empires and foot stools

what do the above two share in common? well, the ottoman, that's what. aiyah, as you can tell i'm damn bored. reading about EU expansion (i didn't put it off til tomorrow morning! hoorah!) and some historical stuff and the ottoman empire was mentioned. since the ottoman is like the coolest piece of furniture to have around nowadays according to the fab five and HGTV, i think i shall commit to researching why the ottoman is named ofter an empire if it truly was.