Guide to Creating a Beautifully Styled Coffee Table
There's more to styling a coffee table than you might first think. This guide will make sure you style yours like a pro
The top of your coffee table is a difficult one to style – it needs to be practical as well as pretty, so how do you combine both functions?! These points will guide you through the process of beautifully styling your coffee table. You’ll be surprised at just how easy it is to pull something together using this formula and pieces you have lying around your house (probably gathering dust up until now!). Most homes have a coffee table, so why not have a go with yours tonight?
Vary your objects
It’s important to have some visual differences with the items you place on your table top. You can see here in this photo that a beautiful mirrored tray is the anchor point for a grouping of items, while the taller vase provides some visual interest as well as texture. Trays are your best friend when styling your table top.
Items to consider using on your coffee table:
It’s important to have some visual differences with the items you place on your table top. You can see here in this photo that a beautiful mirrored tray is the anchor point for a grouping of items, while the taller vase provides some visual interest as well as texture. Trays are your best friend when styling your table top.
Items to consider using on your coffee table:
- Vases filled with flowers that you rotate regularly
- Trays in various sizes and colours
- A mixture of round and rectangular objects
- Books – these look great in stacks of three or more
- Candles for ambient night light
Groupings always win
You’ll see here there are three glass fisherman’s floats grouped together – they provide texture because of the knotted rope around them while the flowers in the vases provide colour and the stacked books provide height. When in doubt, group in odd numbers such as threes or fives as they are visually more interesting and look more balanced than a grouping of even numbers. Although in saying that, a pairing of objects is also a nice choice. But never four or six items grouped together.
You’ll see here there are three glass fisherman’s floats grouped together – they provide texture because of the knotted rope around them while the flowers in the vases provide colour and the stacked books provide height. When in doubt, group in odd numbers such as threes or fives as they are visually more interesting and look more balanced than a grouping of even numbers. Although in saying that, a pairing of objects is also a nice choice. But never four or six items grouped together.
Use the available space wisely
Coming back to my first point, what are the needs of everyone who uses the coffee table? Don’t forget that other people may need the coffee table for other purposes such as a spot to rest a drink, a place to eat dinner after a long day at work or a place to house the TV remotes and a couple of stylish decorating books. Once you’ve determined what you need to use the space for, you can divide the table into ‘zones’. In this picture, it’s clear that games are in one corner with the naughts and crosses game, a tall vase with palms in it is for decoration, the stacked books are for reading in the evening and the plate of round balls is a nice decorative feature to balance out the other pieces nicely.
Coming back to my first point, what are the needs of everyone who uses the coffee table? Don’t forget that other people may need the coffee table for other purposes such as a spot to rest a drink, a place to eat dinner after a long day at work or a place to house the TV remotes and a couple of stylish decorating books. Once you’ve determined what you need to use the space for, you can divide the table into ‘zones’. In this picture, it’s clear that games are in one corner with the naughts and crosses game, a tall vase with palms in it is for decoration, the stacked books are for reading in the evening and the plate of round balls is a nice decorative feature to balance out the other pieces nicely.
Consider the style of the room and table
The decorative pieces you place on your coffee table need to speak to the rest of the room. If you’re going for a slick minimalist look, there’s no point putting big Balinese trays covered in candles on the table as this will confuse the overall look.
Ideas to consider:
The decorative pieces you place on your coffee table need to speak to the rest of the room. If you’re going for a slick minimalist look, there’s no point putting big Balinese trays covered in candles on the table as this will confuse the overall look.
Ideas to consider:
- Minimalist look with one tray and three items grouped together
- Layered look – lots of different shapes and sizes all layered together to provide various points of interest
TELL US
What takes pride of place on your coffee table? Share with us your coffee table styling ideas in the Comments.
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Do you use the coffee table as a dining table as well as foot rest? Or do you have very clear rules about the coffee table being a place for remote controls, magazines and the odd glass of water?
Do you have storage under your coffee table? Could this area be used as another surface to style, too?
Are there little hands that will be grabbing things from the coffee table and constantly re-arranging your beautifully styled table top?