The decorating shows tell you to have a place to put a drink by each seat. They show all of these unusual tables and furniture they use for side tables. They don’t live in a small house. I don’t have room for two side tables and (due to an accident when he was a child) my husband will not let me get a coffee table. (Personally, I think he just likes the center of the room open for wrestling with kids.)

Last fall, I finally came up with a solution. Since there was no room next to the wall for a table we hung a shelf. There is enough room for a lamp and a drink.  I have even had a plant on the shelf behind the lamp. (My plants spend the summer outside in the back yard so it is not pictured here.)