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Nothing makes me feel more like a queen on a regular basis than a fresh twist-out and a great pair of gold hoops. I knew after moving from Washington, D.C., to Seattle that I needed a throne dedicated to my weekly washday ritual. My vanity is where I sit to do my twist-outs, put on my makeup and jewelry, and spray on my perfume. It’s where I remind myself in the morning of things like “I’m enough” and come home in the evening to take off my hoops and retwist my hair.
I moved to Seattle nearly two years ago, into a 650-square-foot, one-bedroom, 1930s-built apartment. There’s not enough space in my bathroom to get ready, and there’s definitely not enough room to do my hair, so buying a vanity was about more than aesthetics—it was a practical decision to carve out a place for self-care. The perfect piece needed to fulfill two criteria: It had to fit on the wall across from my bed frame, and it needed to look worthy of a chic hotel (think: Hotel Peter and Paul in New Orleans or the Santa Monica Proper in L.A.).
I started scrolling Facebook Marketplace and checking out the wealth of vintage stores in the city and the usual big-box suspects like West Elm, CB2, and Urban Outfitters Home. All of the options I came across were either too spendy or made of questionable materials for the price point. However, my good girlfriend Michele Price put me onto Studio McGee’s Ogden burled-wood console table at Target. It looked a whole lot like CB2’s Niche burl-wood console, except it was $300 (not $500). It was full of potential.
Ogden Burled-Wood Console Table
Ogden Burled-Wood Console Table, Designed With Studio McGee
TargetFor starters, the size was just right, at just 3’6” wide and 2’6” tall. Shipping was quick and the assembly was lightweight and easy with only a few parts. Plus the instructions were super-straightforward for a girl who loves to wing it.
I turned the console into a vanity by pairing it with my favorite wood chair by Brooklyn furniture brand Raini Home. Above, I mounted a black framed half-oval mirror (thanks, Amazon). On the vanity, I have a smaller vintage IKEA mirror I found at a local vintage store, a ceramic bowl I picked up on a sidewalk in Brooklyn (it’s perfect for storing my jewelry and perfumes), and a stack of jewelry boxes by Seattle-based brand Faris where I keep my finer pieces. In the nearly two years that I’ve owned the Studio McGee x Target console, it has weathered plenty of makeshift hair salon extravaganzas and coffee spills. Despite being made of wood composite unlike its CB2 counterpart, it remains a sturdy place for my daily adornment.
Because the Ogden table has been around for a while, it appears to only be available in select locations now, so if you want this vanity (or entryway!) setup for yourself, you might have to journey to a different store. If it’s unavailable to you, here are four other similarly sized consoles at Target that are also up to the job.