Rattan Side Tables: How to Choose a Woven or Hard Top

Picture the table beside a sofa or reading chair. A lamp base goes down, then a mug, then a book, and the surface has to hold all three without shifting. Rattan side tables are usually chosen for the way that moment looks: light, woven, a little informal. But the material also makes a practical promise about what the surface can do, and that promise depends on one decision. How much of the table is woven, and is the top woven or hard?

A square rattan side table is usually made from natural rattan or cane over a frame, and the top may be fully woven or a separate hard surface. The Side Table Tiago Square Natural Rattan Incl Glass Top answers the material question directly: a square natural rattan base with an included glass top. The Side Table Saba Hexagon Natural Rattan is a hexagon rather than a square, but it shows the fully woven alternative, with natural rattan woven through the top and frame and no glass or wood layer. The Freya Cane Side Table With Matte White Lacquer Wood Frame uses cane panels in a wood frame rather than a full rattan weave. In each case the material and the top construction are linked: a woven top is the surface, while a hard top turns the weave into a frame or base.

One more limit sits outside the weave entirely. The Side Table Elephant Natural Rattan is specified for indoor use and dry locations only, so the material line matters before the style does if the table is headed for a covered porch.

Fully Woven Tops: Texture You Can See Through

The most direct expression is a table woven all the way to the top. The Side Table Saba Hexagon Natural Rattan is the archetype: a hexagonal top in natural rattan, a lower shelf for a stack of books, and a frame that stays woven from leg to edge. Its top is generous for a side table without becoming a coffee table, and the shelf gives it a second job, the one place in this group where a woven surface also stores something.

The Side Table Elephant Natural Rattan uses the same material for a different purpose. It is a broad, shallow form with a flat woven top, and its listing states indoor, dry-location use outright. Where the Saba reads as furniture, this one reads as sculpture that happens to hold a drink, which makes it the piece to choose when the corner needs a subject rather than a workhorse.

The Boracay Side Table takes the geometric route: a cane-wrapped pentagonal dodecahedron at low side-table height, with no shelf and no straight line to align with a wall. Wrapped cane over a geometric body gives it a graphic presence, and the lack of a second surface means it works best as a single-purpose piece. It is the least accommodating of the woven group if you need to set down more than one thing.

All three are surfaces for light objects and strong visual statements. If the table will carry a lamp with a heavy base and a cup of coffee every evening, a fully woven top is the harder choice. If it is mostly a place for a book, a small vase, or the room's texture, the woven surface is the point.

A Woven Base Under a Hard Top

The compromise most rooms end up wanting is a woven base with a solid top. The Side Table Tiago Square Natural Rattan Incl Glass Top puts a glass plane on a rattan frame and includes the glass top, which protects the weave while letting the pattern read through. The square footprint suits a sofa corner, and the glass top gives you a flat surface for a lamp or a drink.

The Turtle Beach End Table - Bermuda Sands takes the same idea in a round, warmer form. Its listing shows a honey rattan finish and describes an inset glass top set into the rattan frame of the round top. Round shapes tend to be easier to walk past at the end of a sofa. Glass is the choice when you want the weave visible and the surface truly flat.

Wood is the other hard top, and it changes the character of the piece. The Martinique Side Table pairs a rattan base with a quartered oak veneer top in a six-sided plan, the tallest single table in this group, a good fit beside a sofa with a high arm. The Trinity Nesting Tables use a rattan frame under three graduated quartered oak veneer tops, so one footprint yields three surfaces. Nesting is useful when guests arrive and less so when every surface needs to hold a lamp, since each pulled-out table is smaller than the last.

Cane Panels Set Into a Solid Frame

Some tables set cane into a solid frame rather than weaving the whole piece. The Cane End Table carries a wood-backed cane inlay inside a solid oak case with a round silhouette, bordered by smooth wood so the texture is contained rather than structural. The open-bottom, hollow interior is described in its listing, and in the images the round form reads as visually lighter than its footprint suggests.

The Freya Cane Side Table With Matte White Lacquer Wood Frame is the smallest piece here, with natural woven cane panels set into a white lacquer wood frame. It is the table to consider when the floor plan is tight and the room needs a little texture without another full woven surface. The cane has natural variations and may differ slightly between panels, so treat the panels as a material with variation rather than a uniform print.

Choosing Between the Woven and Hard Versions

Start with the top, because it decides what the table can hold. If a lamp, a drink, or anything that can spill will land on it, choose a hard top: glass for lightness and a view of the weave, wood for warmth and a quieter surface. If it will hold a book, a small plant, or nothing at all, a fully woven top gives the room more texture for the same footprint. The fully woven Side Table Saba Hexagon Natural Rattan and the Side Table Elephant Natural Rattan sit at that end of the decision, while the Side Table Tiago Square Natural Rattan Incl Glass Top and the Turtle Beach End Table - Bermuda Sands cover the glass-topped middle.

Then weigh footprint, height and the room the table can live in. The Freya Cane Side Table With Matte White Lacquer Wood Frame fits a tight plan, while the Saba and the Elephant each need a wider run of wall or floor. For height, aim to meet the arm of whatever sits beside the table; the Martinique Side Table is the tallest single table discussed here, which makes it the one to try against a sofa with a taller arm. And confirm the intended room before you commit: the Elephant's listing specifies indoor use and dry locations only, so a woven table by an open window is a different proposition from one on a rain-exposed terrace. For the reach question itself, see our guide to side table heights, and if one table proves too narrow a solution, the round nesting tables guide covers a two-surface alternative.

Related buying guides

• Side Table Heights: Find the Right Reach From Your Seat
• Acrylic Side Tables: Clear Frames, Panels and Pulls
• Round Nesting Tables: When Two Tables Work Better Than One