It's not very often that I am impressed by a manufacturer or their customer service, but I am today. It's also not very often that my wife and I purchase indoor furniture online. That's a scary undertaking for any consumer, even at this price, which is why I wanted to share my experience with you. PACKAGING: The ottoman arrived in perfect condition and was extremely well packed. The feet and tray were stored inside the ottoman, carefully wrapped in foam and secured with ties so they wouldn't roll around inside. There wasn't a scratch on any of the wood parts. ASSEMBLY: The ONLY assembly was screwing the feet in with the tool provided. QUALITY: It's a very substantial, heavy piece. It's not like those storage ottomans that fold up, the ones that are fabric covered cardboard? This is real furniture. You can sit on it but the padding is too firm to be comfortable for long, in my opinion. That would be my only complaint, but we hadn't planned on using it as seating. There is probably about 1 1/2" foam pad under the fabric and it cushions our feet well enough, but could be a little thicker and softer. That might interfere with the stability needed to be used as a table though. FABRIC: The fabric is standard upholstery fabric. It's soft, not scratchy, but has a nubby texture. Not having trouble sweeping dog hair off it. A little stitching shows through here and there, there's nothing fancy like rolled edges, a tufted top or anything like that, but in my opinion, I feel that the quality is perfectly aligned with the price. COLORS: Monitors vary, so I'll try to explain this. The fabric is not a reddish brown like milk chocolate, it's more like a dark chocolate brown. Not a greenish, ash brown either, just really neutral and quite dark, which I am really happy with. It even looks nice with grays and blacks. It looks better in person, in my opinion. The wooden tray is heavy and solid, completely smoothed out - no grain shows. It's a dark, reddish burgundy brown. FUNCTION: The tray slides from end to end and is also removable. You can store it in the ottoman when you want to put your feet up. The tray spans half the width of the ottoman. We were looking into a lift-top coffee table so we could eat at the couch (it's just my wife and I) or she could craft, polish her nails, etc. If we got a coffee table we would have had to put cushions on it to put our feet up and watch a movie. This all-in-one is the best invention EVER. The lift movement is very smooth. You give start it off and it does the rest for you, the suspension mechanism is great and isn't difficult to use at all. No sound to it, no creaking or squeaking. When the top is up, it's very sturdy. We can both eat at it without it ever starting to collapse down. There is a lot of space to store things inside. Board games, books, magazines, you name it. CUSTOMER SERVICE: We didn't have any issues but we did have a question. We received a response within 24 hours each time we wrote back. I have to say, wife and I are in our 50's and have never dealt with a more friendly, gracious company. They quickly helped us and surprised us with their generosity. We have no doubt this company will take care of any issues should they arise, but I doubt we'll have any. I hope I haven't left out anything important. We are absolutely delighted with the ottoman and the price we paid. There was no discount, we paid full price and weren't given anything in return for a review. I've written a lot because I know it's hard to pull the trigger on something like this online, but I think anyone looking in this price range would be pleased to own it. All in all, it meets our needs and exceeded our expectations. A really unique, affordable, useful piece of furniture and a great shopping experience.
