Bedside tables are usually the last thing bought for a bedroom and the first thing regretted. Once the bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers have been settled, the budget is thin and the temptation is to grab whatever is cheapest. Yet these are the pieces you touch every single day, reaching for a glass of water in the dark or silencing an alarm before your eyes are properly open. They deserve a moment’s thought.
Buying a pair rather than a single unit doubles the outlay, which is often what prompts the question about monthly payments.
At Furniture in Fashion, PayPal Pay in 3 is available at checkout. It is a payment option provided by PayPal that divides an eligible order total into three payments handled within your PayPal account and governed by PayPal terms. We are a furniture retailer rather than a lender, so we do not arrange credit agreements and any eligibility questions are best directed to PayPal.
One practical note. Because bedside tables sit at a lower price point than most furniture, a pair may fall below the minimum order value that PayPal applies to its payment option. Including them in a larger bedroom order can be the more sensible approach if you intend to split the cost.
This is where most bedside tables fail. The surface should sit close to level with the top of the mattress, ideally within a few centimetres either way. Too low and you reach down awkwardly. Too high and the table looms over the bed and blocks light from the lamp.
Mattress heights vary enormously. A divan with a deep mattress can put the sleeping surface at sixty five centimetres or more, while a low platform bed might sit at forty. Measure from the floor to the top of your mattress before choosing, because the same table can be perfect for one bed and useless for another.
Our modern bedside tables UK sale range lists heights for every model, which makes matching to your bed straightforward.
Measure the gap between the bed frame and the wall, or between the bed and the wardrobe if the table sits in a corner. Leave a few centimetres of breathing space rather than wedging the table in tightly, since a table pressed hard against a bed frame rubs and marks both surfaces.
Depth matters more than people expect. A deep table gives a generous surface but eats into walking space beside the bed. In a narrow room, a shallow table with a taller profile holds the same essentials while leaving the route to the door clear.
If the space is genuinely tight, a wall mounted shelf or a slim floating unit removes the footprint altogether. It is not the traditional answer but it works well in small city bedrooms.
Visually light and easy to reach into, which suits minimal bedrooms. The drawback is that everything on it is visible, and bedside surfaces attract clutter faster than any other in the house.
The most useful configuration for most people. It hides the small items that accumulate, chargers, tablets, reading glasses, while keeping the profile compact.
More capacity, useful where wardrobe space is limited. A three drawer bedside cabinet can absorb what would otherwise need a second chest of drawers, which is worth considering in a small room.
Hides taller items like a stack of books or a water bottle. Less convenient than a drawer for small objects, since things push to the back and get lost.
A matching pair looks calm and deliberate, and in a small bedroom that visual quiet is valuable. It also makes the room feel finished with very little effort.
Deliberately mismatched tables can look considered if the two share something in common, a similar height, a related tone or the same style of leg. What rarely works is two tables that are almost the same but not quite, since the eye reads the near miss as a mistake rather than a choice.
Where the two sides of the bed serve different purposes, one person reading and the other charging devices, different configurations on each side is a practical rather than aesthetic decision. Our modern bedside cabinets UK range includes matching and standalone options.
Plan the lamp before buying the table. A table lamp needs a surface wide enough that the base does not overhang, and it needs to sit far enough from the pillow that light falls on the page rather than in your eyes.
Check where the socket is. A table positioned away from a socket means a cable running across the floor, which is both untidy and a trip hazard when getting up at night. If the socket is behind the bed, a table with an open back or a cable cut out helps enormously.
Some people prefer wall lights, which frees the entire table surface. If that is the plan, a smaller table becomes viable.
Bedside tables take more punishment than their size suggests. Water rings from glasses, marks from hot mugs, scratches from watches and keys dropped at the end of the day.
Sealed wood and wood effect surfaces cope well and hide minor marks in the grain. Gloss finishes look sharp and wipe clean but show every fingerprint, which is noticeable on a surface touched daily. Glass tops look elegant but show water marks clearly.
A small coaster or tray on the surface solves most of these problems and keeps the essentials corralled in one place.
Bedside tables are among the simplest flat pack items and usually take twenty minutes each. Build them in the bedroom, since a completed table is easier to position than to carry through a doorway.
Check that drawers run smoothly before loading them. A drawer that catches is usually a sign that the carcass has been tightened out of square, which is easily corrected by loosening the fixings, squaring the frame and retightening.
Place felt pads under the feet if the floor is wooden. Bedside tables get nudged frequently and unprotected feet leave arcs of scratches over time.
The purpose of a bedside table is quiet access to a few essentials. It stops working when it becomes a shelf for everything that has nowhere else to go.
Decide what earns a place on top. A lamp, a glass, one book. Everything else goes in the drawer. A weekly clear out of the drawer prevents it filling with dead batteries and old receipts.
Wipe the surface when you change the bedding. Doing the two together means it actually happens rather than being postponed indefinitely.
PayPal Pay in 3 is available at checkout as a payment option provided by PayPal on eligible orders, splitting the total into three payments under PayPal terms.
PayPal applies its own minimum order value. Including the tables in a larger bedroom order may make the option available.
Close to level with the top of your mattress, within a few centimetres. Measure from the floor to the mattress top before choosing.
No, though a matching pair looks calmer in a small room. If mismatching, keep the heights and tones related.
A drawer is more practical because bedside surfaces gather clutter quickly. Open shelves suit very minimal bedrooms.
Bedside tables are small purchases that get used more often than almost anything else in the house. Measure your mattress height first, choose a depth that leaves the walkway clear, plan the lamp and socket position, and favour a drawer over an open shelf. PayPal Pay in 3 is available at checkout as a payment option provided by PayPal, though a small order may fall below PayPal’s minimum value.
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