How to Choose a Side Table

Side tables are bought on looks and judged on height. Get the height wrong and the piece is permanently slightly annoying in a way most people never diagnose.

1. Height, against the arm beside it

The job is holding a glass within reach of a seated person. That means the top should be level with the sofa arm or slightly below it.

Too high and you lift a drink over the arm every time, which is how things get knocked. Too low and you reach down and twist, which is worse in an armchair than on a sofa.

Most sofa arms land between 550 and 650 mm. The Drum Table at 480 mm sits just under a typical arm, which is the comfortable side of the range. Side table height covers how to measure yours, and coffee table height against a sofa covers the other table in the room.

If the seat has no arm, use the seat height instead. Level with the seat or slightly above works.

2. Top size, against what lands on it

A mug, a book and a phone need about 300 mm across. Add a lamp and you need more, because a lamp base occupies the middle and pushes everything to the edge.

400 mm across is generous for a side table and still reads as a small object in a room. Beyond about 500 mm it stops being a side table and starts being a small coffee table that is in the way.

Round matters here. A 400 mm circle has less surface than a 400 mm square, but everything on it is reachable from any angle, which is the point of a table beside a chair.

3. Weight, which cuts both ways

This is the specification people ignore and then regret in one direction or the other.

Heavy is stable. A 22 kg table does not tip when a toddler pulls themselves up on it or when someone sits on the edge. In a household with small children that is a safety property rather than a nice-to-have.

Light is flexible. A 5 kg table moves to where the conversation is, goes outside in summer, and gets carried to a different room without thought.

The Drum Table at 22 kg sits firmly in the first category. It is movable by one adult and it is not going anywhere accidentally.

Shape and the walkway

If the table sits in a route people walk, round is the correct answer. A square corner at hip or shin height finds every passing leg, and in a dark room it finds them hard.

Against a wall or tight to a sofa arm, square packs better and wastes less space.

Material, against the room's actual life

Side tables take abuse disproportionate to their size: wet glasses, hot mugs, keys, remote controls dropped from a height.

Sealed cast concrete with a matte sealer handles all of that. The matte surface hides small marks rather than showing them, and the sealer resists wine and oil provided spills get wiped rather than left. Matte versus gloss explains why a matte finish ages better on anything handled daily.

What it will not take is a hot pan straight off a hob. Nothing here will. Use a trivet.

The one-off question

Every Drum Table is a separate hollow pour with the tags sprayed on before the matte sealer, and every one is numbered. Two of them are not a matching pair.

That matters if you want one at each end of a sofa. Buy both at once or accept that they will be siblings rather than twins, which is usually the better look anyway. One-off versus limited edition explains why a match cannot be ordered later.

Who this table is wrong for

• Anyone who rearranges constantly. 22 kg moves, but not casually and not up stairs on a whim.
• A very high sofa arm, above about 650 mm, where 480 mm will feel low.
• A table that needs to hold a laptop and papers. That is a desk-shaped problem and a 400 mm top will not do it.
• Delicate floors without protection, since 22 kg on a small base is a real point load. Protecting floors under heavy pieces.

Reality check

• Level with the sofa arm or just below. This is the decision people get wrong.
• 300 mm across holds a mug, a book and a phone. 400 mm is generous.
• Heavy resists tipping; light moves easily. Pick deliberately.
• Round in a walkway, square against a wall.
• Two of a one-off are siblings, not a matching pair.