Lace Lounge #3

I finished the ottoman last night. It looks pretty good and seems to function very nicely.  The problem with testing it is that it is 14" tall at the highest point which is designed to blend perfectly with the chair which is 14" at the height of the seat. Every other chair I have is 15" tall and flat like a dinner chair, whereas this lounge chair will be more like a small chez where you sit lower and put your feet up. Since I don't have another chair that sits low like this chair will it is difficult to accurately test the comfort.

Here are photos of the final test ottoman:

Lessons thus far:

1) Loews plywood sucks for drilling holes through. It splinters slightly where the bit enters and splinters dramatically upon exit. 

2) jigsaw blades wonder a LOT when cutting!  Do not cut surfaces with the jigsaw that are critical to be flat, like the the feet. 

3) pulling rope taut is absolutely essential and is pretty simple with a combination of 2 vice grips. Pinching the vertical planks together with a wood clamp only slightly enhances how taut the ropes will turn out (but it does help).  It's also hard to get a consistent amount of tension amongs all the strands of rope.
4) Terminating the rope may be as simple as tying a knot, cutting the excess rope and melting the end and squishing it so it won't come undone.  This creates a black burn mark, so I used a little white paint to touch up the knots.  It's not beautiful, but it'll do the trick for now.  Here's my first attempt at terminating the ropes:

5) The support ribs that maintain the separation between the vertical pieces should be perpendicular to the direction the ropes are pulling. What I mean is actually a pretty basic structural concept, but it is one that I was testing to see how far I could push it. Here is a diagram of the forces applied to the structure while weight is added the rope surface:

When the rope pulls the top together, the ribs keep the vertical pieces from collapsing. In order to maximize the resistance to the torque created by the rope, the widest part of the ribs should be Perpendicular to the rope, which would create the most leverage to avoid collapsing.  I decided to test the structural integrity of the wood and chose to not have the ribs be exactly vertical. The reason I did this is because I wanted them to also serve as a comfortable foot rest. This actually works very well when your feet are on it, but there is a little bit of creaking happening when you actually sit on the Ottoman. 

Now, this ottoman is not made to be sat on, although there's no reason that it shouldn't be strong enough to do so. At any rate, I might need to adjust the rib configuration for the chair itself because, of course, it will need to be able to handle the weight of a person and not just their feet.

The main issue with testing this is that I don't have a chair that has the right height.  This lounge chair's seat will be 14" at the highest point and slop to 12" where the seat connects with the back.  That encourages the legs to be raised onto the ottoman.  Most chairs (like a dining room chair) are about 15" tall and usually pretty flat.  So when sitting in a standard chair you can't get a good feeling for the ergonomics of the ottoman.  Here is a simple drawing of the general motion of the lace lounge chair with the accompanying ottoman.  

Conclusion:
This design could work!  From the small amount of playing around I've done, it seems like the rope will be very a comfortable surface for sitting or resting feet.  It is pretty cost effective and simple to construct.  The lacing takes some time, but creates a pretty nice surface.  I think the materials don't look like high-end materials.  They make me think of a football or a baseball, which isn't bad, but at the end of the day the goal is to sell the set in the designer market as a boutique patio lounge ... we'll see if I can finesse the design to elicit high dollar values.  First lets try this on the chair!

What do you think??