Side tables

Choosing a side table for your sofa or armchair

Few pieces of furniture work as quietly or as constantly as a side table. Lamp stand, drinks surface, book rest: it earns its place by making the seat beside it easier to live with. Our design director, Fred Horlock, suggests a side table at each end of a sofa, or one beside a chair, and keeping to one style rather than a mix of materials, which can make a room look chaotic.

Start with the seat rather than the table, because the top should sit level with or just below the arm. Then choose a material to suit the room. Our oak side tables bring the grain and warmth of solid timber, in shapes from round to square and rectangular. The Keswick sets glass shelves in a steel frame with a brushed brass finish, its angular lines a nod to Art Deco. The Coniston pairs black-bronze steel with two tiered glass shelves, so it reads lighter beside a heavy sofa.
The Aldwych has a soft white eggshell finish, a drawer and a tray-like top that keeps things from sliding off. Settle the height first, then the material, and the table will feel as though it was always meant to be there.

Matching a side table to the seat it serves

• As a lamp table: choose a top wide enough for the lamp base with room left for a cup, at a height close to the arm. The Henley Round, Frome and Aldwych are among our taller designs, standing 60cm to 65cm high.
• Beside a sofa: an undershelf, as on the Edinburgh and the Henley Rectangular, takes books and magazines and keeps the top clear for a lamp.
• Beside an armchair: a smaller footprint leaves the way past the chair open. The Northwich oak stool doubles as an informal side table, lower than the rest at 42cm, which suits a lower seat.
• In pairs: the same design at either end of a sofa gives the arrangement balance, and puts two lamps at matching heights.
• Alongside a coffee table: the Edinburgh, Henley, Frome and Coniston also come as coffee tables, so the tables at the ends of the sofa and the one at its centre can share a design.

Lamp tables and the light in a room

A lamp table does more for a sitting room than its size suggests. ‘Core lighting should be at eye level when you are seated, so table lamps are the best options,’ says Fred, who also suggests placing lamps nearer the window so the room moves naturally from a daylight to an evening mood. A side table beside the sofa puts a table lamp exactly where that light is needed. For proportion, our lighting guidance recommends a lamp around two-thirds the height of the surface it stands on, with a shade wider than the widest point of its base. A pair of lamps either side of a sofa brings symmetry, while a single lamp beside an armchair makes a reading corner. A side table at the right height, with the right lamp on it, is often what turns a sofa into the place everyone sits in the evening.