A bedside table fits your room if three measurements work: the gap between the bed and the wall is at least 5cm wider than the table, the table height is within 5cm of your mattress top, and you still have 60cm of clear floor to walk past the bed. Most bedside tables are 40cm to 50cm wide, 35cm to 45cm deep and 45cm to 60cm tall, so the question is usually whether your gap can take a standard size or needs a slim one.<\/p>\n
Measuring properly takes about ten minutes and prevents the most common furniture return of all. This guide sets out exactly what to measure, in what order, and what the numbers should be.<\/p>\n
Start with the gap. Measure from the outside edge of the bed frame, not the mattress, to the wall or to the nearest obstruction such as a radiator or a wardrobe. Bed frames often sit wider than the mattress, and that difference has caught many people out.<\/p>\n
Next, measure the mattress height. Run the tape from the floor to the top surface of the mattress, including any topper. This is the figure your table height needs to match.<\/p>\n
Finally, measure the walking route. From the side of the bed to whatever is opposite, whether that is a wall, a wardrobe or a chest. This tells you how much depth you can afford.<\/p>\n
The top of the bedside table should sit level with the top of your mattress, or up to 5cm above it. Within that range, everything on the table is within easy reach when you are lying down, and the lamp sits at a comfortable level for reading.<\/p>\n
Typical mattress heights vary widely. A low platform bed might put the mattress top at 45cm, a standard divan at around 60cm and a divan with a deep mattress and topper at 70cm or more. Because most bedside tables are made between 45cm and 60cm tall, tall beds often need a taller cabinet or a small chest used as a bedside piece instead.<\/p>\n
If your bed sits high and you cannot find a matching table, a two or three drawer chest of around 70cm tall works well and adds storage. Several designs in our modern bedside cabinets UK sale<\/a> range sit at the taller end for exactly this reason.<\/p>\n Leave around 5cm between the bed frame and the table. That small gap stops bedding dragging across the surface, makes cleaning easier and means the table does not get knocked out of position when you change the sheets.<\/p>\n So the usable table width is your measured gap minus 5cm, and minus another 2cm or 3cm if the table sits against a wall with a skirting board. A gap of 50cm comfortably takes a 40cm to 45cm table. A gap of 35cm needs a slim design of around 30cm. Below 30cm, a wall mounted shelf or a floating bedside is the better solution.<\/p>\n Proportion is worth a thought too. A very narrow table beside a super king bed looks undersized, while a wide table beside a single bed dominates. As a rough guide, the table width should be somewhere between a quarter and a third of the bed width.<\/p>\n Depth decides how much of the walking route the table takes. Most bedside tables are 35cm to 45cm deep. A table deeper than the bed frame projects into the room and becomes something you catch your hip on.<\/p>\n A useful rule: keep the table depth equal to or less than the depth of your bed frame at that point, and make sure you retain 60cm of clear walking space. In tight rooms, a 35cm deep table gives back 10cm of walkway compared with a 45cm one, which is a noticeable difference when you are moving around in the dark.<\/p>\n Measurements often fail because of something other than the wall. Check for a radiator, which needs clearance both for heat and for the valve. Check for skirting boards, which stop a table sitting flush and add 2cm to 3cm to the effective depth. Check for a plug socket you need to reach, and a window sill that might sit lower than the table top.<\/p>\n Doors matter too. If the bedroom door or a wardrobe door swings towards the bedside area, open it fully and mark where it stops. That arc is unusable floor.<\/p>\n Before ordering, mark the footprint on the floor with masking tape and stack something to roughly the right height: a cardboard box works. Live with it for a day. You will discover very quickly whether the depth interferes with your route or the height feels wrong when you reach for something.<\/p>\n This is far more reliable than judging from dimensions on a screen, because a table that fits on paper can still feel intrusive in use.<\/p>\n If the gap will not take a conventional table, there are workable alternatives. A wall mounted floating shelf fixed at mattress height takes no floor space and suits very narrow gaps. A slim tower of around 30cm wide with two or three drawers gives storage in a minimal footprint. A wall light replaces the lamp and frees the whole surface.<\/p>\n In rooms where only one side has space, place the single table on the side furthest from the door so the entrance route stays open. Slim and shallow designs appear throughout our wooden bedside cabinets UK<\/a> selection, which suits gaps that will not take a standard unit.<\/p>\n If you want a matching pair, measure both sides separately. Bedrooms are rarely symmetrical, and one side often loses space to a radiator, a chimney breast or a door swing. Where the two gaps differ by more than a few centimetres, size the tables to the smaller gap so they still look like a pair, or choose a table on the tight side and a slim shelf on the other.<\/p>\n Buying both at the same time also avoids finish variation between production batches, which can be noticeable on pale and painted surfaces.<\/p>\n Write down four numbers: the gap between bed frame and wall, the mattress top height, the clear walking width, and the height of any radiator or sill nearby. With those in hand, filtering by dimensions becomes straightforward and the guesswork disappears. You can compare full dimensions on every product across the bedroom furniture UK<\/a> collection at Furniture in Fashion<\/a>, with free delivery to most UK mainland postcodes.<\/p>\n The listed size of a bedside table tells you whether it fits the room. It does not tell you what fits inside it. A cabinet 45cm wide might have an internal drawer width closer to 36cm once the carcass and runners are accounted for, and a shallow drawer may only be 8cm deep internally.<\/p>\n If you plan to store specific items, such as a book, a tablet or a medication box, check the internal drawer dimensions rather than the external ones. The same applies to an open shelf: the clear opening height is what matters, and a hardback book needs around 25cm of clear height standing upright.<\/p>\n Cable access is worth checking at the same time. A cut out in the back panel keeps a charging cable tidy, and without one the drawer will not close properly over the lead.<\/p>\n One last set of measurements often gets forgotten. Check the doorway width, any tight turn on a staircase and the height of the loft hatch if the room is in a converted attic. Bedside tables are small enough that this is rarely an issue, but assembled units delivered in one piece can catch on a narrow landing turn.<\/p>\n If the table arrives flat packed, clear enough floor space in the room to assemble it there rather than downstairs. Assembling in a different room and then carrying it up is the most common way a newly built cabinet is knocked out of square.<\/p>\n Note the packaged dimensions too if access is genuinely tight, since the box is always larger than the finished item.<\/p>\n Most are 40cm to 50cm wide, 35cm to 45cm deep and 45cm to 60cm tall. Slim designs of around 30cm wide are available for tighter gaps.<\/p>\n Level with the top of the mattress or up to 5cm above it. Measure to the mattress surface including any topper, not to the bed frame.<\/p>\n Around 5cm. It keeps bedding from dragging across the top and makes the space easier to clean.<\/p>\n Use a small two or three drawer chest of around 70cm tall instead of a conventional bedside table, which also adds useful storage.<\/p>\n It is best avoided. The heat is blocked and the valve becomes difficult to reach. A wall mounted shelf above the radiator is usually the better answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most bedside table problems come down to three measurements taken in the wrong order, or not taken at all. This guide explains exactly what to measure and why: the gap from the bed frame to the wall, the mattress top height including any topper, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":65465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3334],"tags":[977,2682,2799,974],"class_list":["post-65464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-guide-for-your-home","tag-bedroom-layout","tag-bedside-tables","tag-measuring-guide","tag-small-bedrooms"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Width: What Your Gap Can Take<\/h3>\n
Depth: The Measurement That Affects the Whole Room<\/h3>\n
Check the Obstructions<\/h3>\n
A Quick Way to Test the Size<\/h3>\n
Options When the Space Is Too Tight<\/h3>\n
Measuring for a Pair<\/h3>\n
Before You Order<\/h3>\n
Internal Dimensions Are Not the Same as External Ones<\/h3>\n
Measuring for Delivery and Access<\/h3>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n
What is a standard bedside table size?<\/h3>\n
How high should a bedside table be?<\/h3>\n
How much gap should there be between the bed and the table?<\/h3>\n
What if my bed is very high?<\/h3>\n
Can I put a bedside table in front of a radiator?<\/h3>\n