I don't have an ottoman at home. All my living room furniture reclines. (Guess who picked it out. :) Heres a hint, not me.) We put our feet up at home all the time. Sometimes using the reclining feature, sometimes we just lay out on the couch. If for some reason people are over I would expect them to use the reclining feature. I suppose if I had an ottoman I would feel the same. I would only have something to say if they put their shoes on it. I don't put my feet up at other people's homes, unless it is immediate family. And at work. I bought an ottoman to put under out shared desk for everyone to use.

They have ruined my beautiful gift by putting their shoes on it. But I guess since it's under the desk it doesn't matter what it looks like. Cretins.

I don’t have an ottoman. We have a reclining chair and 2 seats of the sofas have a place to get your feet up (only my husband is using that feature though) My girl’s might have the feet on the table occasionally when they are visiting. Of course no shoes. Not that there is ever anything but books or the remotes on there. None of us would put up the feet anywhere else though. Not even the in laws.

We don't have an ottoman either. When I do put my feet up, usually in the recliner or tucked under me), I take my shoes off. I would never put my feet up at someone else's home unless invited to or unless it's the home of someone I'm close enough to that I feel like I can treat their home as if it were my home.

We have a leather-type ottoman which feet can go up onto in the sitting area.. We (read my kids and my DH) put their feet on the LR coffee table, I do not but I also don't say anything. We are a no shoes house for the family so that's easy. I would never consider doing that at someone else's home.

No ottomans in the living room or family room where the TV is. No recliners in the house, I dislike them.

The "rule"? Keep your feet on the floor, please. Unless lounging on a couch, and if so, please take off your shoes (no need to state the obvious to family members)

We have 2 very comfy recliners in our LR, and a lovely sofa. In front of that is hubs' Grandmother's antique Eastlake marble top coffee table. Anyone is welcome to put their feet up on it should they choose to. It's been around a hundred years and will last another hundred.

Ottomans are made for putting your feet up but I would not do so when in someone elses home unless they are good friends and I am staying some time(days). You never put your feet up on a coffee table unless you are a barbarian. They are tables designed for putting books and cups on after all. Of course in your own home you are free to be a barbarian if you choose. Shoe wise, you are supposed to change to slippers in your own home to protect your floors and ottomans. If you are the sort of person who puts your feet on a table who am I to tell you if you can wear shoes? I don't actually wear shoes in the house. Socks in the winter. We would have been scalped as kids if we put our feet on the coffee table. I used to sit upside down and hang my feet over the back of the chair though. Not with company of course.

"Shoe wise, you are supposed to change to slippers in your own home"

I must have been away somewhere when this rule was communicated.

I know a few people who choose to do this (without applying it to guests), and it seems to be a common practice in homes of Asians for whatever reason, but I didn't realize the practice had been elevated to a "you are supposed to...." status. It's not all that common around here.

If it's a rule, I'd be stuck - I don't own slippers.

I am a barefoot barbarian then. Well, I dont have a coffee table to put my feet on, and might not if I did,but I am not sure hanging ones feet over the top of a chair is any more civilized than putting your feet up on your own coffee table. I rarely wear shoes,slippers or socks at home. Are bare feet more damaging to floors and ottomans than shoes or even slippers????

OK, forget it. You two need to get a sense of humor

I'm a barbarian I guess, How do you read if you can't put your feet up? Where does the cat spread out if your feet aren't up?

Most of the places I have lived were just too cold to run around in your stockings. I too used to dangle my feet over the back of the chair not because I just wanted to but because it was the right angle to relieve a back and hip pain I used to have. Running around with no shoes on in the winter means your house is probably warm. Definitely above the suggested by our gas company of 68F days and 58F nights

No recliners in my living room right now. DH had an Ekorness stressless in our former, but that was designated to the sitting room off the master here.

His chair in my office reclines. I bought it for his birthday the month after we'd moved in. It was clear to me by then he was going to be watching evening TV in MY office, something I hadn't considered. He's in it now, watching who knows what on TV behind me.

I have a long coffee table in front of the living room sofa. Socked feet on it would be fine with me. I have one oversized leather chair in that room that somehow fits anyone of any size. It has an oversized leather ottoman to match - off white. My sister in law bought that chair, and it took her a while to admit it was the wrong scale for her smaller room. When she did admit it, she gave it to me. Happy me, it's a beautiful chair. and almost a sleep seat - it encourages comfy napping.

I have a second white leather chair in that sitting room back by our bedroom, and it has a matching white ottoman. A smaller scale, more women's sized.

"You two need to get a sense of humor"

I have a great sense of humor. Because I'm a light-hearted joker type I unfortunately learned the hard way in the early days of email use at work how easy it is for a message to be misunderstood or taken wrongly.

Message readers see no facial expressions, no eye or body movements, don't instantly have in mind what the writer was thinking of when writing something, and all of these things need to be considered in writing for a reader(s) who will be reading something from a cold start. So if you didn't know before, you do now.

It wasn't obviously funny and was dense enough that at least for me, I skipped over half or more of the words.

"How do you read if you can't put your feet up?"

With my feet down.

We have an upholstered ottoman that matches a chair. Our rule (both at home and at others homes) has always been no shoes on the furniture.

I ask the same of guests. I don't mind if you put your feet up or lounge on the couch, please just take your shoes off.

I only "make myself at home" and take my shoes off/sit on my feet at peoples homes that I know it's okay.

I would never walk into a stranger's home and kick off my shoes, that seems incredibly disrespectful.

I understand in other parts of the country it is normal to remove your shoes upon entering a house, if I lived there I probably wouldn't find it odd, but no one does that here.

We don't go barefoot at home, well I don't at least. My kids are a toss up.

I usually wear flip flops or houseshoes at home and slip them off whenever I sit down and tuck my feet under me. They remain on the floor beneath me until I get up.

If I'm standing or walking, I have shoes on. If I'm sitting or lounging, shoes off.

Texas gem, my SO does that. He has houseshoes and wouldn't ever walk through the house barefoot. And same as you, they come off when he kicks his feet off. But always always always go back on when he gets up.

The first time I ever waded into a shoes off/on thread I was shocked at how adamant people were about the right or wrong of the custom regarding the choices that people made..

Anglo your dogs are beautiful!

All my dogs have been beautiful in my eyes, but Godfrey was very, very special. He had his championship in both the AKC and in the "old Club" - the CKCSC. Harder to get in the CKCSC. I would never have gotten him but he had a low sperm count and was useless as a stud dog. I had fallen in love with him 2 years earlier, so they let him come to me. He just had a face that melted my heart every time I looked at him. And we were soulmates. Losing him was very hard...

I still have Shimmer, my little tricolor girl I got when Godfrey was 9 - she was nearly 6 at that time, now 13. And last year, I added a new blenheim boy, Roman, who is now 6. He's handsome fella but just doesn't have that same melting face that Godfrey did.

Godfrey was truly a once-in-a-lifetime dog.

I own 3 ottomans....and my couch reclines, the theatre chairs recline...

I also have ottomans in front of chairs in the library, esp. as someone else mentioned, in the winter as my floors are cold. Other times they get pushed aside and used to pile magazines or books on. They can be a tripping hazard in my small rooms so over the years I've pared down. They are also subject to lots of cat hair when the cat likes to lay on them in winter.

Oh, and I have a mission style leather recliner in the living/TV room, a smaller size, I sit in it exclusively. I don't even offer it to company! It's actually the only seating in there besides an antique mission oak sofa bed that is hard as a rock to sit on. That is where the company has to sit. They don't stay long, unless we move to the library. : )

I prefer to have my feet up anytime I'm sitting for more than a few minutes. I usually use low wooden stools at home -- lighter than ottomans and the right height for my comfort. We don't have recliners; most are too heavy both physically and stylistically, and the really comfortable ones cost more than we care to spend on furniture. Maybe we'll splurge someday.

In other people's houses, I like to be comfortable but follow their lead: if they keep their feet on the floor, so do I. If they use their coffee table, ottoman, stool, whatever, so do I. It's a mixed bag.

In public spaces (library, waiting rooms, airports, etc) I keep my feet on the floor, and my shoes on.

(Anglo, nice dog pictures. I can see the breed's appeal!)

We are also a 3-ottoman family (does that make an Ottoman empire?)

The green leather on the top right goes with DH’s Danish recliner (we won a gift certificate in a raffle to the store, we never could have afforded it otherwise!) It has a slope that makes it very comfortable.

The brown leather in front goes with our leather sofa and upholstered chairs. It’s very comfortable, too, as the cat demonstrates. (She has honored you with your presence, she was very intrigued with the idea of 3 ottomans together! And she much prefers using the 3rd one for scratching grrr...)

The needlepoint one was my grandmother’s. My dad needed an ottoman in rehab, so I brought that one over from his house. Btw, he told me it is not an ottoman but a footstool. It was already a bit shabby, worn at the piping and some of the velvet rubbed down. Dad said that his mother had done the needlepoint. But one day the entire innards just fell out the bottom! I told you it was shabby! I gathered up the springs and stuffing and took it to “our guy” to fix; he found velvet in almost the exact same color as the original and made it good as new! In the meantime, I lent Dad the brown leather one, and he found it suited his needs better.

He is gone two weeks now, and the trio of ottomans is in my living room for good.

As for me, I tend to sit kind of sideways in my chair with my legs over the arm. Yeah, been doing that for 60 years. Used to appall my dad when I was a kid. Never in front of company! Never in someone else‘s house!

You can see we are bit eclectic in our decor. Danish modern meets antique meets traditional meets MCM (the coffee table, which might be Danish, I should check, my parents bought it in 1956.)

That's a very sweet looking little doggie, anglo.

Our dogs (never more than one at a time but only short intervals between them) have never been allowed on furniture. For a variety of reasons but size being an obvious one.

My Golden was not allowed on the furniture, But Cavaliers are lap dogs and if one doesn’t like dogs on furniture, they’re not the breed to have!

Here are Roman and Shimmer having their “before dinner” nap. That‘s opposed to the late afternoon or after dinner naps! Roman was next to me in my chair for the late afternoon portion - got too warm and left to join his sister. Cavaliers are groupies - they love the company of another dog. I’ve had as many as 5 at one time. I think 2 is the perfect number, and I like an “unmatched” pair - one tricolor and one Blenheim. Sweetest dogs on earth...

In my next life, I’m coming back as a Cavalier!

living room has recliners and the sun room has ottomans. You can put your feet up shoes or no shoes. In my house you can wear your shoes or not. How ever you feel comfortable. Floors can be cleaned. If shoes can damage a floor, I don't want any parts of that kind of floor.

I have no ottomans either.

Sue

I have a rattan ottoman next to my sectional. I prefer the ottoman over the reclining pullouts. The dog jumps up on it when I comb her or hides under it when it storms.

Our Westie was allowed up on one chair in the library, where he could watch out a front window. "His" chair had a matching ottoman. Well, the ottoman still exists...in our garage. The dog threw up on it, and we've never gotten it reupholstered. (No dogs at present, so maybe?)

No ottomans anymore. We each have incredible recliners with remotes. Wonderful for getting in the perfect position to watch tv. Having my legs up is very helpful for me. The recliner also lays out flat and goes into an inverted trendelenburg position which is awesome for people with back pain. Since we had no furniture at all that survived the flood we decided to go ahead and spend the money on the 2 chairs we would be spending the majority of our time in. The store I bought my power chair at carries these specialized recliners which also has a lift feature. When we sat down in these and tried out the features we decided that we would get 2. Very happy with them.

My 85 yr old cousin bought a lift chair/recliner with a remote. She intended to sleep in it at night as she can’t lift her legs up onto the bed. She also has severe macular degeneration so seeing the buttons on the remote is hard for her.

First night she had it, she needed to get up to go to the bathroom during the night and pushed what she thougt was the upright button. It was the lift button! She kept pushing buttons but couldn’t get it to stop and it dumped her right on her face onto the floor. She crawled over to her bedside table and was able to pull the phone off onto the floor, and called 911 and then her daughter who lives upstairs to come let them in.

The chair was returned for a full refund the next day.

Bad planning on the part of the person who bought it for her. Mine has light up buttons and very well marked! Even with my glasses off, I am legally blind with out them, it's easy to use it.

Unfortunate that happened.