How to Style a Console Table with Laura Hammett

"The nature of this room is very symmetric so we’ve gone with symmetry throughout. I would also always do that when you’ve got a very long console, so having the two lamps works well in this case. The key is to make sure you’ve really got that balance throughout."

"We’ve gone for zoning sections and clusters which is always a good styling rule. Starting with the top level we have used the mid-sized tray which is designed to be a functional tray that you can move around and take drinks over to the sofa area."

"Everything in this collection has got a soft suede base which is tonal with the piece and allows you to move everything around on a very delicate surface without any concern about it scratching. This tray also works very well to ground some of the smaller pieces so that you don't have diffusers and candles feeling lost on the surface."

"Looking at the lower level, again I’ve created zones. We’ve got three different sections on the bottom to create that symmetry. I’ve gone for more showpiece pieces in the middle so your eye gets drawn down to that middle section and then either side of that we’ve got a stack of coffee table books which is really nice grounding for some more decorative items. Something soft and light like glassware or bowls look very nice on a lower level. A storage box on a lower level is also good, this is a jewellery box which we’ve used to store items in so you can keep the surfaces tidy and you can just put everything away, the scale of this piece is also very good. It feels like it fills the volume."

"When you’ve finished you need to stand back and look at everything from a distance and look to see if that balance is really natural."