BH | Studio Arendal 48-Inch Oval Gloss Coffee Table

The low table in front of the sofa is a twentieth-century habit, spreading through American living rooms in the 1920s and 1930s, as tea, cocktails and the evening paper found a place by the sofa. In the 1950s modern designers lifted it onto a single flared stem beneath an oval top, so knees and feet have room all the way round, and the uncluttered rooms of Scandinavian modern design, Norway's among them, soon made it a fixture.

This is the long oval, its engineered wood top finished in a high-gloss white with a bevelled rim. A white lacquered stem tapers down to a broad flared foot, finished to resist chips, and being white from top to floor, the table reads as one continuous shape. The oval keeps corners away from shins in a busy room, and at 48 inches long it sits in proportion with a full three-seat sofa. A felt pad sits under the foot; assembly is required.

There is room on top for a coffee pot and cups for the whole family, or a spread of small plates when friends come over. White on white is the fresh look of a modern beach house: try it with a sand linen sofa, driftwood grey floors, a bowl of sea glass and a big jar of hydrangeas, all pale and light.