Home Decor

For sheer versatility in a room, occasional tables take the cake. This handy piece of furniture can be placed just about anywhere and has a multitude of different functions.

Occasional tables are so named because they are tables with no officially designated use. Unlike dining tables or coffee tables, occasional tables are equally at home in any room within a home, and they work well on their own or as part of an ensemble of several furniture items.

You’ll find a huge variety of uses for occasional tables, and their portability means that you can move them to a new space in a matter of seconds. In the living room, you’ll often find an occasional tables used next to a sofa or chair as a handy perch for a lamp, a book, or a drink. An occasional table in the hallway serves as the ideal resting place for keys, the mail, or a beautiful vase with fresh flowers. Can you imagine cooking in your kitchen, and turning to the fresh herb plant on your occasional table to snip some leaves to add to a dish you are preparing? In the bedroom, occasional tables can make elegant nightstands, and even the bathroom can benefit from one of these tables to hold neatly folded towels or a small piece of art.

The best news about occasional tables is that they are available in so many different materials and styles, so they fit perfectly within any type of decorating scheme. You can also decide if you prefer the table to be more of a background for a striking lamp or a special artistic piece, or if you would like the occasional table itself to stand out in style and elegance. While many of these tables feature the natural warmth of wood, you can also find a great number of versatile designs in metal, glass, marble, or some combination of these materials.

There aren’t many decorating rules to worry about when it comes to placing and using occasional tables. Of course, if you’re intending to place something heavy on an occasional table — like a lamp with a substantial base, for example — you’ll need to choose an occasional table that is sturdy and large enough to support the object. The old rules of matching furniture no longer apply, so it’s perfectly fine that your occasional tables are not the same style and material as your dining or coffee tables.