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.

While I was renovating my house, and while there was so much dust I could barely breathe, I rented a small apartment a few blocks away from the construction site and used it as a place to flop after a long day of helping the construction workers, and as a place to take a shower. I didn’t select it for being an apartment where I would want to live, but it was cheaper than a hotel and came furnished and that was all I cared about.

The funny thing was that the apartment was a mini marble palace replete with polished marble floors, red velvet drapes and elaborate cherry furniture… so out of character for a tiny Spanish village set into an olive grove landscape. But the funniest part of the entire apartment was an antique, gilded console table and gold framed mirror at the entrance. It was a perfect old world, half-moon, mounted console table with 2 ornately carved front legs and a marble top.

Console Table Entrance Haunting

Since I was always tired and dirty when I entered the apartment, I didn’t give much thought to the gaudy décor, and would go straight to the shower and then off to bed. But invariably I would see the console table, toss my keys and mail and miscellaneous junk on the little gilded table and ….it would wobble under the weight of keys and a few letters. And then one day it fell. I panicked and replaced it to where it belonged and checked that the marble hadn’t cracked or that the gilded paint on the carved legs hadn’t chipped.

Luckily I didn’t destroy the console table. But right until the day I happily left the luxury of that apartment, that irritating console table haunted my entrance. The idea of it was ideal – a place for keys and letters at the entrance of the house, but the actuality of it was a wobbly piece of adornment that just got in the way.

That’s another reason it took me a long time to choose the console table I eventually put in my newly renovated house. I wanted a table to use AND to look great, and not something so decorative it could only be looked at.

Practical Console Tables

It’s very common for homeowners to place a console table at the entrance, not only to make a good first house impression, but to have a place for small items that are otherwise in our hands or pockets as we enter and exit. The console table should be sturdy enough to not collapse if used to set keys or mail or a purse or wallet or even sunglasses and other small items.

It’s also not a bad idea to have a mirror above the table for a quick glance as you leave the house or even to make the entryway appear a little larger than it is and to reflect the light that may come through the door. But that very useful little piece of furniture can quickly become an annoyance if it is either wobbly or unstable, or if it is too decorative to hold small items, or if it becomes the household junk trap and is the most unsightly first impression you receive as you enter. That is why it is important to give some thought to your selection.

• Will it be used to place thing son or is it more a decorative table with a mirror to check your lipstick?
• Could it become a potential junk trap? How to avoid it becoming a clutter table?

If it’s just a table to set your lipstick on while you retouch your makeup, then almost anything you like will do (even a total glass console table), but if not, make sure the console table you choose has sturdy legs, at least in front, and if it also mounts to the wall, make sure the brackets can be mounted into whatever the wall is made of. If you think there is chance that your table will gradually become a junk collector for the entire family, then it may be wise to consider a table that has 1 or 2 drawers to hide mail and keys and other miscellaneous items.

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 entry table designs 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.

And that is why a simple console table now suffices as a place to store the smaller equipment we have. These contemporary console table designs can rest below a plasma TV and have enough space for CDs or DVDs and still have space to spare. They are sleek slender units that slide against a wall or can be placed even at the foot of a bed to match the décor.

It can be an iron console table or what previously might have been called a wooden cherry sofa table or even one of the many glass sofa tables that used to be placed behind a sofa. Now they can be used below a television or even as a stand for a monitor, even resting on something as small as what once might have been nothing more than an entry hall table.

The thing that separates a console table from just any other glass sofa tables is the height. They are a little taller, having been initially designed as a table that goes beneath a mirror like the antique French console table mirror combinations, but now may have a monitor or flat screen where a mirror might have been placed.

Camouflaging Equipment behind Wood

This new twist on a classic piece of furniture makes it so that it doesn’t matter if your furniture is oak or glass or mirrored or if everything is mahogany, there is a console that will match your décor and be a practical addition to modern lifestyle.

There are some rustic console table designs that have cabinets where some equipment may be camouflaged and other designs where the equipment itself is part of the charm, for example with a glass top sofa table that may be placed under a screen but doesn’t actually hide anything.

Avington Console Table Designs

Avington console table designs are just one of the many to choose from. These are mostly mahogany console table styles or oak or cherry, but they also have a few metal sofa table creations that can double as entertainment centers. Some people who have contemporary decorations and furnishings are selecting the mirrored console table for a chic look and incorporating the metallic equipment with chrome and glass to highlight the high-tech side of their equipment instead of disguising it behind wood. These metropolitan console table designs are now forming part of basement home theaters and bedrooms and even kitchens where a TV has been incorporated.

Ash and Bailey Console Table Style

For more rustic and classic looks, but still keeping with open designs there are two companies to keep in mind. One is the famous Ash console table company with their Butler Masterpiece Pedestal Console Table. They also have many cherry wood and oak designs that have curved legs and polished wood finishes, while still remaining open.

The other company is the Bailey console table manufacturer which boasts a long history of table designs that are now featured in the Pottery Barn collections and displayed in better homes and gardens as console table designs specific for audiovisual equipment.

The great thing about selecting furniture from these companies is that you can match all your furniture even a mission sofa table or side table and have it perfectly combine with their extensive lines of media console table choices.

That said, the cost of a mission or oak console table or any handmade table will be higher than those that are manufactured in larger quantities. Some private carpenters and woodworking studios also have mission furniture available for ordering from online sites, but you may want to compare products and prices before selecting which one is the best for you.

Here are some of the best choices that thousands of shoppers recommend.

• The Robie Mission Console Table is in fact a red oak table of good quality. It is about $380.

• The Viejo by Cooper Classics has something similar with a drawer and shelf, and has a little iron accenting, for about $460. There are Dark and Light wood options. While the similar design from Home Décor offers an inexpensive alternative at about $200. Also, The Viejo series has many wood console tables in Birchwood for a light finish and a fresh natural look.

  Prices range from $430 to upwards of $600 although they may offer discounts. One nice thing is that many Viejo models are shipped free of charge. Since console tables are heavy, this may be a big saving if another model is cheaper but you must pay for transport.

• There is a very particular table called The Versatile Mission Console-to-Card-to-Dinner Table that can be simple as a console unit or expanded to fit up to 6 guests as a table. It’s a good price at just under $400.

Cheap Mission Console Table Models

• There is a mission style 30 inch honey colored console table that has two drawers and is perhaps the cheapest (in this style) on the market at $169.00. It’s possible to find a merchant who uses Amazon to sell this product and many customers are very happy with this simple piece of furniture.

• One of the all-time most popular pieces of home furniture is the Mission Natural Console Table, which is small but practical for any room of the house. It’s only $90 and may well qualify as the cheapest option on the market in this style.
• Specific for your entry way or foyer is the 2 piece mission style tables that are simple and tall at 30 inches and can be matched with a mirror. These start at about $200, and are make of oak and include the mirror. They must be assembled but most customers say they are easy to put together.
• Powell has a line of mission oak wood tables and mirrors that can double as end tables, sofa tables and even house your audio/video equipment. They are good value at about $280. For the same price, Powell has a black model that is modern and a bit of a twist on the traditional mission styles.

• Linon has a complete line of budget mission console table choices and the prices are affordable at about $200. They are a rustic style with two drawers and a lower shelf for more space. There are also matching mission coffee tables and end tables and sofa table designs that will give your home a streamline look.
• Cape Craftsman Regal Tradewinds has a line of console tables with a woven top with an island feeling for under $200.
• International Concepts has an unfinished wood mission sofa table that you can decorate as you like. It’s about $190.
• Winsome Wood has a hall table that is a wood console table by design for under $80. Winsome’s Craftsman hall table is a step or two up from the little pine model. It is also made with a pine wood frame but has an antique walnut finish. It has storage shelving also and costs about $380.

In France, these originals were also known as pier tables due to where people mounted them, on the pillar or “pier wall” between two large windows. They were mostly decorative until they were slightly altered to have four legs, and while retaining either their half moon shape or narrow rectangular form, were adapted to rest either against a wall in hallway or entrance or be pressed against the backside of a large sofa.

Gradually, as console table popularity grew, they became known also as a sofa table, but this produced confusion because a true console table was not a side or end table or a coffee table but specifically a table with the height of the tall backs of 18th Century French sofas.

Then in the late 1800s, the old world European console tables gave way to a new trend that sprouted in the United States. It was the start of the console table revolution by Joseph McHugh in New York and his “mission” style furniture. These pieces were straight line, rustic designs that mimicked the chair backs of a Church in San Francisco whose chairs had been copied by the designs of a Spanish mission and therefore became known as “mission furniture”. Eventually the lines included mission console tables and just about anything “mission” you can imagine in household décor.

Although mission style didn’t remain popular straight through from the 1800’s to today, the mission console table was revived in the 70’s. Since then, mission console tables have surfaced throughout the world in creative designs that don’t confuse clean lines and simplicity with boring or poor taste.

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.