There’s more than meets the eye with a well made, beautiful footstool. Sometimes it can seem that there are many complicated terms in upholstery that make it difficult to explain to us what you want.

This is your guide to understanding the various parts of your footstool. It will make choosing your options even easier.

Let’s start with the basic anatomy of your footstool:

Now that we have the basics in place, it’s time to get creative!

There are a range of options you can choose to customise your footstool. These will all be dependent on your personal taste and may even be dictated by the fabric you choose.

Here are some of the most popular options:

Trims and border options

There are many ways to add a unique look to your bespoke footstool including a wide range of studded trims and piping options.

Piping can also be added to your footstool 3 ins up from the bottom of the padded part to form a smart border.  You can even supply your own trim as long as it has a flanged edge.

What trims are available for my bespoke footstool?

Types of lid/top for your new footstool

Plain Top Footstool.

The fabric is wrapped around the top and sides of the footstool base with no additional piping, nails, border or additional details.

This is a modern, clean finish.

The plain top footstool is particularly suited to a patterned or striped fabric, where the addition of a border would make it look fussy or alter the direction of the pattern at the corner lines.

Our team are happy advise on the style of top/lid to suit your fabric on 01443 831 981.

Here are some examples of Plain Top Footstools from our workshop:

Buttoned top without border.

Similar to the plain top footstool with buttoning on top. The excess fabric from the buttoned effect is expertly pleated and folded under the base.

Here are some workshop snaps of how a deep buttoned top footstool looks without a border:

And, if you want to add a border;

Adding a border.

Here, we can see that the deep buttoning ends at the top of the base and is followed by a flat border. The two are separated by a line of piping for a smart definition and a crisp edge.

These fabulous shots of footstools with borders have gone through our workshop recently: