This is what I use in my living room:
They are 18" tall and I get them at Walmart for around $30, cat not included.

On my end of the great room sofa, I have an antique grape harvesting basket. The top is larger than you think - plenty of room for phone, drink and one cat. ;)

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daisy and allison, those are great!

Thanks.

This is an interesting ottoman from Crate and Barrel. It can be used as a table. We use a bench with a tightly woven top as both a coffee table or an ottoman in our garden room.

Here is a link that might be useful: possibility

Tall narrow ceramic flowerpots w/ glass, wood, decorative trays or mirrors used as the surface. Hold these in place w/ tacky putty. I love Chinese garden stools, too.

Garden stands w/ a couple/few large "coffee table" books stacked on top to raise it up the height you want.

Old butter churn bases, other stoneware crocks or unbrella stands w/ the same tops uses as in the first suggestion.

Small stacked vintage overnight suitcases.

Saw on Dec Cents the other night where they took a very nice woven wastebasket & cut a round of wood to fit in the opening. They attached 4 lumber yard legs to the wood piece. The bottom of the basket was smooth & made a very nice surface. I'm keeping my eyes open for a nice basket to do this for myself!

I have a short birdbath that has been painted w/ a decorative finish that I have topped w/ a glass round next to my favorite chair.

You could cut down the legs of a "lamp table" to the correct height if doing this type of surgery to an antique doesn't bother you. Not ALL antiques are priceless & sometimes it is worth converting something you like to something you can also use.

A friend has a childs rush seat chair that she uses as a side table next to her sofa. It's a family piece that would just be up in her attic otherwise. The seat is just large enough for her current novel & a mug of tea.

FWIW, I've bought A&C end tables (18-20" tall) on eBay for a pittance. I'm talking $25-35 each, usually $5-10 for the table and $20ish for the shipping! I know it feels weird to spend more for shipping than it does for the item but I just consider the WHOLE cost and think of that as the price. None of them are priceless antiques, in fact they're worth about what I paid for them, they're just things I thought were cute and useful. I set a budget of never spending more than $50 for an end table. Here's a very early picture of my previous house where you can just see my favorite end-table find next to the big chair - I think I paid a big $35 for that one. (The table in front is the coffee table I bought on eBay and had shipped from Texas. I literally got sniffly when I threw that packaging into the recycling, it was so ingeniously and professionally built for that exact table! I paid $200 all told, half for shipping, and still a good bargain - it is an antique English bench from the late 1800s that was wrapped in sheet copper to hide a cracked-and-repaired top. Absolutely love it.)

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Old piano stools - the spinny kind - make awesome end tables and you can adjust their height as needed. Look for the non-upholstered type and have a piece of tempered glass cut to make a nice flat surface on top.

Nightstands can make downright fantastic end tables, and the convenience of having drawers right there next to the seating cannot be beat - store coasters, remote controls, tissues, pens, notepads, and all the other schmutz that seems to collect around one's favorite chair. :-) My mom is passing on to me my grandmother's antique commode (the cabinet, not the toilet, although the cabinet once held the chamberpot!) and it is also just the right height for an end table, so that is what it will become once it gets here.

Do you have a Mill Stores unfinished furniture store up there? We have them down here (SE NH) and they have some very inexpensive things.

Consider what cutting-down will do to the table's proportion before "going into surgery" (great phrasing, syllabus) - sometimes it works marvelously, but on occasion you end up with something going horribly wrong (again, kind of like surgery!).

I cringe a bit at the desecration of books, but if you like to decorate with books you might like the idea I saw on one deco show a few years ago. Hit yard sales and collect up old (but not valuable) large books to make a pile of a little less than the right size. Stack them up in an interesting way, then drill through each with a sharp drill bit, making a hole through which you can thread a long bolt, fitting a broad washer and a nut at the bottom. If they're very big books, like old atlases, drill two holes equidistant from the center point. For the top book, have someone hold the front cover open before you drill through it. Use a razor blade to cut a bit of the pages away around the hole in the top book to allow the head of the bolt to lie flush with the pages. Stack the books on the bolt, working from the top of the table to the bottom, adding a few dabs of hot glue or gorilla glue or something like that between each book. (This is to keep them from spinning on the bolt.) Put a couple of washers and the nut on the bolt. Allow the glue to dry. Then drill a hole at each of the four corners to allow you to mount small ball or bun feet (widely available) that you have prefinished with some paint or stain. Flip the table over - be careful, it will be heavy. Glue down the cover of the top book and have a piece of glass cut to cover it. Tah daaaah, interesting end table, and very cheap.

If you do the tall flowerpot/milk can with glass on top thing, make sure you fill the container with rocks, sand, or clay-type kitty litter so it won't overbalance. Learned that the wrong way and was finding "crumbs" of tempered glass for weeks!

You don't happen to live in New England, do you? I came across this on the Boston CL (see link). :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Doughboy Dough Box

Gee, Bungalow, I wish you lived near me. I have several small tables I've collected over the years and would be happy to give you one!

What jumps to mind for me is what I think is referred to as a "magazine table". These are small side tables with a v shaped shelf below, designed to hold small magazines. They were pretty popular with shabby chic crowd a few years ago, so I would pick them up when I found them at tag sales and thrift shops. I think the dimensions are what you're looking for. You can still find them if you look around. If not, try searching Ebay.

The other thought I have are for old sewing tables or tobacco stands. These are basically very small cabinets with legs that can double as side tables.

Could you let us know what your budget is? I poked around on Ebay a bit today, but didn't know how much you wanted to spend.

I was going to suggest tobacco stands/smoking stands. On ebay, I've found them by searching for pipe/tobacco/smoke/smoking stands or tables. On average, these could be 12x12"by about 2 ft high.

Don't give up on plant stands - I've seen them from 12 - 36 inches high.

a crock with a round, painted wood top. :)
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Old suitcases work great. Good storage also.

Thank you everyone for the fabulous ideas! I am on the lookout now for any and all of them!

wonbyherwits, that is a great idea. Anything that does double-duty in a small room is an asset! I will check out the local import store to see if they have something similar.

syllabus, thanks for all the great ideas. After reading your post, I did a quick search on ebay yesterday and saw some incredible art pottery umbrella stands. Too expensive but I like the idea, maybe I can find a less expensive alternative. And I love gardening, so finding something that's intended for the garden is a great idea too.

johnmari, what keywords did you use on the ebay search to find that table by the chair? Love the coffee table too. And I hear you on the sand for anything tippy...the local lamp repair shop guy told me he fills every pottery lamp he gets with sand. And I would use a round wood top on anything, with a pre-schooler in the house.

organic, I am in Maine. I check boston.craigslist.org/fur every day, though so far I haven't found anything worth the drive. Thanks for the link. There was something similar at a consigment store down the street from me...I will go take a second look at it. Storage would be a big bonus (as you know, in a small house!).

teeda, my ex had one of those magazine tables (belonged to his grandfather), so I know exactly what you're describing. As for price, I guess I would cut off consideration of anything that went over $150. Kind of depends on the piece though. I think I need 3 items.

kec01, I am still hopeful of finding a taller plant stand. I might even go ahead and get a rather short one just to have some variation in the height of the tables in the room. There is one chair that could handle it.

pfmastin, thanks for the crock photo. I love that look but couldn't visualize how a top would fit. That photo helps.

lindasc, I am on the lookout!

Just a suggestion on the old book stacks. Mix 2/3 white glue with 1/3 water and paint the edges of the pages (book closed). Makes it easier to drill through and keeps the pages from becoming frayed. Also allows for dusting.

My friend stacked the two old suitcases that her grandparents used when they immigrated to the US from Europe. All their possessions were in these two suitcases. Wonderful piece of family history and just amazing how people carved out new lives with next nothing.

My son who is a percussionist (professionally) has a drum purchased somewhere abroad (cannot recall where) at the end of sofa. I am sure he had plenty of domestic drums but for some reason his wife found this one to her liking for an end table.

BH, I think I just used "mission table" then skimmed through and weeded out the dining tables and coffee tables. I don't even bother with the furniture area under Home & Garden, I stick to the Antiques department and make sure to filter out all the Chinese crap by restricting the search to stuff in the US.

I assume you're also watching the Maine and NH Craigslists? Not as busy as Boston but there's still traffic and nice things do come up. More than once I have cursed the lack of a readily available truck! (Yes, I can rent one, but it adds $85 to the cost.)

I can't remember where you are in Maine but if a trip to Barrington, NH (just south of Rochester, which is just across the border from Lebanon ME over near Sanford) is feasible, Hubbingtons is currently running a special with some cute small tiger-maple side tables for $199. (No sales tax!) I know that may be a little over your budget but I thought it might be worth telling you.

I have not read all the suggestions you have received....but I like the look of old suitcases. You could also stuff children's toys in there - all those little plastic pieces!! ( If you have kids )

I have also seen real pretty trays on metal stands in some antique stores.

Smiles:)

You probably don't want to purchase new, but I just saw these (see link below) and thought they'd be appropriate for a "bungalow" style. They're a bit more than you mentioned, but you get 3 and the shipping is very inexpensive.

I like all the ideas others suggested. I have done the stacked vintage luggage thing--but I found that I was hesitant to put anything too heavy on the top suitcase (I was using 40's era suitcases). Another suggestion is a set of nice stacked wood topped baskets (such as vintage picnic hampers) or even the longaberger type baskets (although I'd probably "age" them a bit with stain or paint).

Johnmari's little a&c table is cute--I actually picked up a couple of smaller versions that I use as plant stands. I got them at a tag sale and an older guy who was also shopping told me those style tables were popular "woodshop" projects back in the 30s and 40s. I just took a look at one I have and they really are simple construction--perhaps you could consider checking with a vocational school in your area to see if the students could make them (the voc-tech school in my town takes furniture orders and since they're not allowed to make a profit you can get things made very inexpensively). You could then distress/age them to look more period.

I would also try to check out as many indoor flea markets/thrift stores/used furniture (as opposed to antique shops) as you can. Small pieces of furniture are what's easiest to obtain from flea market dealers because they're so easy to move around. There are a couple indoor flea markets in my area that are full of all sorts of ocassional pieces ready to be be rescued.

Here is a link that might be useful: small tables

I'm using two old record album tables for end tables in my hmmm.."eclectic" livingroom! LOL

There's plenty of room for storage of books, magazines, etc. Think I gave $20 for one and $12 for the other one. They're not alike.

You've sure gotten a lot of good suggestions! Gonna keep some of them in mind. I'm starting to get tired of my tables.