BH | Studio Rhinebeck Tambour Pedestal Side Table

Tambour, a run of thin wooden slats fixed to a flexible backing so that it bends and slides, was used by eighteenth-century cabinetmakers to close writing desks and small cabinets. It later gave us the roll-top desk, and in the middle of the twentieth century it returned on low, rounded storage pieces.

This one is a tall cylinder clad in vertical slats, and three of those slatted sections are tambour doors that slide round the curve to open a round compartment inside, roomy enough for magazines, spare chargers, coasters and the remotes. Each door can be fitted to slide either way, so it opens from whichever side suits the room. The body is engineered wood with a warm, mid-brown wood-grain finish under a round top that takes a lamp or a plant, and felt pads underneath protect the floor. Assembly is required.

Stand it by an armchair in the living room to keep the clutter of an evening out of sight, or beside a bed as a nightstand with closed storage. In a hallway or entryway it becomes the place for keys, mail and leashes behind the sliding doors, with a small lamp on top to welcome you home. Its tambour front looks wonderfully vintage beside a velvet chair, a rust cushion and a mushroom lamp.