An end table is perhaps a piece of furniture that not very many people pay
attention to since it's relatively small compared to other furniture in
your living room like the sofa, coffee table, shelves, etc. However, I
believe an end table plays an important role in the overall scheme of your
house decorating.
A few years ago we bought our lake home, and decorating the living room
was a bit of a challenge since it was long and narrow. There's a brick wall with a
fireplace and mantel at one end, and a large window facing the lake as
well as a front door that was never used at the other end. I was trying to
figure out where a nice end table would fit :)
There are also two doorways along the inside wall opening into guest
bedrooms, while the outside wall has a pair of windows. I thought some of
our living room furniture along with a drop-leaf table and chairs would nicely decorate this space.
So we decided to place the couch in the center of the living room
facing the lake, and the wood table behind it with the sides dropped.
Next, we arranged a few chairs to face the couch and put a glass end table
that I got from my aunt at one side of the couch.
Although this made for
a nice arrangement for visiting, only a two people would be able to watch
TV, which wouldn't be a big concern except when it came time to watch
baseball games :)
We also tried placing a couple of chairs in front of the fireplace at the
other end of the living room, but this did not seem to flow very well.
We wanted to create a sitting area in front of the fireplace so that Aiden
(my
husband) and I could enjoy reading or just chatting by the fire. Aahh, how
romantic! :) I
suggested placing a wood end table between the chairs that could also
function as a game table. You see, we love playing scrabble and
backgammon, and it would be wonderful to play by the fire.
One day we were browsing in a used furniture store and saw an old wood end
table which was actually a scrabble board made into a table. Quite
ingenious I thought, and the price was cheap, but it was just a little too
casual. There were also a few antique end tables in the store that looked
elegant but they were out of our price range.
My husband and I looked around some more in a few other furniture
stores in town. We saw several lovely end tables that would certainly look
great in our living room. One was a beautifully designed round oak end
table that would fit nicely in the corner. My attention was drawn to a
white contemporary end table, while Aiden liked the cherry end table
with fine carvings on the legs. I love contemporary/modern furniture and
he prefers the antique style. There were plenty to choose from.
We also need storage in the living room area, so an end table with
storage space in it would be perfect. We found an end table that has a
shelf on the bottom and a deep drawer on the top with an open space in
between. This unique end table is oval shape, and is higher than most of
the other pieces we looked at. We could put a reading lamp on it as well
as use it to play our games. We got it a discount price and we're both
happy with it.I saw a contemporary glass end table which I fell in love
with, but we weren't going to get it at the moment. Perhaps one day I'll
have one like that in our bedroom :) For now we are quite satisfied with
the arrangement we have in the living room; something that we're both
proud of.
In a few months a friend of mine who lives in Ohio is coming to visit.
She is an interior designer who's also a big fan of end tables. She's told
me about some of her very beautiful end tables at home. She has a wooden
magazine-rack end table along with a mahogany and a marble-top end table
in the living room. Pretty impressive! So, you bet I'll get her opinion on
how to improve our living room set up.
Have fun decorating your home!
More Resources:
Bathroom
Decorating Ideas at HGTV
Bathroom
Decorating Ideas at iVillage
Xmas Decorating Ideas
Oriental Area Rug
