BH | Studio Colmar Chevron Extending Dining Table

Patterned wood has a long life in French houses, from the chevron parquet called point de Hongrie on the floors of Paris apartments and châteaux to the fine marquetry for which Alsace, Colmar's region, is still known. The extending dining table, seating the household on an ordinary evening and the whole family at a holiday, came of age with eighteenth-century cabinetmakers on both sides of the Channel. Leaf mechanisms multiplied through the following century, and the principle has never gone out of use.

In a deeper mid-brown, the chevron veneer on this rectangular top shows its angled grain more strongly, like a parquet floor. The corners are softened and the four legs thick and rounded. A built-in leaf travels with the table, so there is nothing to store elsewhere: at 59 inches it suits everyday meals, and opened out to 75 inches it seats six to eight. It is rated to hold 400 lbs, and caps under the legs keep it from marking the floor.

Set it for a long Sunday lunch or a holiday dinner with the leaf in, with cream walls, brass candlesticks and a low arrangement of autumn leaves down the middle. Between meals it is a wide desk or a table for a working session, room enough for laptops and papers. The warm brown chevron reads rich and traditional, and partners naturally with the matching chairs in Hazel.