Lucca Lamp Table: what 55x55x50cm gives you in a room

Some listings tell you a great deal. This one tells you three numbers. The Lucca Lamp Table is described in the catalogue as 55x55x50cm and nothing else, with a single photograph alongside it. Rather than dress that up, here is what the figures are genuinely worth, and what you should ask before you order.

Broader and lower than its neighbours

Read the figures the way the rest of this shelf reads, as the top first and the height last, and you get a top measuring 55cm by 55cm standing 50cm from the floor. That is a different shape of table from the 50 x 50 x 55cm pieces beside it: five centimetres wider in both directions and five lower. The figures are printed without labels, so confirm which is which with the shop if you are working to a tight gap.

The practical effect of being lower is that the top lands below the arm on most sofas rather than level with it. Beside a low, deep modern sofa that is the better match, and it is the friendlier height for setting a drink down from a seated position. Beside a traditional high-armed suite, a 50cm top can disappear under the arm line and stop being useful for a lamp.

The extra width is worth having. At 55cm in both directions there is room for a lamp and a book without the two touching, and a tray will sit on it properly. Against that, you need a genuine 55cm of clear floor, which is more than people assume when they are eyeing up a gap between a sofa and a radiator. Measure the gap at skirting level as well as at the top, because a skirting board eats into the width where the table has to sit back.

What the listing does not say

Plainly: the catalogue entry records no material, no finish, no colour, no top shape, no base type, no weight and no assembly note. There are no specification rows against it either, and only one photograph, so even a careful look at the page leaves questions. Any description of what it is made of would be invention on our part, so we are not going to offer one.

The four questions to ask

• What the top is, and how it should be cleaned.
• What the base is and how it stands, since that decides how it behaves on a rug.
• Whether it arrives assembled or needs a base fitting.
• Which figure is the height, confirmed, if your gap is tight.

The matching pieces

The Torino Lamp Table is listed with exactly the same envelope, 55 x 55 x 50cm, so the two are interchangeable on space alone and the choice between them is a matter of looks. For a second, lower surface in the same family the Lucca Nest of 2 Tables is listed at 54x37x50cm, which is the same height and a much narrower footprint. Everything on the shelf sits in Side & Lamp Tables, with the bigger centre pieces in Coffee Tables.

Ordering

This is a piece the shop supplies, so ask for current timings along with the questions above. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. The single photograph on the Lucca Lamp Table page is all the catalogue shows of it, and the shop can answer the rest.