BH | Studio Hambledon Panel-Leg Coffee Table

The low table in front of the sofa is a fairly young piece of furniture. It became common only in the early twentieth century, once living rooms were arranged around a sofa and a pair of easy chairs, and it soon turned into the busiest surface in the house.

This one is a broad, rectangular hardwood top on two wide panel legs, each split by a slim vertical gap. The top has room for everyone's mugs as well as books, a lamp and a tray, and the edges are softly rounded for passing knees. The finish comes in Chestnut, a warm, reddish mid brown, or Almond, and both suit leather and wool. Adjustable feet with protective pads sit beneath each leg, so it stands level on uneven boards and moves across rugs or bare floors without leaving a mark. Assembly is required.

Place it before a leather sofa in a den, with the remote, a bowl of popcorn and a board game for a film night in winter, or in a cabin living room by the wood stove with a pile of field guides on top. On Saturday mornings it holds the coffee pot and the papers. Dress it with a wooden bowl, a few old hardbacks and a candle in a hurricane glass; the wood glows next to camel, rust and deep green.