Other than buying a sofa to sit on and a bed to sleep in, your coffee table is arguably the third most versatile and engaging piece of furniture in your home. Considering it can also function as a desk, dining table, footrest, game table, you name it – it makes sense! ^{(Kaczmarski, 2018)}

Since coffee tables usually have prominent places in living rooms, it’s important that they function in the way they are supposed to but equally important that they look good. How a coffee table is styled (or not) can completely change the overall look of a room. What is on it can also completely alter the table’s function. You don’t want it to be too perfect or cluttered to the point that there’s no space left to make it practical, but you don’t want it to be a messy holding area for keys, mail, and last night’s take-out boxes either. ^{(Kaczmarski, 2018)}

Coffee table styling is a bit of an art. An empty coffee table top is a lost opportunity to add accessories. Accessorizing is adding all of the “fun stuff,” as my clients say. Everything seems to come together when accessories are incorporated. They are the final touches that make a space feel comfortable, usable and polished – the lipstick of the design world that creates the finishing touch.

Coffee Tabletop displays need to be attractive without disrupting the flow of the rest of the space. Fortunately, coffee table styling is easy to master as long as you keep certain guidelines in mind.

We like to stick to four main guidelines as outlined by designer, shop owner and columnist Phoebe Howard ^{(Bern, 2019)}:

1. Something tall
2. An oddball object
3. Something fresh
4. A stack of books

With just these few tips, it becomes easy to compose an arrangement that is both functional and visually appealing.

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