The landing is the point of the furniture. If a guest cannot put a drink down without moving a candle, the table is styled for a catalogue, not a room.
A tray corrals the remote and the lighter so they leave the stone. A book gives height without blocking sightlines across a low sofa. One object (a bowl, a small vase) is enough. Flowers that sit above eye line when you are seated are for a dining table.

