The most versatile small-space furniture
Maybe you need a tiny table/seat/step stool/plant stand.
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I recently called on ten other creative types who are living in small spaces and asked, “What’s your favorite piece of furniture for a small space?” When five out of 10 people responded with variations on a multi-purpose side table or stool, I realized they deserved their own newsletter. Tiny tables and basic stools might just be the ultimate small-space multitaskers.
So often we’re encouraged to buy furniture with built-in storage to make the maximum use of floor space in a small home, but that’s not always the best choice. If you fill a side table’s shelves up with books or stuff its drawers with supplies, it can’t easily be moved–and in a small space, flexibility is often as important as storage. Storage furniture can also easily become a black hole of unused items.
The beauty of a simple table or stool is that you can pick it up, move it, and use it in another way. A tiny table can double as a seat, a plant stand, or a step to reach something high. In an old apartment of mine, I used a pair of Alvar Aalto-esque stools as bedside tables, but I put them into service as extra dining seats whenever I hosted a crowd (which meant I didn’t have folding chairs crowding up my closet).
Versatility and the potential for multiple uses are values that you should apply to all kinds of furnishings. Our current living room arm chair, for example, is slender and high-seated enough that we can use it as an extra dining chair. I chose my couch specifically because it had back cushions that come off, allowing it to work as a bed for overnight guests. The cube shelves in my son’s room can easily transition from holding toys to storing books.
When choosing a tiny table, I recommend looking for one that’s about 18-inches tall, which is standard chair seat height. If you can, sit on it and determine if it’s solid enough to support you. When shopping for stools, make sure the seat can double as a table top for maximum versatility; try to avoid woven and upholstered ones. And while cheap stools abound, especially secondhand, I wouldn’t hesitate to invest in a higher-quality piece. Because side tables and stools are so small and versatile, they’ll likely work in whatever home you may move to next–meaning you could have them for a very long time.
Here are a few of my design friends’ favorites small tables and stools:
When I asked Leonora Epstein, the writer behind the clever design newsletter Schmatta for her small-space furniture pick, she shared an item that’s on her wish list. “Because our kitchen is quite narrow, we are always bumping into our old IKEA step stool,” Leonora explains. “We’ve been wanting to replace it for ages. When I saw this Sundays Step on Me Stool in the company’s Pasadena showroom, I realized it would solve our problem: The tucked-in bottom step will avoid collisions.”
Builder and writer Jeff Waldman, who is the author of the newsletter Elevated Spaces, offered a suggestion that you could DIY or buy: A Max Bill stool. “We currently have one that I made living its best life as a plant stand,” Jeff says. “I’ve given several to friends whose kids use them as kitchen step-stools, or they are used as bed and sofa side-tables, or extra seating. I know a couple folks use them rotated 90 degrees with the dowel up and down, which was part of Max Bill’s original intention that it could function at two different heights.” Jeff frequently shares projects and building plans on his website and documented building a Max Bill-inspired stool for Dwell. (And pssst, if you’re not the type to cut a box joint for fun, you can buy readymade versions of the stool.)
Stylist and writer Merie Subryan, whom I’ve featured in the newsletter in the past, takes a different approach to tiny tables, preferring “an architecturally sculptural side table.” Merie says, “We’re often told to default to stacking stools, but I couldn’t disagree more. In tight quarters, a geometric side table adds visual weight without heaviness.” Merie owns this geometric side table from the Zara x Collagerie collaboration. The multi-color version is sold out, but solid black and cream versions are still available; Merie also loves this similarly sculptural Zara side table. (These all remind me of the iconic Eames Turned Stools.) Since Merie was featured on Living Small last year, she’s launched her own design newsletter, Section Plane.
Amanda Hesser, the former CEO of Food52 who now writes the newsletter Homeward, pointed to small nesting tables as her favorite small-space furniture. “I learned about nesting tables from my husband’s family, who had an army of them,” she says. “They’re so helpful for when you have people over and need an extra perch for drinks, or if you have a futon and need bedside tables for when it’s used as a bed.” Amanda’s pick is positively chic (with a price to match). “This vintage set is a dream, because you can arrange the different levels as a cluster, distribute the parts among rooms, and reassemble the puzzle when you need to tuck it away,” she says. Cassina makes a contemporary reissue of these tables, but they’re still an investment.
Bonus pick: My extremely chic friend Kelsey Keith, who writes the Substack Ground Condition and by day, is the global creative director of MillerKnoll, was also thinking about step stools, but her pick is not quite furniture.
“The most-loved and well-used small-space-friendly items in our house is a folding step stool we bought for our toddler daughter,” Kelsey told me. She says, “Three year olds will stop at nothing to get their way, especially when that entails getting their own socks from their drawers or washing their hands BY THEMSELVES. This is where a portable stool comes in very handy.” The Rhino stool folds up flat and comes in great colors like kelly green and cherry red. My family owns one too and I can confirm they’re very handy.
Read on for my 10 favorite tiny tables and simple stools. FYI, with all the photos, this email is likely too long to read in your inbox, so you’ll need to click through to the web version.