How to Choose a Coffee Table and Side Table for Your Sofa

A coffee table is a small piece, but it sits in the middle of the room, so everyone who comes in sees it and everyone who walks past bumps into it. Three simple rules put it in the right place. Length first. Make the coffee table about two-thirds the length of the sofa. A shorter table looks lost in front of it, and a longer one blocks the way. If the sofa is 220 cm long, a table 90 to 140 cm long or across is right. Then height and distance. A coffee table should be level with the sofa's seat or a little lower, usually 35 to 45 cm. Leave 40 to 45 cm between it and the sofa: enough for your legs to pass, and close enough to reach your cup without getting up. A side table belongs at the end of the sofa or beside an armchair, at about the height of the armrest. It is a good answer when the room is too narrow for a coffee table: two side tables at either end of the sofa do the same job and leave the middle free. And two tables at different heights nest into less space and make the room look lighter.