The first one I bought looked perfect in the store and then came home to a sofa it barely cleared at the armrest, so my coffee cup sat down there like it was in a well. Measure before you fall in love with the shape, because that's the part that actually ruins your evening, not the finish or the hardware.
An end table is the wrong call if what you actually need is storage, a lot of small tables just give you a surface and nothing underneath but air, so if you're the kind of household with remotes, chargers, kids' homework and half a candle collection, look for one with a shelf or a drawer or just accept you'll be stacking things on the floor next to it within a month. It's also not the fix for a room that's too small for a side table in the first place, sometimes the honest answer is a tray on the arm of the couch and nothing more. In the shop, check the table sits level on a hard floor, not just carpet, because a wobble that's invisible on a showroom rug shows up fast on your kitchen tile. Check the drawer, if there is one, actually opens without you having to lift the whole table toward you, and run a hand along the underside for rough edges, since that's where finish gets skipped to save money. Delivery day, check the height again against the specific chair or sofa arm it's going next to, not the one in your head, because sofa arms vary more than people expect and a table two inches off either way changes everything about how it feels to use.
As for how it lives with you, wood ages the best in my experience, it picks up small dings and water rings over the years and somehow looks more like it belongs rather than less, as long as you wipe spills quickly and don't let a wet glass sit overnight without a coaster. Painted or laminate finishes chip at the corners first, usually from vacuum cleaners and moving boots, and once that happens there's no fixing it invisibly, you just live with the nick or cover it with a lamp. A little furniture wax or oil once or twice a year on real wood keeps it from looking tired, and that's really the only upkeep involved.
Measure the arm height of whatever it's sitting beside, and aim for the tabletop to land within an inch of that, give or take.
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