Console table from Jonathan Charles Fine Furniture.

Coffee, end, nesting and console tables are the workhorses of any living or family room: way stations for the television remote and art tomes, pedestals for table lamps, surfaces where guests inevitably place their plates and glasses, or the first piece of furniture people see when they enter your home.

 

Utilitarian doesn’t imply ordinary. Some accent tables garner favor for their looks as much as for their performance.

 

Consider a recent transitional console table design from Jonathan Charles Fine Furniture. This decorative shoo-in for a more formal entryway features a base of connected, openwork circles in a distressed gilded finish. Meanwhile, the glass top is finished with Italian silver leaf and accented with a gold border. Add an equally decorative mirror and floral arrangement and this timeless console is elevated to a work of art.

 

River Stone cocktail table from The Phillips Collection, a resource for artisanal home furnishings, evokes the smooth shape of a stone that’s been polished for centuries by moving water. This statement furnishing is constructed from fiberglass and resin, so it’s suitable for indoor and outdoor use; it’s offered in black lacquer gold leaf or silver leaf.

 

Regina-Andrew Design transforms the cocktail table into an interactive design that gives several guests and partygoers a surface of their own. Sold in a set of six, in either polished nickel with white marble tops or gold leaf with travertine tops, Puzzle tables can be put to use wherever they’re placed.