How to Hide the Wall or the Feet of Your Sofa with a Console Table

There is a stretch of room most of us never style: the gap behind the sofa. If your sofa floats away from the wall, that gap shows either a strip of bare skirting and wall, or the underside of the sofa with its feet and shadow. It is rarely the prettiest view the room has to offer, and it is often the first thing seen from the doorway.

A console table solves both problems at once. It covers the wall or the feet, gives the room a finished line and adds a surface that earns its keep. Here is how to use one well.

The problem with the gap

A floating sofa is a good design decision. Pulling the sofa away from the wall makes a room feel bigger, improves the sound and gives you a walkway that works. But it leaves a view that nobody planned: sofa feet, a shadow line and whatever the wall looks like at that height.

The same applies in an open plan space, where the sofa back faces the dining table. From the dining side, the sofa back is the view. Without something behind it, the room reads as furniture pushed into a field rather than a space with a plan.

How a console covers it

The console sits behind the sofa and intercepts the view. Its top sits level with or just below the sofa back, so the eye meets a finished surface instead of sofa feet and shadow.

A table with a solid body works hardest at hiding things. The Valentia 2 Drawer Console is 160 cm long, 45 cm deep and 79 cm high, with a Bentley faux leather top, wood veneer detailing and two drawers. At 79 cm high it covers the wall behind most sofas completely and its drawers take the everyday things that used to clutter the room. It suits hiding the wall behind a sofa or the sofa's feet, which is exactly what it was chosen for here at Bellurie.

For a lighter look, an open or sculptural base hides the feet while letting light through. The Forged Console Bronze Dorato, hand cast in bronze with a bronze glass top, screens the gap without adding visual weight. At 135 cm long and 40 cm deep it suits sofas where you still want the room to feel open.

If the gap is very narrow, a wall mounted console needs almost no floor. The Arun Wall Console Bronze Nera is 23 cm deep with a quartz top and a curved bronze arch that turns the wall itself into the feature.

Style what you have hidden with

Once the console is in place, the wall or the feet are gone from view, and what replaces them is yours to design. Keep it simple:

• One lamp, for height and evening light. The Splash Ceramic Lamp Grey at 70 cm high gives a warm pool without overwhelming the sofa.
• One sculptural piece, such as the Studio Art Glass Waves, which catches the light and changes through the day.
• One low object or a small stack of books, and a clear stretch of surface for a cup or a book.

That is the whole arrangement. A console behind a sofa is seen from both sides of the room, so it should look composed without looking staged.

If the wall itself still bothers you

Sometimes the wall behind the sofa is the problem, and a console alone does not fully answer it. Two further moves work well:

First, hang a mirror above the console. A bronze or brass framed mirror bounces the lamp light back into the room and turns a dead wall into a framed reflection. Second, if the console sits against the wall rather than behind a floating sofa, a pair of sconces above it adds height and warmth without stealing surface space.

A quick checklist

• Measure the sofa back height and choose a console that meets it
• Solid bodied consoles hide the most, sculptural bases hide with lightness
• Keep the depth at 40 to 45 cm so the walkway survives
• Style with one lamp, one sculptural piece and one low object
• Add a mirror above if the wall still needs help

Take a look at our console tables to see which design suits your sofa, or ask our styling and staging service to pull the scheme together for you.