BH | Studio Hambledon Panel-Leg Console Table

The console table started life in seventeenth-century France as a shelf bracketed to the wall, made to stand beneath a looking glass between two windows, and Georgian England took it up as the pier table. It has long since stepped away from the wall, but its job is unchanged: a narrow surface where a house says hello.

This one is a long, narrow board top on two tall panel legs, each split by a slim upright gap that throws a fine line of shadow. The hardwood is finished in Chestnut, a warm reddish brown, or in Almond, both showing off the grain, and every edge is gently rounded. Its slim depth leaves the walkway clear, while the full-length top gives plenty of room for framed photographs, a lamp and favourite objects. Adjustable feet with soft pads sit beneath each leg to level it and keep the floor unmarked. Assembly is required.

Set it in an entry hall with a pair of lamps and a dish for keys, or behind a sofa as a table for reading lights and family photographs. Against the wall of a dining room it becomes a serving table, a platter of cheese on one end and a pitcher of water on the other. Either finish takes to traditional rooms: hang an oil painting or a gilt mirror above, add a pair of ginger jars, and it looks like a good antique.