For years, we’ve have our dining table butted up against the wall instead of the more common center-of-the-room position. This saves us circulation space while still accommodating seating for 4, and in a pinch 5. This has worked well, the mission of the furniture being essentially that of the classic “kitchen table”, a spot for casual meals, reading the newspaper over breakfast, or having family meetings. I’ve always felt the arrangement was a bit clumsy.
This “table console” seems to do the trick of visually connecting the table to the wall, in much the same way as a fireplace mantel centers a room. It adds a new display place for art, and a convenient outlet for appliances and charging cables. After several iterations of the design, this is what I came up with:
Leaving a notch in the supporting plinth allows a tablecloth to slip past and drop behind. Even though the table is not mechanically linked to the console, the “reveal” links them with a bit of negative space. This has emerged as the perfect spot to leave our devices for re-charging. We seem to use the table more frequently now for iPad and computer work in general.
Construction notes
The shelf is a running parquet of oak flooring strips, trimmed out in curly maple, echoing the tabletop I made a few years back. The plinth is a box of rescued 1/2 and 3/4 inch plywood mounted to the wall with a French cleat. I got the combination AC power and “Lightning” connector outlet from a source online for about $15.
Before. The chair rail of 3 step suggested a place to insert a new display shelf, and perhaps a more elegant way to plug in the toaster.
