Decorating A Console Table Behind A Couch: a house log

The console returns. Yes, the console is like Rocky and Batman movies. The sequels keep coming. Perhaps instead of The Console Returns we should say “Console: The Final Chapter” or “The Console Strikes Again” or “I Still Know What You Did Last Console.” No? Fine. We will stick with The Console Returns.

Yes, after many (many) posts about our big console build, this is the official finale. And this one is the most exciting for me because it is all about the lively stuff I put on it. Haha. I am deep, what can I say? I am sure it’ll constantly change, but here is what it looks like today:

The lamps were more than we have ever spent on lamps (I have some sort of imaginary $50-a-pop maximum and these were $59 each) but from the moment I saw them at Marshall’s I could not. walk. away. I even texted a picture of them to my friend Cat and she said “You are a magpie, gotta have ’em if they are shiny.” So I said to myself: “Self, what is $18 extra bucks when it is true lamp enjoy?” It did assist that they were marked down from $125 each.

We also picked up that big capiz-topped black lacquered box from HomeGoods (on clearance for $15, down from $36) because I knew it would be excellent for stashing nearly all of the clutter that seems to collect on the sofa (a few magazines, books, notebooks, pens, remotes, and even my brush and lotion). And the sleek glammy vibe worked with the blingy lamps to bring some modern chicness to our rustic ol’ console beast.

Other than that I simply brought in some stuff that we already owned, from a few stacks of fairly hardcover books that I enjoy to flip through (which are also functional thanks to a handy coaster that I stacked on top for my nightly cup of tea and the smaller white capiz box that is secretly full of my smaller sofa essentials (lip gloss, vitamins, nail clippers, etc).

And this cute $3 thrifted quatrefoil tray is ideal for all of the jewelry that I like to remove as soon as I sink into my special spot on the sectional (the chaise in case you are wondering).

And here is what we have going on in those hidden baskets in the middle compartment. The left side is full of board games since this the room where we typically get our game on. And the basket on the right has a lesser used remote (for the DVD player) as well as some books that we got for Clara from the library (we try to keep them all together so we are not looking everywhere for one last book on the day that they are due).

And of course we have a little ceramic animal action going on thanks to my old ZGallerie rhino friend. Likely simply for a bit until Clara gets bigger and he becomes endangered. Then he’ll go live on the built-ins in the dining room again:

For some reason this shot kills me. The little ceramic rhino butt in the background gets me every time.

As for the bookshelf sides of the console, we found three of these $5 baskets at HomeGoods, so the one on the close side of the console on the bottom shelf is full of a bunch of Clara’s board books while the top shelf has some of our books and a lively little Cardboard Safari rhino going on.

… and two more baskets on the far side of the console have blocks and other small toys stashed inside.

We are sure everything that we have on/in the console table will be constantly changing. For example, once Clara’s a bit more mobile I do not think my beloved ceramic rhino will get to live up there anymore. Unless I want him to meet an untimely end like my ceramic pooch.

Heck, she might even try to murder the cardboard rhino on that side shelf (so far, so good though) so we are simply going to play it by ear. We might decide that we’d like more empty space for putting stuff down on the top of the console (we have that big expanse in the center for a large bowl of chips or something, along with plenty of room for more coasters for drinks, but you never know if we will want even more). So it’ll be lively to tweak it and watch it evolve as the rest of the room comes together over the next year or two (still on the list: breezy curtains to add softness, a larger and more balanced looking media cabinet, etc).

And now for the weirdest video we have ever made. We were in sort of a quirky mood so we thought it would be hilarious to make a sexy stroking-the-console-video of the whole thing in action (we even throw open that middle compartment for ya to see how it opens and closes in “real time”). The music kills me. And the slow motion. Yup, we are still laughing about it:

Strangest video you’ve ever seen. Am I right? Oh and we have one more pic for ya. At night it is all sorts of magical in the living room now that we took out all the weird ceiling fans and that off-center corner pendant light and use the console table lamps along with the desk lamp to illuminate the room.

This photo does not even do it justice, but in person it is so cozy and glowey and charming. And we can only imagine how the right curtains and a bigger and more proportionate media cabinet will take this work-in-progress room a whole lot further. Someday…

Psst- Wanna flip back through the whole console building journey? Here is the first post, the second post, the third post, the fourth post, and the fifth post.