table – Designing Goldilocks

Why the C-table is a design trifecta

Whoever invented the C-table must have had me in mind.

I have two C-tables. One of them, a red and black one, I keep near my favorite spot on the couch.

It holds my cup of coffee in the morning, my glass of wine at night and my bottle of water in between. I can’t live without it.

If you’re thinking, “She’s going to write another love letter to a table, isn’t she?” The answer is yes. This is a design blog, after all, and I hear personal stories are popular. (See published posts for “The story of an accent table,” April 13, 2020.)

Now back to the C-table.

I bought my first one at Pier 1 Imports several years ago. I was living at my condo at the time and space was at a premium.

I loved that I could move the table around to where I needed it.

The tabletop, legs and base are shaped like the letter C, allowing the base to slide under a couch or chair and the tabletop to practically rest on my lap.

I’ve used the table to polish my fingernails. I’ve used it as a TV tray. I set my phone on it. Notebooks. Laptop. You get the idea.

Even in the new house, the C-table is perfect.

I don’t have space on either side of the couch for end tables unless I block the flow of traffic in and out of the room. The C-table solves that problem.

I bought the second C-table during the construction of the new house. It is situated next to a chair in the living room. It hardly gets used but it’s there because I’m sure the time will come when I’ll need it.

To be honest, I bought the second C-table more for the green-leaf design that I’m brining into the living room. But that I found the perfect pattern in a C-table was a match made into decor heaven.

I’m being silly now. But these small wins in the design world are astronomical when it comes to furnishing a home. Function is key. Yes from the outside, it’s all pretty stuff. And sometimes that’s all it is.

But if you can design a space that is functional, stylish and comfortable, well that’s the design trifecta.

*The C-table is a great alternative* when space is limited. Photos by Cindy Hernandez

Statement pieces

You won’t find clutter in my house.

No bric-a-brac on shelves.

No knickknacks.

No trinkets.

This is mostly because I hate to dust. So the fewer items on display, the fewer items to get dusty.

Instead I go for statement pieces. A vase. A plant. A votive.

The pieces are grand. They speak for themselves. They encapsulate my decor. They don’t take center stage, they take the whole stage.

If you’re in the process of organizing your house and want to de-clutter, take these steps to maximize your space without forgoing style:

Pick a cluttered tabletop.

Choose a favorite object that represents your decor. Be sure it is large enough to pack a punch without overtaking the table.

Place it in the center or the corner, wherever it makes sense.

Stand back and evaluate. The piece should be eye-catching. A conversation-starter. It should cause someone to do a double-take and say, “This piece looks like you.”

Here are 3 examples of statement pieces in my house

This pineapple piece takes the stage on the buffet, all from Pier 1 Imports. Photos by Cindy Hernandez

*This artificial* plant from Target adds greenery to this mirrored accent table from Pier 1 Imports. It’s okay to leave the bottom shelf empty.

*This centerpiece says it all, ‘centerpiece.’*

The story of an accent table

I love accent tables.

You can put them anywhere. They’re small. They’re cute. They can match your decor. Or not, because they are so functional, they can stand on their own. No pun intended.

The accent tables in my house run the gamut from pricier ones from furniture stores to the ones that belonged to John’s Mom, Diane. And the ones that belonged to John’s Mom are my favorite.

The one in the water closet came all the way from Michigan in the 1970s when John and his family moved to Arizona. It has short wooden legs and a tile tabletop reminiscent of the Southwest.

It’s not exactly the table you would picture in Michigan, so it’s almost fitting that it would end up in the Southwest.

The table is small and perfect in the master bathroom water closet where it holds the tissue box and – if I am being honest – my coffee cup and cell phone during morning visits.

The other accent table from Diane sits next to John’s chair in the living room. He uses it to place his coffee on weekend mornings. It’s a newer piece Diane picked up here in Arizona. It too does not match my decor but I love it all the same.

But what makes these pieces so special is how I came to acquire them.

Diane spent the last 15 months of her life in a nursing home. When it came time to collect her belongings, John let me pick the items I wanted before donating the rest. The tables were among her belongings. I grabbed them immediately.

From there, the tables went from the nursing home to my condo, to my storage unit while the new house was being built, to the new house.

Actually, the table from Michigan had a layover at my parents’ own water closet between the condo and the new house. My Dad needed a place for his own coffee cup during morning visits. So I brought the table over from storage on the condition I would take it back once the new house was ready.

Dad loved that table. Almost to the point of threatening to hide it from me so that I would never take it away.

Who would have thought that an accent table would make its way into so many lives and bring function into so many houses?