Individual-sized lift-top upholstered ottomans

September 27, 2020 12:55 PM

I'm looking for an ottoman that has an upholstered top that moves out of the way to reveal a flat tray that comes up out of it - exactly like this one (out of stock) BUT less wide. I've tried emailing the company that manufactures the one I linked and they don't make anything smaller. If no one already makes this, is there somewhere I could get one custom made? I don't know where to look!

These are the specs I'm looking for:

- upholstered top for comfy foot/leg rest when down
- lift-top tray/table thingy inside that can come up to tv tray height
- the tray thing needs to be inside the foot rest part so when you're using it as a tray, you don't have your food (or whatever) on the same surface your feet were just on (this one is a non-starter for this reason; also it doesn't come up high enough)
- sized for one person (I don't have strict dimensions but there will be two of these things in front of a loveseat. It would be nice to be able to roll them out of the space if we need to mop or do yoga or whatever there and the opening it would need to go through is about 20 inches wide)
- wheels/casters on the feet
- storage inside would be nice but isn't absolutely necessary as long as it has the tray thing

I'm not as concerned with price at this point and more just want to see whether it's even possible to obtain such an item! A ready-to-buy one would be ideal but I'm also willing to consider having this custom made - just not sure where to go for this type of project. For shipping/shopping reference, I'm in the USA.

posted by hansbrough to Shopping (3 answers total)

It just so happens that something that might work as a DIY option came up in my travels today. You could convert an existing storage ottoman and figure out some way to flip the cushion to the tray side.
posted by rhizome at 10:09 PM on September 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

A couple of years ago, Harrington Galleries made a custom couch and ottoman for me and my tiny, tiny San Francisco house. The construction is great on both, and it wasn't as expensive as you might expect (around $3,000 for the two, hypoallergenic stuffing, removable upholstery on all cushiony parts--after a decade with a hand-me-down Costco sofa I was *ready*). I bring this up because Harrington is basically a middleman for a furniture fabrication team in Southern California. They can, quite literally, build you anything. It might take some time if they have to order hardware or materials they don't keep in stock, but maybe this kind of lifting tray is something they already have on hand? It's worth calling or emailing Harrington to ask--I'd just copy and paste exactly what you wrote here.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 9:04 AM on September 28, 2020

I love a good furniture challenge and I deployed my expert google-fu in service of this question. The lift-top furniture I saw, mostly coffee tables, are wide like your ottoman. I have to imagine that in designing this to be a workable piece of furniture, the base has to be heavy enough to withstand the extended shelf as well as whatever might reasonably be put on top of it (food, beverages, laptop.) For this reason alone I think you're unlikely to find commercially-available lift-top furniture with a narrower base. If you can get someone to build it for you I'd guess that the base will need to be weighted to keep it stable.

Wondering if you could get to where you want to be with a small ottoman and a C table? Even if your space is pretty small, C tables are easy to tuck away.
posted by Sublimity at 10:28 AM on September 28, 2020 [1 favorite]