End tables may not be the focal point in a room, but they are a key element for both functionality and design. When styled correctly, these small furniture pieces, placed beside couches and chairs, add storage space, lighting, and decorative appeal. Dressing them up is an art, and when interior design rules aren’t followed, rooms often take on a cluttered and disorderly appearance. To help you achieve the best look, discover nine styling mistakes to avoid when decorating an end table, including using too many items, focusing on aesthetics over functionality, and not considering the rest of the room.

Even if you pick out one of the best side tables, it won’t be noticeable under a bad decoration job. Keep to the rule of threes, consider the scale of your accents, and make other strategic choices to ensure that your living room has a sleek and trendy look. Avoiding these mistakes will boost the aesthetics of the room and make everyday living more convenient, giving your household the best of both worlds. Read on to learn what these mistakes are and why they are an affront to interior fashion, as well as some tips to decorate side tables. Every mistake is avoidable and fixable with a little adjustment, giving anyone the potential to have an expertly-styled end table in their home.

There’s no question that monotone interior trends are on their way out, and people are embracing designs full of character and personality again. Although you may be overly enthusiastic about decorating your end tables with various baubles and trinkets, remember that decor can quickly go from stylish to cluttered if you aren’t methodical in your approach. End tables don’t have as much surface area as coffee tables, console tables, display shelves, and countertops, meaning there’s less room to set out decor and space it correctly. Resist the urge to put out every decorative item you have and consider tucking some away in storage so you can rotate them in as the mood strikes you. This keeps your interior design looking sleek, fresh, and dynamic long-term.

You should follow the rule of three when decorating an end table. Pick up to three decorative elements to add to your table to ensure you don’t overcrowd it. Christina Kelley, principal designer and founder of Christina Kelley Studios, backs up this advice with a similar recommendation: “Grouping decorative elements in odd numbers (especially threes) creates a composition that feels organic yet polished” (per Better Homes & Gardens). While the go-to numbers in interior design go much higher than three, crowding an end table with so many pieces won’t look refined. However, consider that a grouping of the same item could be considered one piece — like a stack of books or small items on a tray.

Sticking to the rule of three isn’t the only way to ensure your end tables look sleek. You also need to consider the scale of the items displayed. Arranging items of incompatible heights creates a disheveled effect, as it may look like there was no thought put into the interior design. Putting a 2-foot-tall lamp beside a plant of the same height will overwhelm the table, leaving barely any room for a third object. Another faux pas move would be pairing a giant lamp with a tiny succulent, creating such disparity between sizes that there is no correlation in the design.

To put it simply, your decorative objects shouldn’t be vastly different in size or exactly alike. There should be some difference in the heights to create a harmonious look. A small, medium, and large item can work well. Krystal Reinhard, principal designer and founder of Old Soul Design Studio, also told Better Homes & Gardens , “A tall lamp, a medium-height vase, and a low tray work well together.” Choose decor equal to or less than one-third of the height or width of your end table to stay within an aesthetically-pleasing range. On another note, you should also know the general rule of thumb for choosing the right living room end table size in proportion to the rest of the room.

All decor isn’t solely for show; many pieces also serve a functional purpose. Your living room is only as relaxing as it is convenient, and your tables will benefit from lamps for light, coasters for damage control, and candles or wax warmers to fill the room with a pleasant scent. Solely decorating an end table with statuettes and vases adds color and character but doesn’t set you up for success. This can make a house look like a showroom instead of someone’s home, giving it an unwelcoming and unnatural vibe. Another reason to prioritize function alongside style is that a living room is used frequently. Once guests start leaving water rings or you realize the lighting is insufficient, problem-solving products become necessary. 

You don’t have to ruin a seamless look to add function. In fact, choosing useful items that are also stylish elevates the design. There are thousands of decorative options that are sure to fit your vision, making the most of the minimal space offered by an end table. For example, if you have candles on your end table, add Amarcado’s Ceramic Match Holders with Striker to make the setup more practical with a decorative touch. Tim&Lin’s Gold Candle Snuffer Accessory has a similar effect, also providing extra use for candle-centric decor. The matches and snuffer are stylish, making them a part of your interior style while keeping them conveniently within reach, giving them a dual purpose in a living space. 

One of the hardest things to cope with as a beginner in interior design is accepting that empty areas can be a good thing. In fact, designers insist that it really makes decor pop in a home, and they even have a term for it: negative space. You don’t have to fill every exposed piece of surface with decor; negative space is a coveted trait in expert-styled rooms. Neglecting negative space leaves rooms feeling cluttered with items on every surface. Your eyes don’t get a rest as they survey the room, taking in the chaos of all the decorative embellishments.

Think about how frustrating it would be to sit on a couch with a cold drink and a phone in hand without a place to put down your items. To avoid this, space out the decor on an end table so the vibe feels less busy and there’s room to spare for putting down miscellaneous temporary items. The less clutter you have and the better the balance of positive and negative space, the more streamlined and sleek an interior design appears. Compare the negative spaces in your home to rests in music — they’re necessary to make certain notes (the furniture) shine, creating more contrast between what’s present and what isn’t.

The smaller the objects are, the more space you might think you need to fill. That being said, having various small knick-knacks strewn about your end table is more likely to look cluttered than deliberately-placed, especially considering the other design techniques we’ve already covered. One of the best ways to display decor without making a mess of your home and end table is to keep them contained. Corralling small items on a larger base makes a design look more deliberate. It transforms the smaller pieces of decor into one larger item, making it easier to pair with other elements.

A bowl or tray that matches your color scheme or interior style will work wonders. Fill one of these items with your favorite trinkets to give them a place among your decor without interrupting the design flow. This tip works for any style as long as the dish matches the color scheme or theme, such as the elegant DN DECONATION’s Vintage Gold Decorative Tray or the rustic ELTNEGSA Round Acacia Wood Tray. Adding a base makes the design more interesting while streamlining everyday life post-decorating. When dusting or cleaning up spills, shifting a whole tray is easier than moving every tiny tchotchke one by one.

One of the most important rules to follow in design is balance. Don’t set up two side tables on either side of a couch exactly the same, but do arrange some similarities between them. Putting identical plants, books, and picture frames on each table looks unnatural and more akin to a showroom than someone’s home. Having the tables all decorated with completely different colors and themes is also jarring, but in a different way — it looks chaotic and unprofessional.

Correlate the side tables by matching the dominant and accent colors on both. These will most likely be dictated by the rest of your space. If the main color in the room is beige and the accent tone is blue, ensure this is reflected on your side tables. While the items on each table don’t need to be identical, using the same colors and materials is important so one doesn’t completely outshine the other. Mix and match decorative items, keeping the look of the items mostly the same on both sides to maintain the intended cohesive look. For example, you could decorate with brushed-finish plant pots on one table and a metallic decorative tray on the other.

Complete symmetry is too matchy-matchy, while no symmetry at all leads to an undesirable look. Two side tables on either side of a sofa should connect in color, theme, or arrangement, as symmetry in home decor is important. Without any similarities, they’ll look random and cluttered, leading to the opposite of a sleek living space. Another mistake people make is over decorating one table and leaving the other almost bare. They should have an equal balance of positive and negative space with neither one being overdone so the center sofa remains the focal point.

Focus on one or two main features that really add symmetry, such as matching lamps. It’s common to decorate living room side tables with a pair of lamps, and it’s easy to find designs sold in sets of two, such as the ornate Hamucd’s Farmhouse Rustic Table Lamps and the coastal Seealle Modern Green Table Lamps Set of 2. As stated, make sure the colors and textures of the other decorative elements also match up.

If you’ve successfully acquired artsy functional decor, you’ve only completed step one. The next step is to ensure useful items aren’t placed in impractical locations. Think practically when setting up side tables, as putting the coasters on the far side of the table away from the couch makes them frustrating to reach for when you’ve already settled into a cozy spot. Eventually, the coasters are going to get moved around. They’ll end up crowding decorative objects or even switching places with them, which may interrupt the sleekness of an aesthetic.

Don’t make any decorative decisions that will get overturned by you or other household members later on solely out of practicality. Make sure lamps are turned so their switches are reachable, or even have a little box with a remote right next to the couch to make things more convenient. Also, ensure no one’s favorite book is tucked under a vase or houseplant and that candle lighting and extinguishing accessories are accessible without high risk of mishaps. Putting items somewhere practical and aesthetically-pleasing makes it more likely they’ll stay there long after the initial decoration process. Even set up an ornamental organizer for the household and houseguests to place belongings inside while lounging such as the YAPISHI Antique Leather Remote Control Holder.

Being able to turn a lamp on and off without much of a struggle is important, but what’s even more imperative is being able to power on the lamp at all. Before choosing a lamp design, consider the placement of the tables and whether any outlets are nearby. If there aren’t any outlets and the side table is in the center of a room, long wires and surge protectors might negatively impact the design. On another note, the wire may not be long enough, and if a household doesn’t have a surge protector or extension cord on hand, there’s no way to power the light source.

While typical wired table lamps might not be an option, there are plenty of alternatives to keep a home looking sleek. Seek out traditional-style battery-powered and rechargeable lamps like Kakanuo’s Cordless Table Lamp Rechargeable. Another option is to forgo a table lamp entirely, opting instead for ceiling, wall, or floor lighting. Floor lamps often have wires that run down the inside and protrude from the bottom, minimizing how much they are displayed. Easily slide a floor lamp into place beside a couch and side table if your setup allows for it.