Okay, here's a challenge for you good folks. I have a clear idea in my head of the piece of furniture that I want. The problem is that it doesn't seem to exist.

What I want:

• storage/ottoman/table (a coffee table that doubles as an ottoman - or the other way around - with storage space inside)
• $200 or less
• can be used for sitting on
• a decent size - minimum of 40"L x 18"D x 18"H
• Most of the units have cushions that flip over into trays, but then the cushions simply rest atop the unit, prone to sliding off. No good. Has to have the cushion and tray nestle in the top.

So far I've found one decent candidate that appears to be nearly perfect. Unfortunately I see nothing about whether it's possible to sit on it. It's also at the minimum size I'm looking for.

I'd also consider combining two or more units into one large one. For example, three of these would be fantastic, but apparently they're specifically not to be sat upon

So that's the challenge. I've been at this all day, plus off and on for the past several months. I just have this feeling that there's a perfect unit out there that I just can't find. For example, when my wife and I moved into our cozy apartment, we couldn't find a space-saving dining table no matter where we looked. Finally my mother found this in an in-flight magazine. It ended up being my favorite piece of furniture in the house, going from a side table to seating 8 in about 5 minutes, with extremely inexpensive yet attractive folding chairs. That's the kind of find I'm hoping for here, but I'm at my wit's end! So now I mine the great empeg board for help, or at least for the universe to work its magic and do the usual "look all day, post it to the empeg board, find it two minutes later" thing

Some even have wheels!

Oooh- this one would look better in the den, but it's a bit more than $200.

World Market has surprisingly nice furniture. My dining room set is from there and it's very nice. One of the reviews says that 2 adults or 3 children can sit on it.

How about this? It's just about the only one I found that was bigger than the one from World Market. Well, this one has more horizontal surface area, but I don't think that's what you want.

Hahaha! My wife and I laughed pretty hard at that first suggestion. Very well done. I can't argue at all that it meets my requirements as stated

That first one you linked to looks pretty good, Bitt. Perhaps a little dark for us, but beggars can't be choosers. I noticed that comment on the World Market site. I just wish I had some confirmation on that. It's one thing to say "can sit" and another to say "have sat"

Do you have a World Market near you? If not, I'm going to be pretty close to one tomorrow. I could take a side trip and see if they have one in the store.

I think I found the actual manufacturer of the larger one I linked to: Ashley Furniture. They show it in both black and brown.

Thanks, Bitt. That would be really cool if you could check it out. Although, if your World Market is like the ones around me, apparently they underestimated the popularity of the product. There are 5 World Markets in my area, and they're all sold out.

I opened this thread thinking your requirements would be more elaborate. There are plenty of ottomans of that size around these parts (Toronto area) and even at the price point you're looking for. Most of the ones with reversible top cushions I know of have the top divided into 3 sections and only the outside two have the flippable cushion. They can't slide off the ottoman when flipped either. If you didn't want reversible cushions, there are a ton of places to get that size ottoman with storage.

My wife and I are looking for something similar, but it has to be bigger. Either a square or a wider rectangle. This is much more difficult to find because they either don't have storage, are very shallow or very expensive (even still missing the other two points).

I'm actually thinking of making my own - which won't be too difficult. I'd then have it custom upholstered, the part I don't have experience with myself.

Assuming they have it, is there anything you'd like me to take a picture of while I'm there?

See my second link above.

Thanks Bitt. I've been to Ashley here and I may have seen the models you linked. Still looking for something wider than 25" and with a top that's hinged, not the flippable pillows Matt's looking for. Along with the hinges it'd have hydraulic lifts to prevent the top from falling closed.

Wrong one. I meant this one. It's 36" x 36". It's not hinged, though.

Thanks, Bitt, but no I don't need photos. I'd just like your impression, especially your confidence level when sitting on it

I just don't want to buy one of these things if you can't sit on it, because if it's in ottoman mode, I'm sure people are going to sit on it, if only for a moment.

The square one is nice, but yeah it's a little too small to put in front of a full-length couch. If it were 3x2 instead of 2x2, I'd probably jump on it.

Would you like Bitt to test that too?

Peter

I found one at the World Market in Cary. There is absolutely no concern with sitting on it. I probably could have jumped on it. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world, though; the padding's probably only just over an inch thick.

I can't say the same for the tray side, though. While the sides of the tray were about 3/4" thick solid wood, the floor of the tray was made of fairly thin plywood, and when I pushed down on it, it deflected noticeably. It seems that there are ribs running underneath it along the short dimension: one at either end and two more spaced evenly. There would be no concern under normal use, and someone leaning heavily or even sitting on it would probably be fine. (Not that anyone would sit on it with the raised sides.) But I'm pretty sure that if I stood on the weakest points, that I would punch through.

Again, with the padded side up, there's no concern at all. And there's no way that normal usage would cause any problems on the tray side. But it's worth noting.

Thanks so much for taking a look at that, Bitt. I don't have any concerns about the concerns you mentioned. Nobody will be sitting on it for a long time, I just worried that if someone did (say, to tie their shoes or something), they'd fall through or break it or both. It's great to hear that it's so sturdy.

And as for the other side, there's definitely no way that anyone will be sitting on it. It'll just be used for plates or glasses and such.

I've gone ahead and purchased it, though not through World Market. I found someone selling it for cheaper on Amazon, so hopefully that will work out. Even after shipping it was cheaper than the base price on World Market, even when you subtracted the 10% coupon we had for them.

Thanks again for looking into that. I really appreciate the help and it gave me some peace of mind Hopefully this thing will work out!