Coffee Table

In Sunday's Nation section of The Baltimore Sun, there is a picture of President Obama in a meeting with senior advisors using a table for a foot rest. In the past, there have been other pictures in various settings showing the president's feet on an assortment of furnishings within the White House. They all show disrespect for the White House and its furnishings. The White House belongs to the people of America and should be more revered than to use anything and everything for a foot rest.

White marble has stood as a Baltimore icon for decades, primarily as rowhouse steps, the preferred gathering place for residents in many neighborhoods. The marble also served as the street-level façade for a number of downtown buildings, greeting thousands of Baltimoreans on their daily rush to work. But amid decades of renovation and redevelopment, cheaper replacements relegated countless tons of once-gleaming stone to the dump. That's where Stuart B. Foard found inspiration for a heavyweight home project.

In the market for a coffee table? Then do yourself a favor and start with the premise that there is no such thing as perfection. No one coffee table can do it all -- function, fit well and look absolutely right.A coffee table is, almost by definition, a compromise piece of furniture. In existence for only about 60 or 70 years, it evolved from the higher tea table. In many ways the tea table worked better than its antecedent. It was lighter in weight, more portable (often with wheels) and kept the tea service up where corsetted women and starched-collar men sitting on high-seated settees and chairs could get at it. When foundation garments relaxed and lower, squishier sofas and chairs came into fashion, the tea table was replaced by its shorter, wider, longer and often stouter cousin, the coffee table.

Meagan Shipley, a nurse in the Baltimore City Health Department, works at a family planning clinic during the day and helps provide health care to workers on The Block in the evenings. When she was contacted by photographer Carolyn Jones to be part of a new coffee-table book, "The American Nurse," she agreed, hoping to publicize the work the city is doing to help workers in Baltimore's strip-club hub "A lot of people want to write off [Block workers]," she says. "I hate this attitude.

When Baltimoreans turn on the TV and see Donna Hamilton, they see a comfortable, familiar face — someone they probably think they know, someone they might want to sit down with for a cup of tea. Her home, it turns out, has the same feel. The longtime anchor for WBAL-TV has spent years working to create a home that feels effortless. Lived in for 30 years now, the Baltimore house, a cottage really, is the sort of place with a cozy, lived-in aesthetic. Altogether underdesigned — by design.

Q: How can I furnish an apartment living room that is standard in just about every way? The walls are white, the carpet is cream-colored, and there's a large picture window that looks somewhat off balance due to the duct column alongside it. I don't have a big budget, but I'm hoping to produce something out of the ordinary.A: The trick is to introduce a few unexpected elements without making the space appear bizarre. Properly proportioned, well-made pieces are essential in achieving that goal.

Need a rug? We have it covered We just redesigned our home and we need help finding a rug that fits our new living room space, but we don't know what size or orientation would work best. What are your suggestions? Finding that perfectly sized rug can sometimes be a challenge. My first thought would be a custom rug that would allow you to control the size, shape, and pattern/design of the rug. However, this is not always cost-effective. So I would suggest an Oriental rug or a reproduction.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger Woods has always been a traditionalist in a game where the rules are as important as the results. It means being respectful of your elders and their accomplishments while obliterating their records and overshadowing their legends. In the eight months since he won his third straight major with a scintillating playoff victory over journeyman Bob May in the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., Woods has given second thought to his position about what constitutes winning golf's Grand Slam.

Most bulky publications of the coffee table genre, books of the "75 Seasons" ilk, are expensive. But maybe "75," the complete story of the NFL on the occasion of its LXXV anniversary, has solved the problem:Go out and buy four legs with necessary hardware and affix them to the back cover. Voila! You've saved yourself the price of a coffee table . . . and landed yourself a terrific pictorial that gains with age.It's the latest in a series of books extolling the virtue of a pro game born in a garage in Canton, Ohio, starting with "The Game" in 1963 and proceeding through "The Pros," "The Game That Was," "The First 50 Years," and "The Gladiators," and is probably the best of the lot.Usually, you don't have fun with a book.

A new talk show will have its debut tomorrow on Howard County's cable TV, but forget the usual talk-show staples like chair throwing, bizarre relationships and cathartic life epiphanies. Instead, those tuning in will learn a bit of Columbia's history and see a serious discussion about downtown development on the new cable-access program Columbia Matters. The 26-minute program -- which will air at 11 a.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Channel 71 -- delves into Columbia's issues with a question-and-answer format and snippets of on-the-street interviews with residents.

I hope your holiday gift-giving included some books, and if you're still looking, here are the best coffee-table books I've seen in the past month of so. These are the sort of photo- and graphic-rich editions that look great in a living room -- and that overwhelm Kindles or other e-readers. Some favorites: -- "History's Greatest Images" by TIME, is billed as a compilation of "the World's 100 Most Influential Photographs. " The classics are all there: the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, Babe Ruth, JFK, school desegregation, the World Trade Center.

Need a rug? We have it covered We just redesigned our home and we need help finding a rug that fits our new living room space, but we don't know what size or orientation would work best. What are your suggestions? Finding that perfectly sized rug can sometimes be a challenge. My first thought would be a custom rug that would allow you to control the size, shape, and pattern/design of the rug. However, this is not always cost-effective. So I would suggest an Oriental rug or a reproduction.

In Sunday's Nation section of The Baltimore Sun, there is a picture of President Obama in a meeting with senior advisors using a table for a foot rest. In the past, there have been other pictures in various settings showing the president's feet on an assortment of furnishings within the White House. They all show disrespect for the White House and its furnishings. The White House belongs to the people of America and should be more revered than to use anything and everything for a foot rest.

When Baltimoreans turn on the TV and see Donna Hamilton, they see a comfortable, familiar face — someone they probably think they know, someone they might want to sit down with for a cup of tea. Her home, it turns out, has the same feel. The longtime anchor for WBAL-TV has spent years working to create a home that feels effortless. Lived in for 30 years now, the Baltimore house, a cottage really, is the sort of place with a cozy, lived-in aesthetic. Altogether underdesigned — by design.

You have the sofa. You have the chairs, the TV, the lamps. The last big piece for the living/family room is likely to be the coffee table. Finding a table can be a significant challenge. How do you know what size, height and shape? Chicago interior designer Mitchell Putlack offered some clues. Know thyself. Know how you are going to sit at the coffee table, Putlack says. "Are you going to sit on a sofa or chair and put your feet up" on the table? If so, look for an ottoman-style coffee table and put trays atop it to hold food and drinks.

CHEVY CHASE - When people opine about "women of substance," there's a tendency to fixate on those solid, studious types, with sensible hair and various advanced degrees. But there is something to be said for the substance involved in simply being a woman of beauty. Carolina Herrera, arguably the top female designer in American fashion, is one of those women. For all those who would argue that accoutrements are frivolous and fashion is silly, her steady rise to prominence in our stubbornly low-rise, denim-and-khakis society proves that there is room still for women who bring to every affair effortless grace and impeccable style.

Every room design starts somewhere. Many designers believe that the major elements in design -- a color, a swatch of fabric, a piece of furniture or an architectural detail -- are their inspiration, or starting point. Yes, agrees Judith Wilson, seasoned design journalist, photo stylist and author of "Inspiration, Decoration: Starting Points for Stylish Rooms" (Simon & Schuster Editions, $35) -- and no."Decorating," she writes, "is an emotional issue."Inspiration, therefore, must trigger an emotion.

I first met him a dozen years ago in Atlantic City. They hadn't built the casinos yet and the Miss America Pageant was the only reason people showed up in September.He had a small suite at the Holiday Inn. He had an ocean view, though the ocean, like the sky, always seemed to be gray and forbidding.On the coffee table in his room there was a gigantic basket of fruit accompanied by an adoring little note from the president of CBS.Back then, Bert Parks was somebody.He came to the door wearing black and white loafers, white pants with a razor-thin pinstripe and a dazzling white shirt open at the throat.

A new talk show will have its debut tomorrow on Howard County's cable TV, but forget the usual talk-show staples like chair throwing, bizarre relationships and cathartic life epiphanies. Instead, those tuning in will learn a bit of Columbia's history and see a serious discussion about downtown development on the new cable-access program Columbia Matters. The 26-minute program -- which will air at 11 a.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Channel 71 -- delves into Columbia's issues with a question-and-answer format and snippets of on-the-street interviews with residents.