BH | Studio Wymondham 24-Inch Square Pedestal Dining Table

Setting a dining table on one central column instead of four corner legs became a defining idea of mid-century design in the 1950s, freeing the space beneath so that chairs and knees could go anywhere around the edge. Its roots run back to the cast-iron pedestal tables of nineteenth-century Parisian cafés and English pubs, which packed small tops close together on a single stem.

The smallest of the square tops, this one is engineered wood with a smooth white coating that wipes clean, set on a black tapered column with a polished brass-tone collar and a round disc foot, and a ring under the foot to protect the floor. With one central support and nothing at the corners, it fits snugly into a tiny alcove, beside a window or between two chairs. Assembly is required.

Use it as a tea table for two in a bay window, a perch for morning coffee by a balcony door, or a bedside or lamp table in a guest room. In a studio apartment it can be the dining table, the desk and the place for keys and mail all at once. White and brass keep a small room bright: pair with a rattan chair, a little brass lamp, a stack of paperbacks and a pot of trailing ivy.