Upholstered Ottoman Footstool – Oak Base, Linen, Wool or Shearling

Six upholsteries on an oak base: Saxon Sand and Saxon Mink, Fallingbrook Cafe and Fallingbrook Natural, Monte Tobacco, and Taupe Shearling. The shearling is the outlier of the group, since everything else here is a flat or low-pile cloth and it is the only one with a standing nap.

An exposed oak base beneath an upholstered top separates the two materials' jobs completely. Wood takes the load and all the floor contact; the cloth takes body contact and nothing else. That is why the base can be named as a species and a finish rather than hidden away as structure, and why the upholstery can be a fine cloth like Saxon or Fallingbrook without having to survive being dragged across a floor.

Monte Tobacco is the darkest of the six and the easiest to live with; Fallingbrook Natural the palest. All six run warm-toned, which points to a room with wood in it rather than one built around stone.

• Upholstery: Saxon Sand, Saxon Mink, Taupe Shearling, Monte Tobacco, Fallingbrook Cafe, Fallingbrook Natural
• Base: Oak