Industrial Style Coffee Tables & Side Tables

When we bought our flat we moved from a three bedroom town house that was a lot more spacious than where we live now. My husband and I had an office each which was pure bliss and it meant that our living space was spread nicely out over the two floors. Because we had these extra two rooms we were able to keep our living room clear of all the unnecessary clutter that tends to build up. Our living room was an open plan space that was adjoined to the kitchen and we had a small foldaway dining table in corner of the room so all in all it was really quite spacious for just the two of us.

The living room in our flat probably isn’t that much smaller but because it’s not open plan and we have a proper four seater dining table crammed in there (we don’t have a separate dining room and we can’t fit it in the kitchen), it feels a lot less spacious. Add into the mix a small dumper truck load of toys and we can barely move around in there. Part of the problem is that the coffee table we have is far too big for the space. It’s great in the respect that it has two separate storage compartments in it (yes…one side is full of toys!) but it takes up the majority of the floor space in the centre of the living room.

I’ve been trying to convince the husband that we need rid, but he rather quite likes it as it matches some other pieces in the room (embarassingly our living room does look a tad like a Next catalogue). I’ve been thinking about removing it while he’s at work one day and hoping he doesn’t notice. I reckon I might be able to get away with that and the only reason I’ve not tried yet is because I’d need to rehome all the stuff stored inside it and I this requires some serious thought.

Our current furniture collection has quite an industrial feel so I’d be looking to replace our coffee table with something in the same vein only smaller. Although I’m thinking it might be a better option to get a couple of side tables, maybe nesting tables so that we can keep them tucked away until we need them. This would help us keep the floor space quite open and maximise the feeling of space (although we still wouldn’t be able to swing a cat even without a coffee table!)

So I’ve been looking at the options and I quite like the new collection of industrial style coffee tables and side tables that has just been launched by Out & Out. It features a lovely selection of designer pieces that fuse wood and metal in a very sleek combination. All these pieces would look right at home in our living room. I’m particularly taken with this lovely Marrakesh Round Coffee Table but I’ve got a feeling it would soon get filled up with cuddly toys and that would just ruin the look totally. The Brunel comes in a close second, but alas that one is too big for our micro home. So by a process of elimination I have narrowed it down to the Sebastian Nest Tables as they would take up the least floor space when nested and at £69 that is amazing value!! I could easily convince the husband to part with that! Or maybe I could just buy them and he wouldn’t notice the money gone from our account (he’s actually a lot more observant than I’m making out!!)

While I was checking out their new collection of industrial coffee tables and side tables I thought it would be worth interrogating posing a few questions to Out & Out’s founder Daniel Fairburn. You all know I like to get the low down on the people behind the brands!!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
Originally from Leeds, I spent several years living in Vietnam learning my trade in garden furniture as a product developer. Having worked with some of the world’s biggest brands, I decided to move back to the UK and start my own online furniture retail business, Out & Out.

How did Out & Out come about?
Post the big recession of 2008, bricks and mortar retail in furniture took a real hit and the design element of the industry really stagnated. Most retailers stopped trying new things and became almost afraid to invest in new concepts as there was so much uncertainty. By 2012, I’d realised that consumers were becoming more comfortable buying furniture online and that was a good chance to launch into the marketplace.

Can you tell us about your approach to design and your business philosophy?
Simplicity. Total and absolute simplicity. From design all the way through to logistics, we cut out all the middle men and try to boil everything down to its basic elements. You’ll get that feeling on our website, it’s an easy journey through to checkout and we’ve worked really hard to streamline everything. It’s the only way a small family business like us can grow and compete with some of the big players out there!

You’ve just launched a new collection of coffee and side tables. Can you tell us about the collection?
Would love to. We are a small family company and as a result try to develop categories over time, this Autumn we’ve turned to coffee and side tables and wanted a range that would not match with anything, but would fit with everything. We opted for a reclaimed wood and steel framing, there are subtle industrial tones through much of our range but feel these hero pieces are bold enough to carry their own style in any home.

Why should people consider buying from Out & Out?
We’re furniture people and work hard at it because it’s what we’ve always done. There are many furniture brands out there of course but we feel our price, style and material choices in the product are the best!

So what do you think? Could you be tempted by one of Out & Out’s industrial style coffee tables and side tables? Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!

And if you do decide you absolutely can’t live without one of these little beauties, I am happy to let you know that Design Sheppard readers can get 20% off ANYTHING on the site until the end of November (2018) by using the code DESIGN20. Happy Shopping!!