Today’s style alert is an understated note of glamour anyone can copy—a chilled marble tile for serving butter at the table. That’s how it’s done at the Carlyle, the elegant hotel that has been a New York City institution since it opened in the 1930s.

I rushed there, rather late, to lunch with a longtime friend, interior designer Larry Laslo, a few days ago. And on our table was a chilled 4-by-4-by-1/2-inch slab of reddish-brown marble used as a stage for two perfect slices of butter. The cold stone kept the butter from melting, while the presentation was unexpectedly chic.

How to make this design your own? Buy a marble tile from a company such as Ann Sacks (a slab of the firm’s Emperador Dark is shown above), Country Floors, or Urban Archaeology. It should cost around $20 or less; often they are sold by the square foot, so buy one and have it cut down to size.

One of these marble accessories is much more stylish than a standard butter dish. One caveat: Don’t set the chilled marble on a bare wood table—the stone could scratch or the cold crack the finish. Instead set it atop a tablecloth with a protective pad underneath or simply add adhesive felt pads from your local hardware store.

Mitchell Owens
Editor at Large, ELLE DECOR