This is the Cozy Living Room Hack You’ll Wish You Thought Of Sooner

Raise your hand if you’re always 100 percent comfortable while binge-watching TV? Yeah, me neither. Maybe the sofa is a little too stiff or short, so you’re constantly wiggling around to get in the right position. Or maybe you’ve propped yourself up just right, stretching your feet out onto the coffee table—but now its edge is digging into your ankles. Whatever the case, this new coffee table trend might help save the day, er, night. Designers are now creating coffee table-ottoman hybrids, and they’re kind of genius.

Maybe you’re familiar with the term “sofa cuff?” These pieces have a similar concept. Essentially, a sturdy wooden table is wrapped snugly over a fabric-covered ottoman or bench. So you have a cushy place to prop up your feet, a hard surface for setting down drinks or a laptop, and potentially, a secret compartment for stashing stuff. It’s like a living room triple threat. Check it out:

Need a visual? Take a look at this example from Lexington Home (above). The chic wood table slides the length of the ottoman, so you can easily move it to suit your needs or use it as a divider if you’re binge-watching, say, with a roommate. The key here though is that it’s one seamless, space saving piece. Thing is most of the off-the-shelf options, including this one, are oddly expensive. If you don’t have $1,500 to throw down (who does?), here are some other ways to bring this same smart idea home.

First, you can go the budget route. The piece above includes a small tray that cuffs the top of the ottoman instead of wrapping all the way around it, giving you the same dual functionality—plus, a handy storage compartment—for much less at under $250.

Or if you already use a tufted ottoman as your coffee table and want an exact fit, you could DIY a table or even have a custom table made on Etsy to match your ottoman’s exact measurements, as seen above. That way, you’re not wasting an inch of space, and you can still slide the table away from the ottoman when you want some padding for your legs.

Then there’s the total hack method. What’s to stop you from taking the storage bench that maybe sits at the end of your bed or in your entry, moving it to your living room, and finding an inexpensive, Parsons style side table to slip right over it? Seeing as though I’m spending lots of time on my couch these days and probably will continue to for a while longer, this seems like a solid (but also cushy) option to me right now. Why not let my living room furniture work a little harder for me?