Side Tables

Coffee tables, corner tables and nesting sets:

are the three shapes most living rooms use. The coffee table is the low one in front of the sofa. A corner table, also called an end table, stands beside the sofa arm and holds a lamp. A nesting set is two or three tables that slide under one another. The nightstand is the bedroom version and is chosen to suit the bed rather than the sofa, so it sits naturally with beds. For a table to eat at, look in dining tables, and for one to work at, desks.

Matching a coffee table or corner table to the sofa:

starts with the sofa, not the room. Measure the seat: a coffee table works best level with the cushion or a little below it, and a corner table with its top close to the height of the arm. A nightstand should sit about level with the top of the mattress, measured with the mattress on. Then ask what it is built to carry. Many MDF coffee tables are made for light loads only, enough for books and a tray but not for a fish tank or someone perching on the edge.

Veranda tables in teak, aluminium and synthetic rattan:

are a different purchase from the ones indoors. A covered veranda takes sideways rain and afternoon sun even under a roof, and an indoor MDF table carried out there swells at the base within one wet season. Teak left unoiled turns silver-grey, which is weathering rather than damage and sands back. Under a weave, the frame matters more than the weave: aluminium does not rust, painted steel does, starting at the welds. A magnet settles which one you are looking at, because it will not stick to aluminium.

Side tables priced in colones and in dollars:

sit next to each other in Costa Rica. A flat-pack MDF corner table costs ₡10,000 to ₡35,000 new, while some design shops put dollar prices on imported pieces, around $200 for a single side table. The used price follows that split. The flat-pack table brings back little, because a new one costs only a little more and the used one has already been assembled once. A metal, stone or solid-wood piece bought in dollars is where second-hand saves real money, since its replacement is still a dollar price.

Rings, legs and fake marble on a used side table:

start with the top, in light from the side. A pale, cloudy ring from a cold glass sits in the finish and often polishes out; a dark ring means water reached the wood, and it stays. Turn it over: on cheap tables the legs are screwed straight into particleboard, and once the thread tears out the leg wobbles however hard you tighten it. A marble look is the usual disguise. A printed finish shows its pattern stopping at the edge band, while real stone carries its veins over the edge, feels cold and is heavy for its size. With a nesting set, check every piece is there. On synthetic rattan, press the weave where it bends round the frame, because strands dried out by the sun snap there first.

A coffee table or corner table ready for its next living room:

sells on its height and its material, so give both. Name the material plainly, whether MDF, melamine, solid wood, metal, stone or a stone print, and say whether it lived indoors or out on the veranda. Photograph the top in daylight from a low angle so any rings show. If it came as a set or a pair, keep the pieces together; a single corner table from a pair is hard to place. Most side tables fit in the back of a car or a taxi, but a loose glass top has to travel wrapped and on its own, so say whether it lifts off the base and a buyer coming from Tibás or Jacó will know to bring a blanket.