Trend Alert: Tiny Drink Tables

eIt’s time to cozy up to a tiny side table. As long as they can hold a cocktail glass (or a bud vase, book or an objet d'art) designers are using small tables of acrylic, marble, wood, metal and concrete alongside chairs, sofas, beds and bathtubs.

“Function is key when designing a space and there’s something special about an interesting table being at your fingertips right where you need it,” says Joann Kandrac with Kandrac & Kole Interior Design. “The options are exciting — acrylic, iron, colored lacquer, brass, reclaimed and petrified wood — to name a few.”

The more sculptural, the better.

She and her design partner, Kelly Kole, selected a pair of round acrylic cocktail tables with classic lines from Interlude Home as a glamorous accent in a living room in Tennessee.

Kandrac says tiny tables, also known as martini tables, can add plenty of personality without taking up too much space in a room. In some instances, Kandrac says she uses them in place of a chunky end table.

“We love that they come in many different shapes,” she says. “They are so light and can easily be picked up and moved around.”

Clear acrylic and glass options include round tables, such as the ones that BAMO used in a classical and contemporary family room with eclectic art and antiques in a Hong Kong home.

A handsome acrylic drink table is used next to club chairs in a bar area by Robert Brown Interior Design for the 2017 Home for the Holidays Designer Showhouse in Atlanta.

In the home’s upstairs lounge, white marble and an iron base with a gold finish combine for the Discus side table selected by designer Jimmy Stanton. He says he mixed stone, concrete, wood, and textures to give the room a peaceful and soft feel.

Tiny tables serve many purposes, even in a dining room, where they can be used to hold after-dinner drinks, books or even smartphones. In the showhome’s dining room, Kay Douglass Interiors placed vintage copper pedestal tables in front of Hermes-inspired orange benches.

A romantic English country-inspired sitting area features a golden cocktail table in a room designed by Susan Ferrier and featured in the 2017 book, “Poetry of Place: The New Architecture and Interiors of McAlpine.”

Another room from the book features floor-to-ceiling windows as dramatic architectural details by Bobby McAlpine, with a variety of elegant seating and carved wood side tables, selected by designer Betsy Brown.

You also can rethink the table, too.

Designer Yvonne McFadden wanted a small table next to an African daybed on a covered porch for the 2017 Home for the Holidays.

The “table” actually is a large pillar hurricane made of lightweight concrete from Serena & Lily, with the glass portion removed. McFadden turned it from an accessory into an original idea for a table.