Ottoman Love

Living in a narrow terrace, it's no surprise we're rather limited for space. So it's important to be discerning with the space we do have. Utilisation is the key and I seem to have only just realised this recently. Last week I finally farewelled a decidedly bulky, ugly, inefficient and somewhat hazardous book shelf. One that lived with us in four different places, for over ten years. And with Scott as it's saviour, it hung on for dear life, until now. For the past two years, the lack of storage space for the toys has bothered me. Strewn from one end of the house to the other, they literally started taking control of our living quarters. Very uncomfortable and extremely frustrating.

I studied and searched for the best possible solution for two areas in our living room. Then when I stumbled across storage ottomans, I knew they would be perfect. And they are. Not only do they house a huge proportion of the toys, but also double as casual seating (of which we were also lacking in our living area). Angus thinks they are THE best things since sliced bread and has requested a number of times to sleep on the larger one at night. Being the same length as him, I'm sure he believes it was custom made just to suit his lanky little body. Whilst they weren't custom made for Angus, I did make the selection of colour and texture with the boys in mind. Dark, dark and dark. I would have loved to go with some of the gorgeous shades and patterns available, but in the end they needed to be practical, with 2 boys diving and jumping up on them day in, day out. I went with a lovely deep, rich brown colour, made from a hardy fabric. The cushions also deisgned for plenty of use (and just so happened to be on sale). Generally the cushions end up on the floor as part of a major work of forts and cubby houses anyway. 

So the ugly old book shelf and a rickety old coffee table that used to reside under the stairs, flanked in toys, made way for the ottomans. Ending up on the street, ready for the bi-annual council clean-up. Though to my pleasant surprise, not long after I left them there, a young couple pulled up and loaded them both into the back of their ute. One woman's trash and all that.