Storage Ottomans for Blankets, Board Games, and Tired Feet

The blankets, the board games, and the remote controls that end up draped over the arm of the sofa all fit inside a storage ottoman. With the lid down it becomes a footrest, a place for a mug, or an extra seat when friends come round. Few pieces of furniture take on three jobs and still look like furniture.

The lid is the main choice. Some rise on hinges that hold them open, which matters when children fetch their own things, and some lift off whole and turn over into a wooden tray. A long bench suits the space at the foot of a bed or under a window, and a round or square one sits in front of a sofa.

Boucle and corduroy feel soft and casual, faux leather and velvet a little dressier, and seagrass suits any room where a basket would look at home.

HOMCOM Linen Storage Ottoman Bench With Removable Tray

The tray is the clever part. It sits on top of the cushion, a black tray with cutout handles, so a mug of tea and a plate of toast have somewhere steady to go, and it lifts away when you would rather put your feet up.

Underneath, the hinged lid opens onto room for the remote controls, the magazines, and the picture books that drift around a family living room. In charcoal linen on dark tapered legs, it can stand in for a coffee table in front of a small sofa or a pair of armchairs.

Tribesigns Faux Sheepskin Storage Bench With Backrest

At the foot of a bed, the Tribesigns looks more like a small loveseat than a storage chest. A curved back and a seat wrapped in white faux sheepskin make it a place to lean back while you pull on socks, read for ten minutes, or drop the decorative pillows at night. Pull up the seat by its tab and the spare duvet, the winter throws, and the extra pillowcases go inside. Pale wood legs keep it light on its feet.

HOMCOM Button-Tufted Storage Ottoman With Flip Top

A deep blue cube of buttoned fabric, this ottoman is big enough to take a tray and serve as the coffee table in a family room. The color is the reason to look twice. It is a strong mid blue that sits well beside a gray or oatmeal sofa and picks up a blue rug or a print on the wall.

The lid locks open on a metal hinge, so it stays up while a child digs out a board game and comes down on nobody’s fingers. The cabinet below holds a good pile of both games and blankets.

Royjhnl Round Boucle Storage Ottoman With Tray Lid

Flip the lid and the Royjhnl changes jobs. One side is a padded boucle seat, the other a wooden tray with a raised rim, so on a movie night it becomes a table that keeps glasses and a bowl of popcorn off the fabric. Turn it back over when the dishes are cleared and it is a footrest again.

The round shape is easy to walk around in a room with a sectional, and the gray boucle has a nubby texture that shows best under a lamp. Inside there is space for a couple of folded throws.

HOMCOM Round Corduroy Storage Ottoman

This little round ottoman is covered in cream corduroy, ribbed from top to bottom, which gives it a soft, slightly seventies look. It is light enough to carry from room to room, a footrest by the reading chair one evening and a perch at the dressing table the next. The lid lifts off to a deep drum inside, a good home for phone chargers, knitting, or the dog’s toys. In a child’s bedroom it makes a seat that tidies itself away.

Homrest Rolled-Arm Faux Leather Storage Ottoman Bench

Homrest gave this bench rolled arms and a buttoned seat in glossy black faux leather, and the result has a bit of Hollywood glamour. It looks at home at the foot of a bed with a black iron frame, or in a dark living room where the shine catches the lamplight.

The seat lifts on hinges that lower it slowly, so it closes without a bang. The long space underneath is a natural place for spare sheets, a set of curtains waiting for spring, or the bedding that only comes out when guests stay.

HOMCOM Linen Lift-Top Storage Ottoman Bench

Plain and tailored, the HOMCOM linen bench has a flat lid edged with a single seam and short dark legs, and nothing more. That simplicity is useful. It disappears under a window or at the end of a single bed in a child’s room, and it takes a folded blanket or a tray on top without looking cluttered. Inside there is room for winter hats and gloves or a stack of jigsaw puzzles.

BIRDROCK HOME Woven Seagrass Storage Ottoman

Beside an upholstered sofa or a linen-covered bed, woven seagrass adds the texture a room full of soft fabric tends to miss. The BIRDROCK HOME ottoman looks like a lidded basket on short dark legs, and each one varies a little in color because the fibers do.

The lid stays up on its hinges while you look for something inside, and the box is a tidy home for slippers, magazines, or a spare throw. With a lamp and a book on top, it also works as a side table.

HOMCOM Button-Tufted Faux Leather Storage Bench With Arms

Square arms at each end make the HOMCOM feel like a small sofa without a back, and its cognac faux leather has the worn-in color of an old club chair. A line of buttons runs along the seat.

Put it under a window or by the back door, where the family sits to unlace muddy boots and the faux leather can be spot cleaned afterward. The lid closes on a soft-close hinge, and the long box under it takes blankets, cushions, and a box of old photographs.

Tribesigns Upholstered Ottoman Coffee Table With Shelf

A coffee table you can sit on, the Tribesigns has a cushioned white top on a frame of pale fir with chunky square legs. Its storage is open, a full shelf underneath for a basket of blankets, a stack of books, or a tray of remotes, which keeps the things you reach for every evening in sight.

Guests can perch on the top, and you can put your feet up on it with no glass to worry about. It suits a farmhouse living room or a light Scandinavian one.

Chummaven Velvet Lift-Top Storage Bench With Arms

Sit down to fasten your shoes at the foot of the bed and the Chummaven feels like a bench from a hotel dressing room. It is upholstered in cream velvet with deep buttoning and scrolled arms, on turned black legs.

Under a bay window with a cushion at one end, it becomes a window seat. The seat lifts to a shallow compartment for pillows, a folded quilt, or the clothes you meant to put away, and rubber pads under the feet protect a wood floor.

Choosing the Lid

A hinged lid that stays open by itself is the one to want where children fetch their own toys, since it will not drop while they dig. A lift-off lid is easy for an adult and often turns over into a tray. Then think about what will live inside. Blankets and pillows need depth, board games and remote controls need a flat floor, and anything you reach for every day belongs in an ottoman you can open without first clearing the cups off the top.