Rentals rarely come with storage, and buying furniture for a place you will leave in a year is a hard sell. This solves three problems in a 40 cm cube: it is a footstool, it is a seat when someone extra turns up, and it swallows 35 litres of whatever is currently living on the floor.
The split is 21 litres in the main compartment and 14 in the drawer, and the drawer is the clever part. Most storage ottomans require you to get off the thing, lift the lid and rummage. Here the things you reach for often live in the drawer and come out while your feet stay put.
The frame uses MDF panels with a fixed base plate, so it holds its shape and takes an adult sitting on it rather than sagging in the middle like a fabric cube. The top is thick foam, which is what makes it comfortable as a footrest rather than just a box you rest your heels on.
When you move, or when you simply need the floor back, it folds flat in seconds. That is the feature that matters for renters: furniture that can disappear into the boot of a car is furniture you can justify owning.
This suits first apartments, share houses, student accommodation and anyone whose lounge room is doing three jobs at once. It works equally well at the end of a bed, in a hallway, or beside a desk holding things that have no other home.
The Oxford linen covering wipes down, which matters if it is doubling as a footrest. If you are buying for a couple moving in together, two side by side make a surprisingly good coffee table that can be pulled apart when people need somewhere to sit.
â 40 x 40 x 40 cm cube with around 35 litres of storage
â Separate 14 litre drawer so you can reach things seated
â Thick foam top, comfortable as a footrest
â MDF frame takes an adult's weight as an extra seat
â Folds completely flat for moving or storing
