5 TIPS TO STYLE A COFFEE TABLE LIKE A PRO

I used to feel so out of my element when I styled a coffee table. After years and years of frustration, I was determined to find a way to style a great coffee table... EVERY TIME!

After lots and lots of research and practice I'm now a confident coffee table stylist!!!  I've come up with 5 no-fail tips to style a coffee table like a pro!

We are talking coffee table styling 101! E-A-S-Y and simple to apply! I don't need to style a coffee table worthy of the Biltmore... just one that looks great at StoneGable...

What I found so so surprising is that a coffee table does not have to look like a work of art! It does need to be comfortable, pretty and easy to style!

I also was not going to spend a lot of money to style a coffee table ... so,  I shopped my house for the decor!

With that in mind I came up with a simple 5 steps for coffee table styling.

Let's style my living room coffee table together! This is going to be fun!

Here's the coffee table... 

1. USE A TRAY

One of the best design elements to use on a coffee table is a tray!

Trays can be square, rectangle, round, wood, baskets or even acrylic!

They are great to corral decorative items, keeping them neat and organized.

The tray I picked is a soft gold acrylic. 

2. ADD LAYERS

Layering objects looks very interesting.

 Books are great things to layer. We are going to layer them in the tray from largest to smallest. Keep them neat.

Great! But we're not done layering yet!

3. ADD SOMETHING ORGANIC

Plants and flowers are wonderful organic touches!  Let's layer a small fern on top of the books in the upper left corner.

Now, let's layer a magnifying glass with a horn (organic) handle next to the fern.

Doesn't that make a nice little layered vignette?

4. VARY HEIGHTS

We want to fill  the tray with objects that have differing heights.

We have a nicely layered vignette on the right side of the tray, so let's balance it with elements on the left.

Let's add a big piece of pottery. 

The fern is tall, the pottery is medium height, the books are low and the sides of the tray are even lower. This let's our eyes move around the tray and take in all the interesting things in it.

It's very important to style a coffee table using things of varying height.

5. CANDLES

I think every coffee table should give off a little candlelight!

We have just enough space to tuck in a trio of small candles on a long tray in front of the piece of white pottery!

The candles fill up the tray, without it looking crowded!

The tray is done... styled simply and well balanced!

Such pretty ambiance!

But what do we do to the other side of the coffee table? Does that get styled too?

Great question!

Let's balance the tray with one showy piece! A white footed bowl filled with fun baubles.

The bowl and baubles adds another layer of height and it holds organic twig balls in it... reinforcing 3 of the 5 styling tips!  Height, layering and organic elements!

And just for a fun touch, the clear baubles glow in the dark!

Here are a couple other things to keep in mind when styling a coffee table...

COLOR

Using repeated colors will help to make coffee table decor more cohesive.

I used lots of whites and neutrals styling my living room coffee table. These colors work well in my room.

TEXTURE

Using a combination of textures when styling a coffee table makes the design more interesting!

Can you find at least 4 textures on my coffee table?

USE WHAT YOU LOVE!

Only style a coffee table with what you love! Remember it's your creation, your home and you need to enjoy it!!!!

That was EASY wasn't it!  This is coffee table styling 101. Practice and get comfortable using these 5 simple tips!

Styling a coffee table should be simple, easy and created with what you love!!!


What are your favorite things to use when you style a coffee table?

You might like to pin this to your PINTEREST decor board...