What to Put on a Tallboy: Styling a 100cm Top at Chest Height

Most bedroom styling advice is written for a chest of drawers: a 140cm surface at 85cm off the floor, seen from above, wide enough to hold three separate groupings. A tallboy is a different object. The top is 100 x 45cm, which is 29 per cent less surface, and it sits between 100cm and 120cm off the floor depending on the range.

That height is the part people underestimate. At 120cm you are not looking down onto the surface, you are looking across it. Anything flat becomes invisible, anything tall arrives at chest height, and a tray of small objects turns into a shelf you can feel but not see.

Key Takeaways

• Every Cedora tallboy is 100cm wide and 45cm deep. Only the height changes, from 100cm to 120cm.
• Three objects is the working maximum. A 100cm top cannot carry the three groupings a 140cm chest can.
• At 110cm and above you look across the surface, not down onto it, so height beats footprint.
• Leave the front 15cm of depth clear as a landing strip for keys, a phone and a watch.
• A tallboy loaded at the top is top heavy. Anchor it to the wall, particularly in a child's room.

Know the Height You Are Styling

The five ranges share a footprint and split on height, which is unusually convenient because it means the only variable is the one that matters. The Liverpool tops out at 100cm and is still partly seen from above. The Bristol at 110cm, the Manchester and Newcastle at 114cm and the London at 120cm are all read at a glancing angle or edge on. We set the footprint and the heights out in full in every Cedora tallboy has the same footprint.

Twenty centimetres does not sound like much until you put a flat tray on both ends of that range. On the Liverpool at 100cm the tray reads as a considered object. On the London at 120cm you see the side of the tray and nothing in it.

So the first decision is not what to buy for the top. It is whether your tallboy is in the looking down group or the looking across group, because they need different things.

The Three Object Rule

A 140cm chest can hold three groupings with breathing space between them. A 100cm top cannot, and trying is the single most common reason a tallboy looks cluttered. Three objects total, arranged as a descending line:

• One tall anchor at 30cm to 45cm, set about a third of the way in from one end
• One mid height object at 15cm to 20cm, close to the anchor so they read as a pair
• One low object at 8cm to 12cm, placed toward the opposite end with clear space between

That leaves roughly 40cm of empty surface, which is not wasted space. It is what makes the three objects look chosen rather than accumulated, and it is where the things you actually use land at the end of the day.

On the taller ranges, push the numbers up. A 45cm vase on a 120cm London tallboy puts the top of the stems at 165cm, which is eye level, and that is precisely where you want the visual weight when the surface itself is barely visible.

Manchester Pine 5 Drawer Tallboy

What Actually Works Up There

Vases with height. Dried stems, branches, anything that carries the eye upward. This is the one category that gets better as the tallboy gets taller.

A lamp, with one caution. A lamp on a 114cm or 120cm tallboy puts the shade at 150cm to 165cm, which is head height for someone standing beside it. That is fine against a wall and irritating beside a doorway. Check the power point position before committing, because a cord running down the front of a tallboy undoes the whole arrangement.

A shallow valet tray at the front edge. Not for looks. A tallboy at chest height is the natural place to empty your pockets, and giving that habit a home is the difference between a styled surface and a surface that gets buried by Wednesday.

One framed piece leaning against the wall. On a 45cm deep top a leaning frame is stable and adds a vertical plane without a single hole in the wall.

Books, but only two or three. A stack on a tallboy is a plinth for something else, not a display in itself, because you cannot read the spines at that angle anyway.

What Does Not Work

A mirror directly above. A 100cm mirror over a 100cm tallboy leaves no wall showing either side, so mirrors belong over the 140cm chest instead, as we set out in mirror size and hanging height above a chest.

Open jewellery dishes and shallow bowls. Anything whose contents live below the rim disappears at 114cm. Use a tray with a low lip instead, or keep the jewellery in the two narrow top drawers, which is what they are sized for.

Photo frames in a row. They need to be looked at straight on. At chest height in a bedroom you pass them at an angle and never actually see them.

Anything heavy at the back. A tallboy is a narrow tall box on a small footprint, and weight high and behind the centre of gravity is exactly what makes one tip when a drawer is open.

Bristol Pine 5 Drawer Tallboy

Style It From Where You Stand

A tallboy almost never sits on a long open wall. It goes in the corner, between a window and a door frame, or on the short wall opposite the bed, because a 100cm footprint is what fits there. That means it is seen from one direction, and usually from the doorway or from the bed.

Stand in that spot and arrange from there rather than from directly in front. A composition that balances face on will often look lopsided from the doorway, and the doorway is the view you get twenty times a day.

If it sits beside the bed, treat the near end as an extension of the bedside table and keep it clear. That end is where a glass of water and a phone will end up whether you plan for it or not.

The Safety Part, Briefly

A tallboy is 100cm wide and up to 120cm tall on a 45cm deep base. Load the upper drawers, open one, and the centre of gravity moves outside the footprint. A child using an open drawer as a step will bring it over.

Fix it to the wall. A strap or bracket into a stud takes ten minutes and is the only part of this article that is not optional. The same applies to a chest, but a chest at 85cm on a 140cm base is far more forgiving, which is worth knowing if you are still choosing between the two. We compared them properly in how much a tallboy holds compared to a chest.

Liverpool Pine 5 Drawer Tallboy - Natural

Frequently Asked Questions

What should you put on top of a tallboy?

Three objects in a descending line: one tall anchor at 30cm to 45cm, one mid height piece at 15cm to 20cm beside it, and one low object at the opposite end. Leave about 40cm of the 100cm top empty, including a clear strip at the front for keys and a phone.

Can you hang a mirror above a tallboy?

Not comfortably. A tallboy is 100cm wide and so is a standard square mirror, which leaves no wall showing on either side and makes the pair read as one slab. Mirrors sit better above a 140cm chest of drawers.

How tall is a tallboy?

Between 100cm and 120cm across these ranges. The Liverpool is 100cm, Bristol 110cm, Manchester and Newcastle both 114cm, and the London 120cm. Width and depth never change: every one is 100 x 45cm.

Why does my tallboy always look cluttered?

Usually because it is being styled like a chest of drawers. A 140cm chest holds three groupings, a 100cm tallboy holds three objects. The other reason is height: flat items and open dishes disappear when the surface sits at chest level.

Do tallboys need to be anchored to the wall?

Yes. A tall narrow case piece on a 45cm deep base becomes unstable once the upper drawers are loaded and one is pulled open. A strap or bracket into a wall stud takes minutes and is essential in any home with young children.