It’s been a long time since we’ve heard the phrase “TV tray” in design conversations. Commonly thought of as flimsy foldable trays—probably still speckled with last night’s leftovers—these makeshift meal stations have long been exiled from modern interiors. Popularized in the 1950s just as television sets and frozen dinners became fixtures in American homes, the former living room-staple often featured bold, kitschy motifs on a plastic tray top on a folding metal base. Though they had morphed into heavier wood sets marketed as semi-permanent pieces in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the evolution of and overall demand for the TV tray has been slow, if not nonexistent. Until now.

Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan at home in 1981. Photo: Bettmann / Getty Images

As a culture heavily into streaming and

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