Recent find: Storage hassock

We took a couple days last weekend and visited Asheville, NC, and Roanoke, VA, and one of our stops was a place we hadn't visited before: Black Dog Salvage. Apparently a DIY Network show called Salvage Dawgs is filmed there.  I wouldn't know since we don't get cable.

Anyway, I found a couple things at Black Dog, including this storage hassock. 

 It's covered in its original textured vinyl, and for being about 40 years old, it's still in nice shape.

I did remove the iron base and repainted it with some Rustoleum primer and black semi gloss.  I like that it has some storage space.

I'm not sure what those black elastic straps once held -- any ideas?

In other news, I'm still working on preparing to build our backyard patio, a multi-year project I'm embarrassed to not yet have completed. And I've started to clean up, rewire, sharpen, and repaint to cool vintage electric mower I picked up last year. I should have that done soon and ready for a blog update.