Simple console holds its own with flashier design elements

High Point, N.C., hosts what is probably the best known and certainly the most influential spring furniture market in the country. The changes that have occurred there in recent years are thus of great interest to interior designers.

Equally significant is what hasn't changed at High Point. The market remains focused on the average furniture-store retailer, with most of the pieces clearly intended for the general home-furnishing public.

Quality and price, however, have risen substantially. Many more international dealers are now represented at High Point as well.

It can thus be deduced that the tastes of the average buyer have grown broader and more expensive. This spring's exposition featured many stylistically sophisticated pieces that might have looked out of place at High Point just a few years ago.

Q: Opposite the entrance to our living room is a pair of elaborate floor-to-ceiling window treatments with a wide-striped, red-white-and-gray fabric. The draperies are separated by a 6-foot expanse of wall.

This section of wall needs a decorative element. A painting probably wouldn't look so good against those bold stripes and in between the dramatic draperies. Is there something else you could recommend?

A: Yes, I recommend a console because it's such a versatile and adaptable piece of furniture. A well-designed console can hold its own in even a high-style setting, which makes it ideal for a space such as the one you describe.

You should choose a piece that doesn't compete with the window treatments but instead acts as a bridge between them. Something similar to the Nicole Miller console shown in the photo would certainly be worth considering.

This contemporary piece from Excelsior Designs could also play the practical role of helping to vary the lighting options in your living room. A pair of candlestick lamps would go well on the console, as would a larger shaded lamp on one end and a vase or other decorative object on the other.

You could also hang a decoratively framed, round mirror on the wall above the console.

Rita St. Clair is a syndicated columnist with Tribune Media Services Inc. E-mail general interior design questions to her at rsca@ritastclair.com.