Updated 12/14/
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Your coffee table is a big deal. It can make a huge statement for—or against—your interior design skills. As the anchor of your living room, your coffee table has endless style possibilities. Take advantage of that potential by following these seven coffee table styling tips. You’ll learn how to decorate your tabletop like a pro and wow your guests with a chic, unified look.
How to Style a Modern Coffee Table
Love what you see above? Add the same Steve Silver coffee table to your home, or shop all of our modern coffee tables. We have finishes and shapes for every interior design style.
And make sure you find the perfect complementing rug to go with your coffee table! We used the Dalyn Infinity geometric rug, but if you’re not quite sure if it’s the right fit for you, we have an entire guide on How to Pick the Perfect Rug for your living space!
In-Store Exclusives: Large Woodwick candle, $19.00 | Decorative vases, $4.99 and up | Coffee table trays, $9.99 and up | Succulent décor, $5.99 and up
7 Coffee Table Styling Tips
1. Separate Space With Coffee Table Trays
Any coffee table is naked without table trays. Our table features with not one, but three table trays. They help separate out space when you first start coffee table styling. We filled the small, rectangular one with remotes while the larger table tray groups together coffee table décor and books. You might be wondering about that bottom, empty tray. We’ll get to that in a bit… Looking to style trays all around your home? Check out Five Ways to Style a Table Tray for inspiration!
2. Decorate With Varying Heights
Choose coffee table decorations with varying heights to create visual interest. For example, in the middle of our coffee table, we set short and medium-height succulents accompanied by a taller candle. This creates a layered and balanced look versus keeping everything flat at the same height.
3. Add a Candle
Candles are great coffee table styling accents because they stimulate sight, sound and smell. We have Woodwick candles on our floor for every aromatic preference. They set the perfect Zen ambiance in any living room. If you’re looking for more mood lighting ideas, try setting chic table lamps on your end tables.
4. Include Touches of Life
Plants are the perfect addition to any coffee table. You can display your botanical successes, or give the impression that you have a green thumb with our realistic succulent décor.
5. Stack Books & Magazines
Prove that you’re a well-read adult. Stacking books and magazines adds dimension and creates a great conversation-starter for guests with who share similar tastes in reading material.
6. Keep an Empty Tray on-Hand
With all your chic coffee table décor, you might not have any space left for your actual coffee mug. Fear not! Here is where the empty table tray comes in for the win. Having an empty tray (or two) on coffee table ensures a convenient, movable surface where you can set drinks, food or entertaining accents.
7. Combine Different Shapes
When coffee table styling, blend shapes to add interest. We paired rectangle table trays and circular vases with organic-shaped succulents to create harmony. Just make sure that you have a good balance of straight and rounded edges.
And, last but not least…
Make It You!
Make your coffee table a part of your life story. You can display a wedding photo book, include homegrown flower clippings or show off personal art. The whole point of creating a home is to surround yourself with things that you love. So, make sure your coffee table is full of items that showcase you!
Share Your Coffee Table Styling Tips
Figuring out how to arrange your coffee table decor can be a frustrating process, to say the least. What begins as a simple task can quickly turn into a chaotic “what’s going on here?” moment. Though having countless options can be overwhelming, don’t let the endless possibilities deter you from letting your inner curator shine. In our humble opinion, coffee tables are your chance to show off organizational and creative talents all in one go. And best of all, coffee table decor can be the least permanent part of your space. Swap books for tabletop objects, puzzles for candles and flowers—or just mix it all together and let your coffee table serve as a decorative catchall displaying your current obsessions.
From stacking books with personal mementos to unconventional pieces of furniture, we’re here to ease your styling anxieties with some eye-catching coffee table decor ideas that will be sure to satisfy whatever type of design lover you are.
1. Go the clear route
A glass coffee table allows you to showcase your accessories without worrying about maximalist overload. The sleek see through design is anything but overpowering, and it’s a particularly good choice if you’re super into your rug or flooring, as seen here in this Matthew Bees–designed living room. Let your objects of choice do the talking and style away!
2. Turn it into a library
Top off your coffee table by styling it with some (or all) of your favorite books. They make for lovely home decor in any case, just check out interior designer Peter Sandel’s own living room setup. Haven’t actually read most of the books sitting pretty on top of your coffee table? Don’t worry, we won’t judge.
3. Let your flowers have a moment
More of a minimalist? Clear out the clutter and let your flowers take the spotlight, like in this Jessica LaGrange–designed apartment. Don’t have time to grab fresh flowers? Whip out that decorative vase you’ve been dying to use and let it fly solo or go for some succulents or low maintenance greenery.
4. Use a tray to house your favorite tabletop decor
An oldie but a goodie when it comes to coffee table design ideas: Use a tray to collect even the smallest of objects, as seen here in a Los Angeles rental apartment. It’s also highly convenient when you have to turn your coffee table into a makeshift dining table. If you have a round coffee table, be sure to pair it with a round tray.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Chic Coffee Tables. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
5. Layers, layers, and more layers
Add dimension to your space by layering objects around or beneath your coffee table, creating the illusion of multiple tiers. This not only adds dimension and visual appeal, but it can also be practical. Take it even further by grouping smaller tables of different sizes, like in this colorful living area, to cover as much surface area in the most unique fashion.
6. Who says it actually has to be a coffee table?
Since when does your coffee table actually have to be a coffee table? Think outside the conventional coffee table ideas box and use a vintage trunk or even a cushioned bench as the focal point in your living space, like in this gorgeous space by Beata Heuman.
7. The more the merrier
Sometimes more is most definitely better, so why should we limit the number of coffee tables in our space? Decorate the space by adding multiple tables to create an anything but basic aesthetic. The sculptural coffee tables in the above Studio MBM living room are by Pierre Sabatier.
8. Make it a giant catchall
Use your coffee tables as a catchall for all things, just as Philip Gorrivan did in his East Village apartment. Let candles, flowers, books, sculptures, and maybe a sage bundle or two sit pretty atop your perfectly imperfect coffee table. And if you’re worried about water stains, be sure to keep the coasters close at hand for guests to protect your precious belongings.
9. Get sculptural
Turned off by all of the above? Style your coffee table in the simplest possible way: Don’t. Let your coffee table speak for itself by investing in one that will demand a double take all on its own. The interesting form of Sam Klemick’s coffee table allows it to leave a meaningful impact on the room with very minimal styling.
10. Don’t be afraid to keep it simple
Remember that styling a chic coffee table doesn’t have to mean “put everything you own on top of this surface.” Lean into the simplicity of a clean and neatly curated coffee table, because sometimes we just want a little zen in our lives. Doesn’t this cohesive Boston living room by Hacin + Associates really sell it?
11. Go two-tiered
If your difficulty with styling a coffee table isn’t what to put on it but instead that you have too much you’d like to display, go for a two-tiered coffee table that gives you double the surface space. As seen in this Salvesen Graham–designed home, a tiered coffee table makes it easy to keep numerous coffee table books close at hand, making it simple to rearrange your display as frequently as your heart desires.
12. Try an unusual shape
With a coffee table of an unexpected shape, you needn’t depend on styling to make an impact on the room. We love the triangular stone table that plays off of the softness of the room’s other dominant elements in this LA space.
13. Play to your color scheme
Your color palette doesn’t need to be quite as in your face as this primary color pad in LA for you to learn something from it. Whether you’re in a small or grand space, choosing a coffee table that matches the colors or materials of your other furniture can help to unify the many elements.
14. Accessorize with games
In apartments of a small square footage, every last bit of storage space helps, including atop the coffee table. If you’re someone who fancies party or board games, go for well-designed editions that make for a fun display and keep ’em out as coffee table centerpieces, like in this West Village home.
15. Go low
With a low the ground coffee table, it’s best to keep the accessorizing short as well, otherwise you risk losing the lowkey appeal of the furniture piece in the first place. The lounge area in Jacquelyn Jablonski’s loft is the perfect example of this, with its short stack of books and small floral arrangement.
16. Choose a piece with storage
Using a piece with closed storage–whether it was intended as a coffee table or not—is another great option for a small space. The wooden table in this Project AZ living space has plenty of room inside, allowing its surface to be devoted to a table centerpiece and not much else.
17. Add candles
Perhaps one of the simplest options for styling a coffee table, candles can set the perfect relaxing mood in even the most cramped of spaces. We love the dramatic red ones in this moody Chicago apartment, and you can have even more fun by selecting glam candle holders or candlesticks to serve as decor accents.
18. Use an ottoman
Be honest with yourself: If you have side tables and plenty of other room for decor, will you actually be using your coffee table for knickknacks or drinking glasses, or will you in fact be using it as a place to rest your feet? If the latter, go for an ottoman instead. It can really soften the room up, as this Salvesen Graham–designed living room proves.
19. Consider each side
If your coffee table is surrounded by seating on each side, make sure that your decorative items are styled to satisfy viewers at every side. A round table is perfect for a space with a lot of seating, especially when part of that seating is a sectional as in this Minneapolis space designed by Victoria Sass, and multiple small stacks of books can add interest for guests on all sides.
20. Group your items
If you’re concerned about your coffee table decorations looking randomly strewn, group your decorative objects in twos or threes to communicate intentionality, as in this put together pad by Reda Amalou.
21. Leave wiggle room
For living rooms that tend to serve a lot of purposes—say, a place to study or work from home, a place to have drinks with friends after work, a place to do a puzzle on the weekends—leaving extra empty room on your coffee table will save you stress about clutter in the long run. This home designed by Studio Ahead centers its owners’ unique art collection, so spare styling on the coffee table is the perfect choice to avoid pulling focus.
22. Add poufs
Okay, this has less to do with the physical piece of furniture and more to do with its surrounding space, but adding poufs around a coffee table can help make a welcoming atmosphere in your living room, no matter what the table itself looks like. Though we might associate poufs with boho interiors, they can work in sleek modern living rooms too. We love the family heirloom ottomans placed around the coffee table in this midcentury-inspired home by Meghan Eisenberg.
23. Play to your theme
The wide world of decorative accents becomes satisfyingly narrow when we zero in on a theme, and this is no less true for coffee table styling. Natural elements appear throughout this living room by Molly Torres Portnof, so for the coffee table, a large rock adds to that sense of cohesiveness.
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