A dining table gets styled once and left alone. A console that's occasionally a dining table gets styled and re-styled, over and over, because it's doing a different job most weeks than it is on the nights it matters least how it looks. That's not a downside. It's a reason to actually think about how to style it, instead of leaving a stack of mail on it and calling it done.
As an entry table
This is the console's most natural role: the first flat surface inside the door, doing the job every entryway needs done. Keep the top third clear — a catch-all tray for keys, a low lamp, one thing with a little height like a vase or a stack of books. Resist filling the whole surface. Part of what makes a 2-foot console feel intentional rather than cramped is negative space; a table that's visually "full" reads smaller than it is.
As a home-office desk
The morning-to-evening arc only works if the desk version of this table is genuinely pleasant to work at, not just tolerated. A slim desk lamp instead of relying on overhead light, a cable tray or basket underneath so charging cords don't become part of the daytime decor, and a chair that's comfortable enough for a full workday but visually light enough that it doesn't read as "office furniture" the moment the laptop closes. If the console lives against a wall, a single piece of art or a mirror above it does more for the desk-feel than anything on the surface itself.
As a media console
Under a TV, the styling job flips: less about what's on top, more about what's hidden. This is where the console's storage earns its keep — remotes, cables, the games controller nobody can ever find, all inside rather than arranged around a soundbar. On top, keep it sparse: the components that need to be visible, one low object for texture, nothing tall enough to block the screen from the seating across the room.
The one rule that applies to all three
Because this table changes size, it also has to look intentional at every width it can be. Overload the top with a dozen small objects and the five-second transformation into a dining table turns into a two-minute scramble to clear it first. Style the console the way you'd style a table you might need to clear in one sweep of the arm, because eventually, on some ordinary Tuesday, that's exactly what happens.
