Dining furniture that comes with table and matching dining room chairs and is sold as dining room sets sometimes also have a matching buffet or china cabinet or a third piece of furniture to add to the total package. But often the buffet that goes with the set is too long or too wide to fit in a dinning room, and that is why sometimes a narrow console table is just right to be that third piece of dinning room furniture.

Half Moon Bar Table

There is another use for a tall narrow console table, especially the half moon shaped ones, and that is to replace bar tables. If you are redecorating a basement or kitchen or even a living room, and you mount a half moon or demilune console table to the wall, perhaps between two windows or along a wall that can hold a barstool or two, a bar console table will then serve as a place to set a drink or serve snacks for a cocktail party or simply when there are guests.

A round pub table may take up too much floor space, while a mounted half moon or drop leaf table may be exactly right depending on how high you mount it to the wall. If the tables you go with are not the kind that have a wall mount option but are freestanding, with at least three legs, they could also be placed as corner pub tables because often the demilune console tables will have a V-shape back and a half moon front that fit snug in such places without taking up much space. And because this style of table is open from the table top to the floor, a bar stool can easily be pushed under it and out of way until needed.

Most homes don’t have the luxury of a space for a bar table as well as other side tables and sofa tables, but by ingeniously using half moon wall mounting consoles or tall freestanding console tables you can have cocktail tables and barstools even in limited space.

Bistro Table Alternative

Similar to the bar table idea, the small console table designs will lend themselves well to doubling as a bistro table. This can be especially true in a kitchen where there is limited space and dining room tables are just too large. For example, if the kitchen has a large window, below it could be mounted a console table or a narrow glass console table could be placed so the top is at the level of the window sill.

A stool or two could then be added to create a bistro feeling, or to replace a kitchen counter stool idea. Console tables can often fit where larger bistro tables will not, in a kitchen or dinning area or even near a patio or balcony, and can be a wonderful place to sit and sip a morning coffee or read the paper. And because console tables are tall and narrow they will take up less space and fit against walls or under windows more easily. The contemporary glass console table designs that are sleek and have no drawers or shelves are especially suited to this purpose, or the half moon console table designs that will give the bistro feel although they will not be totally round, but will leave lots of leg room below for stools which is part of the enchantment of the bistro concept.

A pedestal table may appear to be small, but because they need space around all sides, they tend to use a lot of space and unless used on a patio or deck, may just not be practical. That is why the leg placement of a console table is unique and useful — often having no legs, just wall mounting brackets or two in front and a wall mount, or three strategically placed.

Sofa Tables and how to Incorporate a Console Table

Side tables and sofa table sets are designed to be low as are the traditional glass coffee tables or square coffee table styles that rest in front of a sofa and serve as accent tables that are generally unobtrusive to conversations and simply serve as a place to rest a drink, snacks or to place magazines and books that are current. Console tables cannot replace these pieces because they are normally built too high to serve as coffee table furniture or end tables, and they tend to be long and narrow or shaped as a half moon which just don’t work beside or in front of a sofa or love seat.

However there is one exception to this. Console tables can be sofa tables if the sofa is placed in the middle of the room, or used as a divider in a large open space like a loft. Then a tall narrow table that is exactly the height of the back of the sofa can be placed behind it and is in fact the ideal height to set a drink or to have magazines or books to read while sitting.

The mirrored console table designs that have tall sleek chrome legs and are rectangular in shape can be a perfect accent for a contemporary leather sofa, or if the living room sofa is mission style furniture with wooden arms and legs, a mission console table in a similar wood finish will accent the back of this sofa nicely. Other mission furniture and accent table designs that are lower can be placed at arm level along the sides or between sofa and loveseats and armchairs and the entire room is pulled together.

Mission Table Designs

Since there are companies that specialize in mission table designs and create simplistic and modern versions of the mission end table that match the consoles and sofa styles, it is possible to select all pieces in the exact same wood finish. For example a mission oak design can be carried through in the entire living space with a series of mission oak furniture made by talented Amish carpenters who specialize in the mission style.

This can be carried through to include a mission dining room table and chairs and that way the wood furniture is all the same in the open space. This may not be as much of a concern in a home where the rooms are divided by walls, but in an open layout, which is increasingly more popular it is good to consider a dinning table or dinette sets that will match the other furniture in basic style.

Mixing and Matching Furniture Styles

I am not suggesting that everything must be identical, in fact it is good to have a piece or two of furniture that is uniquely different, but keep with the theme. Don’t mix glass dining tables with oak occasional tables if they are in the same space. Try to avoid using a modern coffee table or glass tables as accents if all the rest of the area is antique or wrought iron. A single antique table or oak table in an otherwise contemporary décor will not look like a feature, it will just seem out of place. Remember that a console table is an accent and it should be one of two things: a select piece that stands out as unique and unusual or should blend perfectly with the existing style.

One Unique Console Table

When I say that a console table should stand out as unique, this will best apply to a singular piece that stands alone, like hall tables or one single marble table with a mirror above it near an entrance. An entry table can be a rich elegant piece that is one of a kind and need not be exactly the some as the rest of the furniture, but it must have some correlation to the overall theme. This is especially true if the overall home design is conservative. Mixing and matching styles is not a good idea. In retro and art deco or antique themes or ethnic styles, this rule may be bent somewhat, but not if your furnishings are classic mission style or oak or cherry wood or rustic unfinished pine. Stick to a design theme and add an accent console table that goes with the overall statement or tone.

The Most Unusual Console Tables Online

I think I can say that I’ve found a shop that sells some of the most unusual console tables that are ready made. The shop is simply called Console Table Store, and they look rather unpretentious, but glance at their catalogue of products. Their demilune narrow console tables are outstanding. Let me give you a little sample of what’s available:

Solid Wood

They have a piece called Tuscan Overtures that’s painted gold, is a demilune console table and has beautiful tapered legs. It’s just over $500, but there’s another design that’s more affordable called the Juniper Table which is juts over $200 and is solid wood that’s been hand carved and has a small drawer, but is still a narrow size for an entry or hall. There’s another one that has turned legs and costs just over $170.

Wrought Iron

If you want something really outstanding and have a teeny bit more space, especially at the end of a hall or corridor, then you must see the delicate wrought iron console table that has a glass top and is called the Abbington and is unbelievably low priced at just under $230. This piece must be seen. It’s one of the most unique and unusual console tables on the market in that price range.

Half Moon and Demilune

In an entry, one of the best ways to save space to use a half circle console like the ones in the Borghese Collection from the Console Table Store. These styles may be called half circle, half moon or demilune and start at a couple hundred dollars and go up to about $450. There are classic French designs and marble toped styles as well as chic glass and iron.

Asian And Italian

For a little Asian inspiration you might want to look at the glass top pieces that are just over $200 and are really modern, but unique and very unusual for the west. There are also some traditional pieces that have an Italian flair like the Espresso and the Portobello wrought Iron half moon console with gorgeous mosaic tabletops. The prices range from under $200 to over $400.

Art Deco

A final teaser for your hallway is the Macklowe Art Deco hall table that is very unusual with metal accents on a wood frame. For a designer art deco piece, $240 is very reasonable.

A hall or marble table may be called a console table if it is a little narrower than the traditional models with other names. Side or accent tables that are high enough to be a cocktail table or a buffet will often be sold as console tables because they are so versatile their makers do not want to limit them by giving them a specific function name.

Demilune vs. Modern Console Table

Although the small tables that graced French entryways in the 1700’s, also called a “demilune” (which is a French word for half moon or semi-circle), are the most well known classic console tables, in fact modern examples that use “console” to describe themselves can include tables that are rectangular, round, oval and almost every shape possible. Although there is no hard rule to which everyone in the furniture industry adheres while naming their products, it would be safe to say that contemporary console tables, no matter what their shape and style will have at least two or three features in common.

• They are tables designed for small areas or to accent another piece of furniture.
• They will have one or more sides that will be able to rest against a flat surface, an object, another piece of furniture, or a wall.
• They will be narrower and taller than other types of tables.

These are not the same features that differentiate CLASSIC console tables from other variations.

The traditional console table was easily recognized because it had obvious distinctive features. It was always a tall table in the shape of a half circle or a long table enhanced with ornamentation that was deigned to be mounted on a wall or supported by two or three legs. These differences are less obvious in the contemporary designs.

What is a Contemporary Console Table?

Contemporary console tables are primarily long – 50 up to 70 or more inches in length, narrow -15 inches in width, and tall – 30 or more inches in height. They may have a half circle shape or they may be totally rectangular, but they will fit well pressed against a wall, behind a sofa, on a wall between 2 windows, or at the end of a narrow hallway or along the entrance wall near a main door.

Many of the contemporary styles incorporate a set of drawers or shelves immediately beneath the top, yet still leave the majority of the table open…although there are some contemporary replicas of antique Asian models that are considered console tables but are more like a cabinet. These include the entertainment console units that are totally closed, but because they are long and relatively narrow, and are intended to be pushed up against a wall, they are deemed console tables or console units.

Modern Console Table Designers

There are contemporary styled console tables, by furniture designers such as Taylor Llorente, who create more than just rectangular boxes or half moons made of glass. There are geometric gilt pieces and even carved white console tables like the ornamental, couture console of the European Rococo style, in hand-carved Beachwood with Travertine Marble tops. Some of these contemporary console table designs are so intricate and well crafted, so breathtaking, that you may not be surprised that they can cost $8,000 to more than $10,000.

For more affordable designer console table options with the ultimate in modern and contemporary designs, check into Scandinavian furniture outlets online and see their clean lines and crispy cool contemporary console tables such as the Hilda oak console table. Or you may find the right modern piece in a Scandinavian-inspired iron, glass or all-wood console table from Johnston Casuals.

So whilst I had a picture in my head of exactly what I wanted, I had to learn the terms that the designers and furniture manufacturers used in order to find the specific item of my dreams.

A Table with a Mirror Above

For example a piece of furniture that was often seen in Spain (when I was younger) as a rustic wood antique or a gilded antiquity, is a high table that sits at or near the entrance to a house, often with a mirror over it, and in Spain, with candles or a wall candelabra on either side. I have seen them, loved them and used them, but I had no idea what to call them or how to begin searching for anyone who might sell them.

Not a Coffee Table or End Table

I tried to describe what I wanted by asking for a tall coffee table, but would end up being shown coffee tables that were square and low and nothing like what I had in mind. I was shown tables of every size and dimension like end tables; even a tallish glass coffee table and something similar to what I wanted called a hall table. But mostly I was passed from furniture showroom to showroom to see a side table, an end table, or a sofa table.

Almost Sofa Tables

Some side tables might have worked had it not been for their boxy shape and their too wide a width. A glass table with a narrow panel came close and a few sofa tables were higher than the traditional side tables, but none were exactly right.

Between a Hall Table and an Accent Table

An accent table could have worked but what I wanted was something between the hall tables I saw and the accent tables and with a straight or flat surface on one side and a rounded front. There was one antique marble table that required mounting on a wall with brackets that was half right, but I also wanted legs.

So I continued my quest through a huge variety of different styles, from hall and accent tables to coffee and occasional tables and still remained without knowing what I was doing wrong. What was the right word for the furniture I had in my head?

And then someone mentioned “console table” and my search began to head in the right direction.

Yes, at last! I knew what I wanted.

There was a hall console table with wrought iron legs and a mirrored model that belonged in a New York penthouse and a modern twist that would work in a loft in Tokyo. There was a contemporary console table line to match abstract art lovers and glass tables that had no wood or iron or anything but glass. And these glass numbers were so glassy they were invisible, in fact one was named ‘an invisible sculpture console table’.

I did eventually find a series of half moon console table designs that were at least in keeping with my original console table quest, but many were oak console tables or pine console table designs that were still too large for the area I had space for. I found out to my dismay that a cheap console table is not a possibility in the style I wanted because the antique console table that I eventually found was about $800, and was in fact a replicated blend of two different Spanish designs.

Help Finding Your Console Table

The reason for this console table story is that while I searched for a very elusive piece of furniture, and scoured showrooms across Europe, and searched the internet and gleaned details, I stumbled upon a lot of useful information about this unique piece of furniture. I thought that perhaps other people were also hunting for a console table but didn’t know here to begin, like me. So I decided to write about the many different styles and designs that suit many décors and hopefully give you a head start with your particular console table aspiration.

In these next few articles, I will show you, or talk about, and review, what is available in modern console tables, wood console table, iron console table and glass console table designs. Primarily I will focus on what is hot right now in glass and other modern styles like the mirrored console table and the hottest of all, the mission console table that is simple and elegant for a variety of decorating styles. I will also touch on what is available in oak console table and hard wood console table choices that are out of the ordinary and may be imported from exotic places.

But just to be clear, let me define what a console table is.

It’s a small table fixed to a wall by brackets and therefore is freestanding or it may be a slightly larger table designed to stand against a wall or attached to the wall in the back while still having two legs in front.