1 table is good; 2 or 3 are better

An unexpected coffee table can be one of the best ways to add character to a room. Here's my favorite idea these days: Use nesting tables in front of a sofa instead of beside it.

I picked this set up at a consignment store recently and love not only the table shapes (two rectangular and one round), and varying heights, but also the versatility they offer.

Sometimes they stay put; sometimes they are separated to hold snacks or a laptop computer. The accessories are always changing, too. It's just that kind of landscape.

Here are a few other examples I spied:

Set of three black wicker tables from Target, for $89.99:

This round pair from Crate & Barrel for $399:

And this trio from Restoration Hardware for $299.99:

A little amour for the armoire please

The popularity of the flat-screen TV has left an ocean of orphans in its wake: the once-loved, now-neglected armoire.

Furniture consignment stores are chock full of them; Craigslist is overwhelmed with them.

But I'm here to tell you: Armoires were around a long time before the advent of the bulky need-to-hide-them televisions and computers and there are still plenty of uses for them.

A little history: Cavemen used armoires to store their drawings. Vikings hid the keys to their ships in them. And prairie folk put their Popsicles in them, but that was pretty much a bust until they invented ice.

It's been, in fact, only for the last several hundred years that people have stored televisions and computers in armoires. And now that lots of folks are down-sizing those appliances, it's a good time to buy those cast-off pieces of furniture.

The armoire shown here cost $135 at a consignment shop. It is a solid oak piece that was built as a computer station. Now it houses toys. A few baskets and it tames the toys that were in the family room of one of my clients. The shelf that once held the keyboard now holds puzzles.

Armoires are a handsome way to store office supplies, linens and, of course, clothing.

So, in the words of David Soul: Don't give up on us, baby. We're still worth one more try. (And if you don't know who David Soul is and you don't find out...you are dead to me.)

Toys? What toys?

Ever wish we lived back in the day when kids had like one toy apiece? It might have been a dried up apple core, a wee strip of tree bark, maybe some fossilized dinosaur poop?

Storing those toys would have been easy. Today, not so much.

Here's a suggestion for keeping children's things under wraps in the more public rooms of the house.

See the cabinet up there? I got that for $5 at an auction. It needed a few nails, a little stain and I hacked off the legs.

And here was the tricky part: I nailed a few starfish (dried; I think the live ones would wiggle too much) to the doors. Just use little nails and don't whack them too hard.

It's about four feet tall and inside there are wooden drawers when little toys live and some shelves for games.

I'd love to hear if you have any good ideas for storing toys in your living room or family room. Pass them along!

A Snapshot: One hard worker

This is the commode I picked up at Brimfield a few years ago. Since I’ve had it, it’s held toys in the family room, and now does duty as a nightstand. Like a lot of furniture made back in the day, it’s solid and will likely see a lot more service before it retires.