Agnes Console Table Made From Reclaimed Wood

Established in 1989 and a 1stdibs dealer since 2005, Petersen Antiques is a beautiful mixture of antique and custom-made furniture, art, and tapestries. This carefully curated collection, located in their Los Angeles workshop, is the result of 25 years of traveling the world in search of the most beautiful pieces and inspirations for custom designs. Their Swedish-American founder, Ken Petersen, began his journey collecting antique pieces from all over Europe, later returning to his roots and sourcing antiques from Sweden as well as creating new Scandinavian-inspired designs. Today, their Los Angeles workshop has a large collection of antique furniture from all around the world and is the home of their made-to-order workshop where they have a specialist team hand-build custom furniture using only the highest quality material and traditional carpentry.

Shopping for a piece of reclaimed wood furniture? From beams to doors to dining tables, reclaimed wood imbues even brand-new spaces with warmth and a sense of history.

In today’s homes, a reclaimed wood bench, side table or bookcase can add texture and a provocative focal point to a bedroom or living room. A live-edge coffee table is reliably attention-getting as functional art, while a blend of driftwood and weather-worn wood alongside your teak lounge chairs can lend emphasis to a space’s existing beach-house ambiance or draw eyes to the tranquil “California Coastal” style you’ve long been perfecting. And no cozy farmhouse kitchen is complete without a rolling metal-and-reclaimed-wood cart, leather stools and black-granite counters under its exposed rough-hewn wood beams, right?

Every piece of wood tells a story, especially wood recovered from 400-year-old shipwrecks or from devastating earthquakes. Environmentally minded furniture designers and makers are telling the fascinating stories of reclaimed trees by giving them a second life in the form of functional rustic-style furniture and lighting.

Tréology is a New Zealand–based company that continues a 150-year-old family tradition of furniture making. Its mission is to connect people with nature through contemporary organic furniture such as its mid-century modern-inspired desks, dining room tables, stools and other pieces.

In Kingston, New York, the cofounder of New York Heartwoods, a sustainable furniture and woodworking business, Megan Offner helps clients part with their broken, diseased or fallen trees by turning them into sleek tables, case pieces and other furniture that is inspired by Shaker tradition as well as modernist designers.

The combination of this unusually sourced wood with master craftsmanship results in one-of-a-kind pieces that can be cherished for generations. Today, there are many extraordinary practitioners of this eco-friendly form of design — find their reclaimed wood furniture for sale on 1stDibs.

Few pieces of furniture are celebrated for their functionality as much as their decorative attributes in the way that console tables are. While these furnishings are not as common in today’s interiors as their coffee-table and side-table counterparts, console tables are stylish home accents and have become more prevalent over the years.

The popularity of wood console tables took shape during the 17th and 18th centuries in French and Italian culture, and were exclusively featured in the palatial homes of the upper class. The era’s outwardly sculptural examples of these small structures were paired with mirrors or matching stools and had tabletops of marble. They were most often half-moon-shaped and stood on two scrolled giltwood legs, and because they weren’t wholly supported on their two legs rather than the traditional four, their flat-backed supports were intended to hug the wall behind them and were commonly joined by an ornate stretcher. The legs were affixed or bolted to the wall with architectural brackets called console brackets — hence, the name we know them by today — which gave the impression that they were freestanding furnishings. While console tables introduced a dose of drama in the foyer of any given aristocrat — an embodiment of Rococo-style furniture — the table actually occupied minimal floor space (an attractive feature in home furniture). As demand grew and console tables made their way to other countries, they gained recognition as versatile additions to any home.

Contemporary console tables comprise many different materials and are characterized today by varying shapes and design styles. It is typical to find them made of marble, walnut or oak and metal. While modern console tables commonly feature four legs, you can still find the two-legged variety, which is ideal for nestling behind the sofa. A narrow console table is a practical option if you need to save space — having outgrown their origins as purely ornamental, today’s console tables are home to treasured decorative objects, help fill empty foyers and, outfitted with drawers or a shelf, can provide a modest amount of storage as needed.

The rich collection of antique, new and vintage console tables on 1stDibs includes everything from 19th-century gems designed in the Empire style to unique rattan pieces and more.