaped ottomans to those with a ‘waist’. George Smith has ottomans that seem more like pouffes because the edges are rounded, and can also supply fabric in which to cover them.
Clock House Furniture has been very ingenious with the interiors of its ottomans: one stores a television that emerges on a bracket; another is an ottoman with a drawer. You can also turn an ottoman into a filing cabinet, or use a small one as a footstool.
The Footstool Company in St Albans has a great selection of what it calls storage boxes, with and without legs. All the above companies will make to special sizes and in their customers’ choice of fabrics.
- (Main image left) Waisted coffee table, £600, plus fabric, David Seyfried: 020-7823 3848, www.davidseyfried.com
- (Main image right) TV ottoman, from £2,975, Clock House Furniture: 01620-842870, www.clockhouse-furniture.co.uk
- (Red) Metro ottoman, from £450, plus fabric, The Footstool Company: 0870-112 5117, www.thefootstoolcompany.co.uk
- (Yellow) Stool, from a selection, George Smith: 01423-563160, www.georgesmith.co.uk
- (Blue) Trefoil stool, £890, plus fabric, The Footstool Company: as before
Email design enquiries to Hugh St Clair at homehelp@lady.co.uk