When renovating or designing from scratch a living room, you get to a point where you wonder how to style a coffee table. We all have been there!

Even though flooring, wall painting, fabrics, and shapes command the mood of your living room, once in a while, you feel the urge to change the tabletop decor of your coffee table. That’s because coffee table decor is underrated. Imagine sitting on your sofa, engaging in an exciting conversation with your friends, and suddenly starring at a boring coffee table. That kills the mood instantly.

Before we start, please keep in mind that good coffee table decor is full of texture – both visual and tactile texture. And creating texture doesn’t depend on personal taste nor budget. It depends only on choosing home accessories with different shapes, heights, and materials.

The curated tabletop decor is transforming – So let’s discover How To Style A Coffee Table With 6 Essential Items.

1. The Coffee Table

ACH Collection

First things first – to choose the coffee table. The coffee table must be one with the living room – that’s clear as crystal. At the same time, it defines how you must display decorative objects on the tabletop and what type of materials they should be made of.

For instance, if the coffee table has a marble tabletop, decor it with glass, wood, ceramics, and metal. But if the coffee table has a glass tabletop, you should avoid glass home accessories. No matter the material of your coffee table tabletop, the goal is to use decorative elements with contrasting materials from the table.

Another thing to take into account is the shape of your coffee table. Coffee tables can be round, square, rectangular, oval. They can also have an irregular shape. Choose the one that best fits your living room design.

Types of Coffee Tables

To style a round coffee table – divide the tabletop into 3 different areas. Then place objects with 3 different heights.

To style a square coffee table – divide the tabletop into at least 3 different areas. 4 different areas are just perfect. Again, choose decorative objects with different heights. A tray fits really well on a square coffee table – here, you can choose from a rectangular or round tray. Then add a round object, like a bowl, a sculpture, or a vase. It will create a sense of motion on the tabletop of your coffee table.

To style a rectangular coffee table – 3 parts is also a good division for styling a rectangular coffee table. Since rectangular coffee tables are usually wider, it is important to create a sense of depth. Define the core of your coffee table, then display objects – some near it, some further it. Add some flowers. They fit really well rectangular coffee tables.

To style an oval coffee table – defining 3 different parts mimicking a round coffee table works. Nevertheless, in an oval coffee table, you can – or must – bring those 3 different areas closer to each other and the core of your table. Different heights are mandatory on oval coffee tables too.

To style an irregular coffee table, you may find an irregular coffee table in a large living room – and even a coffee table set with multiple coffee tables. The 3-moments-rule also applies here. Choose 3 objects with 3 different heights and place them close to each other. With an irregular coffee table, the idea is to keep some space left and be functional. This applies to a multiple coffee table set – decor some and leave others blank.

How To Style A Coffee Table
Kósmos by Hommés Studio
How To Style A Coffee Table
Lunarys by Hommés Studio
How To Style A Coffee Table
Los Gordos by Hommés Studio

2. Coffee Table Books

Celebrity Homes

Coffee table books or cocktail books. Even though they are not a literature category, they are particular. Coffee table books are oversized and usually hard-covered. These books are also visually rich and contain very few words – photography books or art books.

What is the purpose of coffee table books? To break the ice and to start a conversation in which you share memories with your guest. Additionally, a stack of cocktails books adds height when it is needed. Be sure that these books speak your personality as much as they fit the coffee table.

How To Style A Coffee Table
Helmut Newton by Taschen
How To Style A Coffee Table
Bettina Rheims by Taschen
How To Style A Coffee Table
Dior. Peter Lindbergh by Taschen
How To Style A Coffee Table
Naomi by Taschen
How To Style A Coffee Table
Ciao. Mario Testino by Taschen

3. Candles

SEER Interior Design

If you aim to renovate the mood of your living room, you have to decorate your coffee tabletop with candles. Candles add both scent and light. These two features will appeal to your senses and create a cozier, more compelling living room. Candles also work as a small or medium height element of a tabletop. Additionally, you can place a stylish candle over a stack of cocktail books to create depth and proportion.

Achi Candle Black - Home Frangances by ACH Collection
Achi Black by ACH Collection
Achi Candle Green - Home Frangances by ACH Collection
Achi Green by ACH Collection
Achi Candle Yellow - Home Frangances by ACH Collection
Achi Yellow by ACH Collection

4. Boxes

Andrew Torrey

A beautiful box is a solution for hiding odd objects on the tabletop of your center table, such as remotes. Boxes add volume and height. They match a round tray and are great to keep things needed in the room, right in front of your eyes, but you are not pleased to see. And don’t forget that a box always adds some mystery too.

How To Style A Coffee Table
Lottie Box by CuratedKravet
How To Style A Coffee Table
Guilherme Small Agate Box by CuratedKravet
How To Style A Coffee Table
Fannie Box by CuratedKravet

5. Trays

1st Dibs

If your coffee table is small, maybe it is not worth adding a tray. But if your coffee table is big and you have plenty of decorative objects that you love and cannot pick just 2 or 3 from them, add a tray!

Trays are great home accessories. On a coffee table, you can turn several home accessories into one. Everything that goes on the tray is… the tray. It becomes a single decorative object, and it allows you to add more accessories, make some room on your coffee table tabletop faster, and create blank space on the tabletop for some coffee mugs as well.

Ultimate Gift Guide - Tray
Picasso Tray by ACH Collection
Table centerpieces ideas - Tray
Marte Tray by ACH Collection
Oskar Tray by ACH Collection
Oskar Tray by ACH Collection

6. Flowers

Australian Design

Are you feeling that something’s missing from your tabletop? Flowers will temper the room, create harmony between varied decorative objects, add color and bring nature inside the house. Flowers are fragile, so they will remind you that beautiful things must be handled with care, but they are impactful and bring a lot of texture to the table.

Source BlogLovin