A console table has a problem no other surface has: it is the first horizontal thing people meet when they come through a door, so it collects everything, every day, whether or not anything was arranged on it.
Any arrangement that does not account for that will be buried within a week.
Divide the top into three zones and give each one a job: a tall element at one end, something low at the other, and a tray in the middle where hands naturally land. Keep one clear span of at least 10 inches. Behind a sofa the same table is decorated differently, with everything low except a lamp.
The three-zone method
Divide the surface into thirds and give each a job.
Tall zone, at one end. One vertical element, a lamp, a vase with branches, a leaning frame. Its height should be roughly one and a half to two times the tallest other object, so the eye has somewhere to start.
Low zone, at the other end. A stack of two or three books with a small object on top, or a shallow bowl, or a small sculpture. Kept deliberately low so the tall zone reads clearly.
Middle zone. A tray, a runner, or nothing. This is the working zone.
Do not center the tall element. A lamp in the middle with a matched pair either side is the default instinct and it produces a formal, slightly dated symmetry that is very hard to make interesting.
The tray is the whole trick in an entryway
The reason entry consoles end up buried is that keys, mail, sunglasses and change have nowhere designated, so they go everywhere.
A tray solves it. Everything loose goes in the tray, the rest of the surface stays clear, and clearing up is one motion rather than twelve decisions. A bowl works for keys alone; a tray works for everything.
Put it in the middle zone, where hands naturally land.
What belongs on an entryway console
- A tray or bowl for keys and pocket contents.
- A lamp, if there is a socket: an entryway is usually the worst-lit part of a house and a small warm lamp changes it completely.
- Something living, or a convincing substitute.
- A mirror or art above.
- Somewhere for bags to go that is not the floor.
What does not belong: anything precious, anything fragile at the front edge, and anything you would be upset to find knocked off by a coat sleeve.
Above it: mirror or art
A mirror is the more useful choice in an entryway. You check yourself on the way out, and it bounces light into a dark space.
Size it to roughly two thirds the length of the console. Hang it 4 to 8 inches above the surface, which is tighter than you would hang art on an open wall, because a console arrangement is viewed close up and a large gap breaks the group.
Check what the mirror actually reflects before committing. One facing a blank wall or the top of a doorframe does nothing; one reflecting a window or a lit room does a great deal.
If you hang art instead, the full height rules are in the hanging guide.
Decorating a sofa table, which is a different job
A console placed behind a sofa is often called a sofa table, and it is the same piece of furniture doing a different job. It is seen from above by people walking past and from behind by people sitting down, so the three-zone method changes shape.
- Keep everything low except one lamp. Tall objects block the sightline into the room and look like a barricade from the sofa.
- Lamps here earn their place: a pair of low lamps on a sofa table gives better reading light than almost anything else, and it lights the room at eye level rather than from the ceiling.
- Nothing at the front edge, which is directly above somebody's head.
- Hide the cables. A cable running down the back of a console in the middle of a room undoes everything else.
- Skip the mirror. A sofa table has no wall behind it, so the vertical element has to be the lamp, and the arrangement has to work from both sides.
Height should match the sofa back or sit an inch or two below it. The full set of measurements is in console table dimensions.
Underneath
The space below a console is usually wasted and it is the most useful storage in an entryway.
Two baskets, spaced apart rather than pushed together, look deliberate and hold shoes, scarves and dog leashes. A bench tucked underneath gives somewhere to sit and put shoes on, which every entryway needs and few have.
Leave the middle clear if you use baskets at the ends. A row of three baskets filling the whole width reads as storage furniture rather than a console.
Seasonal without redoing it
Change one zone, not three. Swap what is in the low zone, branches in winter, something green in summer, and leave the tall element and the tray alone.
This is the practical version of seasonal decorating: five minutes, no storage boxes, and the arrangement stays coherent because its structure never changed.
The test
Come in through the front door carrying a bag and a coffee. If there is nowhere to put either down without moving something first, the console is decorated wrong regardless of how it photographs.
Leave a clear span of at least 10 inches somewhere. That is the difference between a console that works and one that gets cleared off in frustration every Sunday.
Common questions
What do you put on a console table?
Three things, in three zones: one tall element such as a lamp or a vase with branches at one end, something low such as a stack of books at the other, and a tray in the middle for keys and everything loose. Leave a clear span of at least 10 inches so the surface still works.
How do you decorate a sofa table?
Keep everything low except one lamp, because a sofa table is seen over the top of the sofa and tall objects block the sightline into the room. Put nothing at the front edge, which sits directly above someone's head, and hide the cables, which are what usually ruin a console in the middle of a room.
How high should a mirror hang above a console table?
Four to eight inches above the surface, and sized to roughly two thirds the length of the console. That is tighter than art on an open wall, because a console and the thing above it are read as one group from close up, and a large gap breaks them apart.
How do you decorate a console table in an entryway?
Start with a tray in the middle zone, because keys, mail and change are what actually bury an entry console. Add a lamp if there is a socket, something living, and a mirror above. Keep the front edge clear of anything fragile, since a coat sleeve will find it.
See the console tables, or the entryway pieces.
From the Rootelier range
Twisted Root Console Table and Organic Root Console Table, or see all console tables. Every piece is made to order, so sizes can be adjusted to the room.