The Forgotten Vintage Furniture Find To Snatch Up For Your Entryway

If you're struggling to create a stylish entryway with limited room in your home, sometimes you just have to make do with the space you do have. This means finding unique pieces of furniture that can easily fit in your house and maximize your decor options. Maybe you don't have a large entryway, or maybe you only have a small area of empty floor in front of your door. That's where these unique, space-saving table designs come in. You may have heard of them. The demilune, which is French for "half moon," is a table typically built in the shape of a crescent. You've probably seen them pressed up against the wall in hallways or foyers. 

Your traditional demilune table may come with additional storage space, like a bottom shelf, but most can be utilized for their small tabletop. They may not be capable of holding entire bins of winter accessories or an extensive photo frame gallery, but these entryway tables can hold a pothos plant, a bowl for keys, a candle, a vase of dried flowers, or other select items. If your foyer feels small and empty, a demilune table might be in your future. (And, if you want to know how to decorate your new piece on a budget, here's how to style your entryway table Dollar Tree-style.)

Originating in the 1700s in French palaces, the demilune table was known for its usage in extravagant hallways for decorative purposes. But, it wasn't just in royal spaces that these tables were useful; they were common in the town homes of the gentry, which were of more modest proportions than these enormous royal residences. These tables were definitely seen as items of luxury. While all demilune designs typically share the half-moon tabletop, they can have a vast array of designs. While some could be built with heavy marble, others could be created with lighter hardwoods like walnut to make them more movable. You could even combine two demilune tables together in the middle of the room to create one singular table. 

If you're a fan of the Neoclassicism design style, then you may recognize certain characteristics of this movement in antique demilune tables, as they became very popular during this period. Many of these tables feature detailed embellishment, wood patterns, or tapering legs, and some even include leaves that could be pulled out to create a full tabletop. If you're looking to source a demilune table for your home, you can find them available for purchase brand new from an affordable chain like Walmart, or you can buy from a vintage seller. Lucky shoppers might even find one tucked away at their local thrift stores. A vintage demilune can range in price from $80 to upwards of $15,000 depending on the material, the period, and the designer of the piece.